December 2015 Pt. 2

The Hateful Eight
Stars - Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen
Plot - A group of nefarious crooks and criminals with lots of secrets are snowed in a cabin together.
Thoughts - No one needs a good editor more than Quentin Tarantino. His longtime editor died before the release if Django Unchained, and you can tell the difference. I love a good long movie but this movie, where very little happens until the last 45 minutes or so, doesn't need to be nearly 3 hours long. Still, the performances are great, especially Jackson and Leigh, and the script is killer.
Grade - B

Joy
Stars - Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro, Edgar Ramirez, Bradley Cooper
Plot - A broke single mother deals with her crazy family and invents the miracle mop.
Thoughts - Another movie that is too long... and feels it. And despite being nominated in the comedy categories at the Golden Globes, it isn't really very fun. Again, great performances, and parts of it are stellar. It just felt very hit or miss.
Grade - B-

Magic Mike XXL
Stars - Channing Tatum, Joe Magniello, Matt Bomer
Plot - Our lovable strippers go on a road trip to a stripper convention, which is apparently really a thing.
Thoughts - You know how good the original Magic Mike was? Because it wasn't just a gratuitous movie about male strippers, but rather a character study where the characters just happened to be strippers? Well, this is the other thing.
Grade -  D+

Spy
Stars - Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Jude Law, Jason Statham
Plot - A desk jockey becomes a spy after the identities of all the other spies are compromised.
Thoughts - I didn't love this movie as much as other Melissa McCarthy movies, but she is the rare comedian who can make anything funny and she definitely elevates a movie that would have bombed with any one else in the lead.
Grade - B-

The Clouds of Sils Maria
Stars - Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart
Plot - An aging actress returns to the play that made her famous, this time playing the older half of the romantic couple.
Thoughts - Another movie that is way too long. Also, this one is pretty boring. So if you are going to watch it, come for the gorgeous cinematography, and stay for Stewart's award worthy performance (not even kidding!)
Grade - C

The Stanford Prison Experiment
Stars - Michael Angarano, Ezra Miller
Plot - Based on the true story of an experiment involving prison guards and inmates that went way too far way too fast.
Thoughts - This was almost a really great movie. I still highly recommend it, even if it is just for the stellar Angarano performance, and fascinating story. I had two pretty major problems with it though. The first was that some of the supporting actors, who were supposed to be playing college age kids, literally looked 12. The second was, apparently we can CGI dinosaurs, but can't figure out a way for fake mustaches to not look ridiculous.
Grade - B-

The Overnight
Stars - Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartzman
Plot - Two couples spend a night together.
Thoughts - This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my entire life. Under no circumstances should you ever watch this.
Grade - F

November 2015

The Final Girls
Stars - Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman
Plot - The daughter of a B movie scream queen gets transported to her mom's most famous horror movie where she must survive a killer and come to terms with her mom's death.
Thoughts - This is the sort of movie you might only enjoy if you really love horror movies (as I do). It's clever and fun, but I also think the idea is a lot better than the execution.
Grade - B-

Z for Zachariah
Stars - Margot Robbie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pine
Plot - The possible last surviving woman in a post apocalyptic world finds herself in a love triangle, because sure, that would happen.
Thoughts - I actually really liked the storyline,  no matter how ridiculous it was. Too bad the whole thing was just so damn boring.
Grade - C+

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Stars - Olivia Cooke, Thomas Mann
Plot - A teenage filmmaker who hates everything is forced by his mom to hang out with a classmate dying of cancer.
Thoughts - I really loved the book this is based on, and while the movie never quite gets as good, it is still a pretty solid, funny, heartfelt movie.
Grade - B

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2
Stars - Jennifer Lawrence, et al
Plot - Katniss must finally bring down that nasty Capital.
Thoughts - The first thing it has going for it is that it's better than Part 1 although that's not hard. Despite the fact that it starts mid-scene, and is too long (Attn: Hollywood, stop splitting movies into 2 parts. I know you make twice the money, but is it really worth it to make two disjointed movies filled with filler when you could make just one bad ass (albeit long) movie?), Mockingjay is filled with action and heart. Part 2 may noy be the best of the bunch (see Catching Fire), but it is a pretty good ending to the series. 
Grade - B

Spotlight
Stars - Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams
Plot - The true story of a group of Boston journalists who investigate and uncover the decades long cover up of priests molesting children in the Catholic Church.
Thoughts - I know it doesn't necessarily sound like the kind of movie you would want to rush out and watch, but it's easily one of the best movies of the year. The cast is incredible, the performances are stellar, and the script is fast paced which helps make this movie intensely watchable. Maybe a little difficult to keep track of all the secondary characters though.
Grade -  A-

Pitch Perfect 2
Stars - Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson
Plot - The Bella's are back and trying to win the a capella world championship.
Thoughts - The first film is not necessarily good, but at least compulsively watchable. This is a pretty terrible follow up. Plot wise, it's terrible. Just fast forward to the music, which is fun.
Grade - (a pretty generous) C-

Creed
Stars - Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone
Plot - The son of Apollo Creed enlists his old frenemy, Rocky Balboa, to train him as a boxer.
Thoughts -  Truth? I've never seen a single Rocky movie. But, alas, the only thing I love more than a boxing movie is Michael B. Jordan, so I was in. And luckily, this is a really well done, really heartfelt, funny, wholly crowd pleasing film. Sylvester Stallone might be an Oscar contender come nomination time. And, finally, Michael B. Jordan's biceps, ya'll.
Grade - B+

Brooklyn
Stars - Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson
Plot - A young woman in the 1950s moves from Ireland to New York for better  opportunities.
Thoughts - This might be the best movie I see this year and if it's playing at a theater near you, call off work or school and run to the theater right now. I told myself I wouldn't give out an A+ until I saw a movie as good as or better than The Social Network, and while this isn't quite that, this is as near to perfection as you can get. It's funny and sad and romantic and just completely entrancing. I loved this movie so much and if you ever listen to me about anything, go see Brooklyn now.
Grade - A

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1

The fact that Mockingjay is not a great movie is not it's fault. It suffers from following Catching Fire, easily the best installment of the franchise, and from being the boring first half of an epic finale. It's all reestablishing old characters and relationships and meeting new characters and reminding people what has already happened and laying the ground work for what is to come. It has no beginning, middle or end. It is not a stand alone film, not really. So it's not Mockingjay's fault that it is so mediocre.

At the end of Catching Fire, our heroine Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) shot an arrow into the dome at the Quarter Quell. She was rescued by the rebel forces of District 13. Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) was captured by the Capitol and evil President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Mockingjay opens with Katniss living in the underground bunkers of District 13, where she is joined by her mom and sister, as well as Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Plutarch (the late, great, dearly missed Philip Seymour Hoffman), Haymitch (scene stealer Woody Harrelson), Effie (Elizabeth Banks, devoid of fab wardrobe), Finnick (Sam Claflin) and District 13 president Coin (Julianne Moore).  After Katniss' seemingly rebellious move, the districts started a bit of a rebellion so now the think tank in District 13 decide to push it into an all out war, using Katniss as the face of the war. Meanwhile, the Capitol is forcing Peeta to speak it against the war and Katniss. And... honestly? That's pretty much all that happens during what seems like a very long 2 hours.  I may be in the minority here but I would prefer a really good 3 hour movie rather than 2 mediocre 2 hour movies.

Not much really happens in the movie although there are a few nice moments (Katniss singing a haunting song on an expedition to her destroyed District), an exciting action sequence (an intense visit to District 8; easily the best scene in the whole movie), and even some bad ass fashion statements (Natalie Dormer and her cool as hell half shaved head (and, yes, now I want to half shave MY head)). But mostly Mockingjay is boring. But it's not it's fault! The cast all shows up to play. Lawrence is actually one of the weakest links here, getting out shone by scene stealers Harrelson and Banks, and out acted by consummate pros like Moore and Hoffman.  (Aside: Just seeing Hoffman on screen is hard knowing it's one of his last on screen appearances. His death was devastating. What a talent! Even in a mostly wasted supporting role in a mediocre movie. His talent was tremendous). The movie looks good and it's solid visually. And if I though about ways to change it to make it better, I can't really come up with anything save cut it and make one final film instead of Part 1 and 2. And that's not going to happen. Two parts will make twice as much money. Hollywood execs aren't stupid.

So Mockingjay is a mostly boring ride. Again, not it's fault. Once it starts to pick up steam, it's over, and lives us only anticipating next year's finale. What a tease!

Grade: C 

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Here is a confession: I've never been a big fan of the X-Men movies, with the exception of First Class. It's strange because all the people I know who are big comic fans are mostly big X-Men fans, but I just don't get it. And you think I would since I've always felt like I never fit in anywhere or with anyone; so you would think mutants would be right up my alley. Maybe the filmmakers just aren't doing a good job transferring from page to screen? Or maybe it's the fact that the X-Men's biggest star - Hugh Jackman as Wolverine - just does nothing for me. I get that this character is wildly popular and they want to make him the star of everything, but he's just not compelling to me, as a character or an actor. The best thing First Class did is reboot the whole franchise. It succeeded in hiring some truly great and exciting actors to play younger versions of these characters - Michael Fassbender as Magneto and James McAvoy as Xavier. These guys are great fun to watch, and Days of Future Past is a success when it's following them.

The film opens in the future when robots named the Sentinels are threatening to eliminate the mutants totally. The film opens with a fun, but sort of confusing fight scene in which mutants we don't know (if you haven't read the comic books) use powers we are unaware of and that are mostly unexplained to us to fight these Sentinels. Eventually, they escape the danger for the moment and someone has the brilliant idea that Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) should use her time travel power (or whatever; because science!!) and send back the consciousness of Wolverine to the 1970's so they could stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from murdering the scientist creator of the Sentinels (Peter Dinklage). In the 1970' is the first time Mystique kills, which not only sends her on a dangerous path, but also gets her captured and tested and its her blood that is eventually used to create the Sentinels. We have to keep in mind that, although Rebecca Romaijn's Mystique was sort of exposible, now she is played by Jennifer Lawrence, everyone's favorite silly girl next door who can even make rape jokes and no one so much as raises an eyebrow, so now Mystique is THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTER IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE. Anyway, Wolverine goes back to the 1970's where he finds McAvoy's Professor X with long hair and a small drug habit. He takes some convincing, but the hard part is breaking Magneto out of a prison 100 feet under the Pentagon. They do this with the help of Quicksilver (Evan Peters), who all but steals the movie with his single scene. He is joyous as the super quick mutant who can break into anything and has a hell of a lot of fun doing so. It's the movies best scene, and unfortunately, Quicksilver is gone in a flash.

It's not that Days of Future Past is bad per se, because it's not. It's a fun movie, albeit, sort of confusing and repetitive. It feels like the script gets bogged down at some parts, trying to keep track of all these mutants (also: too many mutants!) and trying to stay cohesive. The movie is far better when it stays in the past, and I found the jumping back and forth a bit jarring. It could have easily opened and closed in the future - nice tidy bookends - while keeping the entire middle in the past. To me, that would have been a more compelling storytelling device, and one that would stick with the strengths of the film. I'm not saying that it isn't nice to see the original X-Men, but most of the cool X-Men appear only super briefly, and I won't try to spoil anything but I honestly love that Anna Paquin got higher billing than Ellen Page for something like 17 seconds of screen time. I could honestly do without ever seeing Halle Berry as Storm ever again. This series doesn't know what to do with her; it never did. Reboot the character, cast Lupita Nyong'o. The internet will be happy. It's just that it's all the same - how many times can we watch Xavier try to convince Mystique not to kill the scientist? And the movie ends with absolutely no resolution. It just ends, almost completely obliterating the X-Men canon while doing so, which is a nice way to press re-start on a series, but also sort of infuriating as an audience member who loves a movie with a good ending.

But, like I said, the movie isn't bad. And if First Class belonged to Fassbender and his magnetic (pun intended) Erik (which it did), then Days of Future Past belongs to McAvoy and his troubled Professor Xavier. He is an absolute thrill to watch while playing Charles in his darkest days. His performance brings this movie to a whole other level and if it was possible to get an Oscar nomination for a superhero movie (Heath Ledger excluded; he's the exception, not the rule), I would start a campaign for McAvoy right this moment. So with the exception of McAvoy's brilliant performance, Quicksilver's amazing scene, and Michael Fassbender's all around perfectness / sexiness, Days of Future Past, for me, was sort of lackluster. In another year, I might have given it a higher grade. In another year, I might have been able to let go of the flaws and just have a good time. But this is the year of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the bar has been raised. And lackluster, confusing, jumbled story telling isn't going to cut it with me this summer!

Grade: C+
(B- if I'm feeling nice, which I'm currently not!) (Also, more shirtless Fassbender scenes would have gotten you a B+, FYI) (Just kidding) (Or not)

American Hustle & Saving Mr. Banks

American Hustle

I read an interesting story about director David O. Russell. It had to do with the fact that on this movie, American Hustle, he let his actors improv so much. The story has Christian Bale pointing out to his director that the way they just improvised an scene utterly changes the plot of the movie at a later point. To which, O. Russell supposedly replied (and this isn't a direct quote), "I don't care about plot. I care about characters." And perhaps that's really all you need to know about American Hustle, a movie that is so superficial, that cares so little about its plot, that it's utterly a disappointing mess instead of the masterpiece I was hoping for.

American Hustle is a fictionalized version of Abscam, in which the FBI enlisted real life criminals (con men) to help set up politicians in order to arrest the bigger fish. In O. Russell's story, Christian Bale and Amy Adams are the mid-level cons who go after mostly desperate men down on their times with a scheme in which the men give them a non-refundable $5000 deposit to take their money to some "connections" in London, who are supposedly going to turn their money in to $50,000. Of course, that never happens. All of this is going great until they try to con the wrong man, in this case, undercover FBI agent Richie (Bradley Cooper) who arrests them and then enlists their help. Their initial plan is to bring down a family man mayor (Jeremy Renner) who wants nothing more than to help build up the job market of his town - Atlantic City. This is all well and good, until Richie gets greedy and wants to go after even bigger fish. Then there's Jennifer Lawrence as Bale's unpredictable, unstable wife.

So, in a nutshell, that's the plot. The plot isn't so much bad, as it is too glossy for its own good. O. Russell is trying to make his version of Goodfellas, which there isn't anything wrong with. If you want to rip off a movie, you might as well rip off one of the masters at his best. But the problem is, the movie relies far too much on looking cool, with great actors playing outlandish against type characters, none of whom feel real in the least. For focusing so much on characters, these guys are more like caricatures. I'm not trying to say the movie is bad, because it isn't, necessarily. It's a good movie, it's just a disappointing one. I've been looking forward to this movie for months and it was such a let down for me.

The performances are (almost) all spectacular. In a movie starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, it's as much a shock to me as it might be to anyone else, but best in show goes to Bradley Cooper. His out of control, cocky, power hungry FBI agent is so wildly entertaining, that you can't keep your eyes off of him. Adams is fantastic as well, slipping in and out of different characters with such ease (and those low cut dresses!!! Girl looks gorgeous!). Renner is fine but his role is so limited that it barely matters. Bale is great, as usually, playing the second most outlandish characters, a role that could have easily slipped into over the top, craziness. But Bale is such a great actor that this never happens.

Now here is where my review will become very, VERY unpopular. I don't think Jennifer Lawrence is as good of an actress as everyone thinks she is. I don't think she's a bad actress, just not deserving of quite so much praise. Just think about this fact: Come March, she's going to be a three time Oscar nominee (with one win) in just four years. That's INSANE. Here are some people (off the top of my head) who have never even been nominated: Drew Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson, Kirsten Dunst, Donald Sutherland, Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Kevin Bacon! But that's besides the point. I think this movie just proves my point, because Lawrence isn't good in it. In fact, I think she's most of the reason why I didn't care for the movie. She, like Bale, is so over the top, that it's distracting. Unlike Bale, Lawrence doesn't quite have the chops to reel it in, keep it from going over that line into campiness. So, it just makes me want to roll my eyes anytime she's on screen, which takes me completely out of the movie, which is not something you want to happen.

It doesn't matter what I have to say anyway. This movie will keep getting nominated for all kinds of awards. Sure, the movie is greatly entertaining at times, but it's no Oscar worthy movie, in my opinion. Jennifer Lawrence will probably win a book end for last year's Oscar. This is a movie about conning people, after all, and maybe the best con of all is conning the audience that it's a better movie than it actually is.

Grade: B-

Saving Mr. Banks

Just a few words about Saving Mr. Banks - it's a nice movie. I don't watch enough nice movies, and that's sort of a shame. The story is about Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson, killing it!) who very reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to meet with Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) about selling him the rights to her books. However, she is VERY opinionated. Anyway, the scenes with Hanks and Thompson are absolutely wonderful. The movie suffers from pacing problems - too many flashbacks, not evenly dispersed. It also suffers from the fact that the flashbacks are sort of on the boring side. I mean, they serve a purpose, to further the story along, but they also are not nearly as entertaining as watching Hanks and Thompson go toe to toe. I could watch that forever.

Grade: B

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The best thing the Hunger Games movies could have done is getting such wonderful character actors to play pivotal supporting roles. It adds an air of importance to your film when you have such heavy-weights as Philip Seymour Hoffman, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci and Jeffrey Wright playing your small, but important characters. And, of course, The Hunger Games struck gold when it cast Jennifer Lawrence as lead Katniss. Lawrence may be the most famous and coolest girl on the planet right now, and she's got all the talent to back it up.

Catching Fire picks up where The Hunger Games left off - Katniss and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) managed to win the Hunger Games by claiming to be in love although vicious President Snow (Sutherland) doesn't buy it for a minute. The two are about to embark on a victory tour of the districts and President Snow threatens Katniss, telling her she must prove their love to everyone or the people will continue to believe their joint win was an act of defiance and revolt. Of course, they somehow make the stirring revolution grow strong and soon President Snow and games-maker Plutarch (Hoffman)are crafting something special for the games Quarter Quell - a champions round, where all the participants are past winners, meaning, they are all proven killers and it will be even harder for Katniss and Peeta to make it out alive this time around. Among the new / old contestants are scene-stealers Jena Malone as ax-wielding wild child Johanna and Sam Claflin as charming, handsome, complicated Finnick. [Side Note: Why do characters in YA novels/movies have such weird names??]

Good news first: Once the movie gets to the actual games, it is fast-paced, action packed, intense and just plain fun. Bad news? It takes about an hour and a half to get there. That's an hour and a half of talking and scheming and plotting and lying, all while anticipating that awesome clock inspired Quarter Quell. Yes, the first half of the movie is sort of on the boring side. Yes, it could have been edited down greatly and still been effective. Yes, Effie's (Elisabeth Banks) AMAZING outfits nearly make up for the whole thing. But Catching Fire is a mostly good movie. Director Francis Lawrence took over directing duties this time around and ha managed to make a more clear, more straight-forward, more effective film. Of course, the movie suffers from the same thing that book suffered from - being the middle book of a trilogy and that's rarely ever a good thing, although its also not its fault. It's tasked with introducing new characters and new ideas, but never really going anywhere with anything (because, you know, there's a third book to tie everything together - this is just a placeholder). And that's not a bad thing, but it's also not necessarily a good thing either, especially that awful cliff-hanger ending. But again, not the movies fault in the least.

Mostly Catching Fire is a successful film. My own personal problem has to deal with recently reading Divergent, a book with a main female character who is both bad ass and complicated. She also is far from likable and manages to get her hands dirty a whole lot, which makes her journey more compelling. Katniss doesn't ever really get her hands dirty. Sure, she talks the talk, but she has other people who manage to save her from getting too involved in things like killing other people. She's a nice clean-cut hero for girls to look up to, someone strong but who never actually does anything too bad. Still, she's a way better role model for girls these days than Bella from Twilight, so I guess that's progress.

Grade: B

Friday Top Five: Most Anticipated of 2013

The movie year is more than halfway over. That means it's almost time to be done with these disappointing summer movies and finally get to those Oscar hopeful / prestige movies. So, this week, I will be counting down my top five most anticipated movies for the rest of the year. Just as a disclaimer, I would like to say that a few of the movies I'm very excited about are either already in theaters or opening very, very soon. (Examples: I'm planning on seeing Fruitvale Station and The Way, Way Back this weekend and The Spectacular Now, Blue Jasmine and Elysium all open in the next few weeks). So, I'm mostly going to focus on fall / early winter releases with this list:

5. Oldboy (Spike Lee)
Release Date: October 25, 2013
Starring: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson, Sharlto Copley
This is Spike Lee's remake of the super violent, super amazing Korean movie of the same name. The original Oldboy is bad ass in every way you can possibly imagine, featuring a ballsy story line and brutal violence. I'm not opposed to film makers remaking foreign films (especially when that director is Lee), because most Americans won't even give movies with subtitles a chance. Here's hoping the remake, and maybe even subsequently the subtitled original, will find a whole new audience.

4. American Hustle (David O. Russell)
Release Date: December 25, 2013
Starring: Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, Robert DeNiro
Umm... look at that cast! O. Russell has been pretty flawless lately, going 2 for 2 with his last two efforts the flawless The Fighter and the sweet Silver Linings Playbook. This is the story of a conman who is forced to work with the FBI to help take down the mob. So, it pretty much sounds like everything you want out of a movie.

3. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)
Release Date: October 18, 2013 (limited)
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Sarah Paulson, Alfre Woodard, Garrett Dillahunt, Quvenzhané Wallis
Besides this, McQueen has made two movies. Those two movies (Hunger, Shame) are damn good. So, the combination of McQueen and star Fassbender (who appeared in his previous efforts) is already cause for excitement. Again, look at that cast! This movie is the story of a free black man sold into slavery during pre-Civil War times.

2. Inside Llewyn Davis (Coen Brothers)
Release Date: December 6, 2013
Starring: Oscar Issac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, Garrett Hedlund, John Goodman, Adam Driver
As far as I'm concerned, the Coen Brothers are the closest thing to flawless in the context of making movies. This is their take on the 1960s folk scene and based solely on the trailer, I think they already have the most beautifully shot film of the year (Will there be a better shot than that cat starring at himself in the window of the subway? Probably not).

1. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)
Release Date: November 15, 2013
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Jon Bernthal, Jon Favreau, Kyle Chandler, Shea Whigham
This trailer was released a few months ago and it pretty much blew me away. Not only does it look like a less brutal version of American Psycho, but also it features DiCaprio dancing to Kanye West! What more could you want from a movie? Scorsese barely makes a mistake, and this cast is on point. If I made a list of my top five movies of 2013 so far, this trailer would be number 1. Looking forward to November!

Best of 2012: Best Actresses and Actors

Best Actress
10. Kirsten Dunst in Bachelorette - For giving a snarky, sassy, fun mean girl performance.
09. Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games - For becoming the most famous girl in the world by playing a tough, take no prisoners, bad ass role model.
08. Noomi Rapace in Prometheus - For that abortion scene alone.
07. RoseMarie DeWitt in Your Sister's Sister - For playing a complicated character with charm and ease.
06. Rachel Weisz in The Deep Blue Sea - For turning an unlikable character into someone we actually care for deeply.
05. Naomi Watts in The Impossible - For showing the strength of a mother taking care of her son even though she needs to be taken care of.
04. Brit Marling in Sound of My Voice - For being beautiful, ethereal, wicked and so stunning you can't take your eyes off of her.
03. Quvenzhane Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild - For commanding the screen in a way that no one else did this year, and for being a tiny little force to be reckoned with.
02. Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook - For proving she's at a point in her career where she can do any damn thing she pleases, for that scene in which she yells in Robert DeNiro's face, for the dancing!
01. Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty - For being utterly fearless, for playing an unlikable character and commanding we take notice of her poise, grace and feral determination.

Best Actor
10. Tom Holland in The Impossible - For showing raw emotion in his first film role.
09. Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained - For managing to be the bounty hunting slave hero of a Quentin Tarantino movie quietly and subtly, something I didn't know was possible.
08. Dane DeHaan in Chronicle - For coming out of nowhere to become the most exciting new actor thanks to his Magneto meets high school coming of age monster of a performance.
07. Joaquin Phoenix in The Master - For being completely unhinged, out of control and wild.
06. Richard Gere in Arbitrage - For playing such a snake with so much charm and charisma.
05. Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook - For making me forget about all his douchebag, frat guy characters with that Hemingway scene alone.
04. Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master - For being terrifying and compelling all at once.
03. Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained - For being born to speak Quentin Tarantino dialogue.
02. Denzel Washington in Flight - For reminding us why he's one of the biggest, most likable stars on the planet, and for being a joy to watch as a boozy, egotistical asshole.
01. Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln - For becoming Abraham Lincoln, absolutely and undoubtedly, for continuing to prove why he's a living legend worthy of every award and then some.

Tomorrow - Best Films of 2012!

Silver Linings Playbook

I know that Silver Linings Playbook is flawed. Perhaps it's because, when I saw it, I still had a bitter taste in my mouth over Les Miserables. Or maybe Silver Linings Playbook is just a very likeable, very sweet, well meaning movie. But I sort of loved it.

Directed by David O. Russell, the story is about Pat (Bradley Cooper), a man who went a little nuts after he found his wife Nicky cheating on him in their home and was committed to a mental health institution in Baltimore. At the start of the film, his well meaning mom (Jacki Weaver) takes him out of the hospital and home to Philly, where he struggles to assimilate to normal life, while trying to win back his cheating wife who has a restraining order and zero interest. His father (Robert DeNiro in a refreshing role) is an Eagles loving bookie and his brother (Shea Whigham!!) is successful in every way he is not. Eventually he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), and she's a mouthy widow who speaks her mind and doesn't take any of his crap. The two eventually team up to perform in a dance contest.

It may sound cheesy, and parts of it are, but it's also a lot of fun, and just a really well meaning, sweet movie. The screenplay is great - it's equal parts hilarious and heartfelt. The chemistry between Cooper and Lawrence is so damn good, it's truly a pleasure to watch. My biggest problem with the film is that Tiffany being caught up on Pat seems like a major character flaw. She's this strong, independent woman who wastes her time and half of the movie chasing a man who couldn't possibly be less interested in her. He's in love with someone else, and uses every single opportunity to let her know that. Why would a young, beautiful girl waste her time on a man like that? I know, I know. I guess the answer is love, or whatever, but I just found that part of it sort of insufferable. I also didn't like how the movie started out so strong and became more cliched and commonplace as it went on. But the positive things about the film (like, it's not Les Mis!) and the performance, and just the overall likeability definitely outweigh these small problems.

I read this article from Paste about the 25 best performances of the year, and Jennifer Lawrence was on the list. And she deserves it! But I really liked what they said about her, which was something to the effect of, She can literally do anything she wants right now. And I think that's true. Post Hunger Games, she's probably the biggest star not named Kristen Stewart under 25 in Hollywood. Plus, unlike Stewart, she's got the talent to back up the stardom. Plus, she's drop dead gorgeous. She absolutely can do anything in the entire world next. As Tiffany, she comes on the screen like a bat out of hell, and elevates every single scene she's a part of. I hope she wins the Oscar in a few months because she's that good in this movie. Cooper is pretty impressive as well. I've never seen him play a character so well rounded before. He's been good in other movies, but this is his first real, fleshed out character with ticks and nuerosis, and Cooper nails it. Weaver, who WOWED in Animal Kingdom a few years ago, makes a meaningless part feel real and sweet. And DeNiro is back to form, playing the sort of character he should have spent the last decade playing. He's absolutely a joy to watch, and if Meet the Fockers made you forget what a great actor he is, this movie will remind you.

Overall, Silver Linings Playbook is definitely a crowd pleaser. It's sweet and funny, fun and just plain cute. In a year of dark, depressing, divisive movies, Silver Linings is a rare feel good love story.

Grade: B+

Screen Actors Guild Awards - Nominees and Thoughts

Critics groups have been announcing their nominees and winners for weeks now, but today marks the real start of award season as the Screen Actors Guild Awards announced their nominations. I'm told that Zero Dark Thirty and Django Unchained did not get their screeners out in time so that may be why there isn't a lot of love for them (disappointingly). Anyway, here are the movie nominees along with my thoughts on the whole things.

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
John Hawkes - The Sessions
Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables
Denzel Washington - Flight
Thoughts - Right off the bat, the big omission is no Joaquin Phoenix for The Master, a performance that some thought early off would be an Oscar winning sure thing. While I liked his performance a whole lot, I prefered the other performances from that film so maybe his weirdo ticky warts and all performance was more divisive than people first thought.

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard - Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Mirren - Hitchcock
Naomi Watts - The Impossible
Thoughts - I've seen NONE of these movies. I would like to see at least 4 of them (well, really, all of them) but unfortunately I live in the sticks so it's going to take a while. Based on my eagerness for Zero Dark Thirty, however, I'm rooting for Jessica!

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin - Argo
Javier Bardem - Skyfall
Robert DeNiro - Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
Thoughts - Kinda shocked and surprised to see Bardem for Skyfall. I thought he was great in the movie but not award worthy great. Sort of like Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises. The two male performances I'm most eager about this year failed to make the cut too - Jason Clarke in Zero Dark Thirty and Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained. Hopefully, it was just because a lot of people didn't get their screeners and these two can still gain some Oscar traction.

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Sally Field - Lincoln
Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Nicole Kidman - The Paperboy
Maggie Smith - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Thoughts - Shocked by the inclusion of Kidman. I guess all these awards nominations and critics groups are really trying to make me sit through The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, huh? Fine, I'll do it!

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Argo
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Thoughts - Les Mis and Silver Linings have the star studded casts, Marigold has the respected older actors, but literally every working character actor in Hollywood was either in Argo or Lincoln, so I'm pulling for one of those two.

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Bourne Legacy
The Dark Knight Rises
Les Miserables
Skyfall
Thoughts - Anyone this awards season who includes The Dark Knight Rises in anything at all is okay in my book.

Summer Movie Survey

One of my favorite blogs to read about films on line is The Film Experience. Recently, he featured a few different people answering a series of questions about their summer movie going experiences. I thought I'd steal borrow the survey and fill it out myself. Here goes...

Best Movie I Saw This Summer:
The Dark Knight Rises. I'm realizing not everyone loved it as much as I did, but I thought it was a perfect wrap up to the best superhero trilogy of all time. It was a thrilling, intense, dark, but ultimately uplifting film and I couldn't have loved it anymore.

Thing I Actually Learned (at summer movie camp!):
That maybe I was too quick to jump on that whole Blake Lively can really act bandwagon after her turn in The Town because she was certainly the weakest link in Savages.

Major Summer Crush:
Oh, where to start?? Michael Shannon in Premium Rush. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in The Amazing Spider-man. Charlize Theron in Snow White and the Huntsman. The entire cast of Magic Mike.

Moment I <3 So Much I Thought My Heart Would Burst:
Beasts of the Southern Wild - Hushpuppy running through that infectious party scene with sparklers. So much beauty, innocence, hope, freedom.

Princess Merida, Katniss, or Hawkeye?
I'm a sucker for Jennifer Lawrence and The Hunger Games so Katniss all the way. We need more strong female characters being represented in young adult films. Women who have to fight for survival and not just lament having to pick over a boring vampire or an even more boring werewolf.

If Only "Hulk" Had Smashed...
Whoever thought that terrible ending for Premium Rush was a good idea. Way to (almost) ruin a perfectly fun late summer movie.

Mash-Up ~ Summer Movie Characters I'd Like to Introduce (and why):
Giovanni Ribisi from Ted and the cast of Magic Mike, because, even though I hated Ted, I loved Giovanni and his super sweet dance moves deserved a much better show case. Girls like skinny semi-creepy dudes, too, you know!

Rank the Magic Mike Strippers:
1. Magic Mike (Channing Tatum)
2. Dallas (Matthew McConaughey)
3. Ken (Matt Bomer)
4. The Kid (Alex Pettyfer)
5. Big Dick Richie (Joe Manganiello)
6. Tito (Alex Rodriguez)
7. Tarzan (Kevin Nash)

At Least the Theater Was Air Conditioned:
Ted. I think I laughed once, although I can't for the life of me remember why.

Best Old Movie I Saw For The First Time This Summer:
Oldboy. What the hell took me so long?? It was FANTASTIC!

Line Reading That Stuck in My Head:
It's a movie that isn't released yet, but I've seen the trailer so many times and I think it might be the best line of the year... "Why don't you do what old men do - and die." -Joseph Gordon-Levitt from the upcoming Looper.

The Hunger Games

I am an unabashed lover of the Hunger Games trilogy. At first I felt a little bad about it. You know, with all of those inevitable comparisons to Twilight and everything. [Side Note: Twilight and The Hunger Games have absolutely NOTHING in common. One is a story about life or death, survival and love of family while the other is about a boring pale girl who has to choose between a whiny werewolf and an even whinier vampire.] But, the more I became immersed in The Hunger Games, the less I felt bad about it. The heroine of these books is an actual good role model for teen girls. She's a strong, kick ass teenager who will do anything to help her family survive.

First some quick background in case you are one of the 10 people in the entire world (all whom I presumably work with) who didn't read or even hear of the books. The Hunger Games takes place in the future, after a long and bloody war when the states are no longer and the country of Panem is divided into Districts. In order to keep a rebellion in check, the Capitol stages a yearly game in which a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district must compete in a live televised fight to the death. Our heroine Katniss (a superb Jennifer Lawrence) is from District 12 and when her 12 year old sister Prim is chosen, Katniss volunteers in her place. So, Katniss and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) go to the Capitol in order to prepare and compete in the 74th Annual Games. They are joined by their mentor Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), the only person ever from District 12 to previously win, Effie (Elizabeth Banks), a sort of guardian and Cinna (Lenny Kravitz), Katniss' personal stylist. Once inside the Arena, they must fight a host of other Tributes including the sweet and smart Rue, who Katniss befriends, and the deadly Careers, including Cato, who is ultimately the villain of the story.

Overall, I have to say that I loved the movie nearly as much as I loved the book. Movies are never, ever as good as the books, but this one was pretty damn close. There is so little for me to complain about, that it almost feels nitpicky to even try. The only main concern I had was with the breakdown of the film. It's two and a half hours long and it absolutely needs to be that long. But the beginning of the film takes a lot of time to show all the details (which is great) and then once inside the Arena, the movie sort of speeds through a lot of information, leaving out little details that seemed important while reading the book, like Katniss' initial dehydration and struggle for survival.

But the movie does a lot of things better, too. I loved that the Mockingjay pin wasn't from a school friend of Katniss' but instead passed back and forth between the Katniss and Prim, in order to show how strong their bond is. I also loved the sort of behind the scenes vibe that we got with the announcers (Stanley Tucci) and Gamemakers (headed by Wes Bentley, with bad ass facial hair). I also loved the scenes outside of the Arena with Bentley's Seneca Crane and Donald Sutherland's President Snow. Also, the juxtaposition between the dark and deadly Games and the bright and colorful reality spectacle of the whole thing really worked.

The performances were all fantastic with Lawrence and Harrelson stealing best in show. Hutcherson, who I thought was terribly miscast as Peeta, was actually pretty right on. Although, another thing I disliked about the film was the way they down played the fact that he was very strategic and kind of cunning. They played him as just a nice guy. Liam Hemsworth was barely in it, but his story line really expands in Catching Fire. Banks, Tucci, Sutherland, Bentley, and Kravitz were all perfectly cast and did great jobs. This was a fantastic adaptation of a fantastic book and I can't imagine any fans of the book being let down.

Grade: B+

DVD new releases

Like Crazy - I was in love with the trailer for this movie from the first time I saw it. I've probably watched the Like Crazy trailer more than any other ever. The movie is everything I thought it would be based on those two minutes. It stars Anton Yelchin as an American furniture designer and Felicity Jones as a British writer. The two meet in California at college and fall instantly crazy in love with each other. They can't stand to be apart. Which is why she over stays her student visa and then when she visits home for a friends wedding, isn't allowed back into the country. Our distraught love birds try to make it work despite being on separate continents. Then they try to see other people (including the lovely Jennifer Lawrence). Like Crazy is bittersweet and beautiful, touching and heartbreaking. The performances are sensational. The direction is perfection And that ambiguous ending is just plain great.
Grade: B+


Footloose - So, by now everyone should be well aware of my obsession with dance movies. They are my guilty pleasure. I love me some Step Up and Stomp the Yard. So, despite my hatred of remakes (in general, not always), I was kind of psyched about Footloose. Well, it's pretty damn good. Directed by Craig Brewer (who also directed two of my favorites - Hustle and Flow and Black Snake Moan), the remake of Footloose manages to stay true to the original while creating its own sort of swagger. They pay homage to the original - Ren still teaches his bestie to dance to Let's Hear it For the Boys, but still keep it modern - these days Ren is solo anger dancing to the White Stripes. And while newcomer Kenny Wormald is no Kevin Bacon (but, really, who is??), he is still pretty damn good as the city boy who suddenly finds himself in a small country town where dancing is illegal. Julianne Hough proves she can actually act and isn't just a pretty dancer. Overall, the Footloose remake proves that sometimes it's not such a bad thing to remake a classic, if you do it with respect.
Grade: B


Martha Marcy May Marlene - Despite the fact that this movie may have the single worst ending of any movie I have ever seen in my entire life (TRUTH!), I loved it. In fact, I wish I had seen it pre-Oscars so I could have used my blog (and my three readers) to campaign for Elizabeth Olsen and John Hawkes. The story follows Olsen's character as she escapes from a cult where she's been living for the last two years. She gets taken in my her sister and her husband but finds it increasingly difficult to assimilate to regular life. She has no idea why it's not appropriate to skinny dip in a lake with children or why you shouldn't curl up on the foot of the bed while your sister is having sex with her husband. Plus, she's super trouble. We see why during flashbacks to the cult where she has to deal with the super creepy but charismatic leader (Hawkes) and his seemingly nice but possibly psychotic followers (including Brady Corbet). Olsen's performance is ridiculously good. Like, so good, she may have topped my Best Actress list good. No wonder she is going to be a huge star. She's incredible. Martha (her real name) Marcy May (her cult name) Marlene (a code name they use when answering the phones) is a great little gem of a movie, interesting and intense, artistic and fascinating. Too bad about that ending.
Grade: B+

End of Summer Mini Updates!

Quick updates on movies I've seen lately...

The Beaver - Listen, I don't like Mel Gibson - as a person, as an actor, whatever. So, his involvement may have tarnished this movie a bit for me. It's kind of a weirdly clever idea: a man gets kicked out by his wife, tries to kill himself, finds a beaver hand puppet and decides to speak through the puppet only in an attempt to make good with his family. Too bad, it just falls short. I could care less about Gibson. Foster, as his wife, is perfectly fine, if not slightly boring. Instead, it's too young stars who steal the show: Anton Yelchin as Gibson and Foster's angsty son and Jennifer Lawrence as his troubled love interest are delightful. They have fantastic chemistry and energy. If you must watch it, watch it for Yelchin and Lawrence.
Grade: C

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark - I was excited to see this movie because it was supposedly rated R for being so damn scary. There was no nudity, no gore, no bad language, none of the stuff that warrants a typical R rating. It was just supposed to be too scary for kids. I disagree. That's not to say the story isn't interesting. It's a great haunted house tale that mixes intensity and folk lore into a decent little film. However, still not scary. Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce are just fine as the couple living in an old gorgeous house with his young daughter. Then monsters begin to terrorize the daughter. And not just any monsters, tiny little monsters that are maybe a foot high and are more annoying than scary. Decent flick, but doesn't succeed at what it sets out to do.
Grade: C-

Skateland - Skateland was a welcome relief after watching two such mediocre movies. Shiloh Fernandez stars as a man in his early 20s who is living in Texas and working at the local skating rink in the early 80s. He enjoys flirting with his best friends sister (Ashley Green) and getting drunk with his friends (Taylor Handley). Then, his world begins to fall apart - Skateland decides to close, his parents get a divorce. Skateland is a great coming of age movie about coming to terms with your mortality and making huge changes in your life even if you are terrified of doing so. Everyone can relate because everyone has had that moment. Plus, Skateland has a hot, young cast and a great soundtrack. Definitely worth checking out!
Grade: B

I Am Number Four - Okay. I know. This is typical of me, sure. I sure do love movies aimed at 14 year old girls. But, look, I Am Number Four was just fine! I was expecting it to be TERRIBLE but it was actually pretty compelling, if not stupid. Alex Pettyfer (who is really too pretty to be a real person) stars as an alien on the run from a bunch of other creepier, and uglier, aliens. He and his guardian (Timothy Olyphant) move to Ohio where he is supposed to blend in so he can hide, but he instead falls for the ex girlfriend (Glee's Dianna Agron) of the troublemaker quarterback of the football team. Needless to say, his scary alien foes find him. As does Number Six, a totally bad ass Theresa Palmer. Really, I promise. It's not as bad as you think!
Grade: C

The Help - Emma Stone stars as Skeeter, a woman who just graduated from Ole Miss in the 1960s and returns home aching to be a novelist. She decides to write a book about The Help, the maids who raise white children but are eventually treated like crap by the very children they raised when they become adults. It's a great story, riveting, heartwarming and interesting. Plus, the actors are simply phenomenal. From lead performances by the ever-charming Stone and the incendiary Viola Davis to all the amazing supporting actresses: the bubbly and adorable Jessica Chastain, the cruel and vicious Bryce Dallas Howard, the quiet scene stealer Allison Janney, and the sassy lightning rod Octavia Spencer. All around, a great movie that shouldn't be missed!
Grade: B+

Mini Reviews: The Hangover Part 2, The Dilemma, X-Men: First Class

The Hangover Part 2 - In the sequel to the super hilarious The Hangover, the wolf pack is back and this time in Thailand. It starts out much the same - a terrible phone call - and then flashes back to a few days earlier and shows you how things play out. This time around, Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Allen (Zach Galifianakis) attend Stu's (Ed Helms) wedding in Thailand. Stu is still a bit stunned from the events of the first film, so he doesn't want a bachelor party. Still, things get crazy and the three guys wake up in a dive motel one morning and can't find Stu's fiancee's little brother. Then they must retrace their steps and try to figure out what happens. Much like the first, they find the brother in the eleventh hour and relive their crazy night via pictures at the end. That's just the thing. It's sooo much like the original. And, I mean, to a certain extent that's great. Don't fix it, if it's not broken, right? But this is pretty much just a shot for shot remake in a different city with slightly different events. Is it funny? Sure. But it's nowhere near as laugh out loud crazy as the original. It's got it's moments but sequels can never really live up to their predecessors. They are inferior films by definition alone. The Hangover Part 2, unfortunately, is no different.
Grade: C+

The Dilemma - What the hell was Ron Howard thinking? He's made some pretty great films but this is sooo not one of them. Vince Vaughn and Kevin James star as besties. Vaughn is dating Jennifer Connelly and James has somehow manages to snag himself Winona Ryder. One day, Vaughn's Ronny discovers that Ryder's Geneva is cheating with a hottie named Zip (Channing Tatum). Hence, the dilemma. Should he tell his best friend? Should he wait a few days until the stress of a big work project passes? Who gives a crap? You don't care about these awful, hateful, unlikeable characters. They are all liars and cheaters. Plus, the movie is not funny at all. I didn't laugh once. And Vauhgn is someone I generally find funny. Also, I'm sorry, but if Kevin James manages to marry someone as hot and out of his league as Winona Ryder then I'm pretty sure he should allow her to cheat on him with Channing Tatum. (Just kidding!). Still, I don't have a single good thing to say about this movie and I clearly found my first possibility for Worst Movie of the Year.
Grade: F

X-Men: First Class - By no means am I a huge X-Men fan. I saw the previous trilogy. I guess I can say, overall, I enjoyed them. They had their positives and their negatives. Still, I wasn't hopping out of my seat to see this prequel. Let's just say - I was pleasantly surprised. X-Men: First Class is fun and exciting. It's got a ridiculously talented and hot young cast (James McAvoy as Xavier, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Zoe Kravitz as Angel). The story line was a bit confusing but interesting. It seems Erik / Magneto was raised and tested by a Nazi doctor and he's now all grown up and seeking revenge. Turns out the Nazi doctor is also a mutant named Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) who is hell bent on starting World War III. Erik teams up with Charles who is now helping out Rose Byrne and the CIA. They start finding a bunch of young mutants and train them to stop Shaw and the Bay of Pigs AND the potential World War III. The movie meanders a bit, and could have lost about 20 minutes or so on the editing floor, but overall I can't say too many bad things about it. It's fun and enjoyable and what else do you want out of a comic book summer movie? Fassbender is a total bad ass as Erik / Magneto. Remember his name because he is going to be HUGE. Bacon gives a great performance as the villain of the film. There are also two really great, well done cameos in the film. All in all, X-Men: First Class is surprisingly and refreshingly damn good.
Grade: B

Oscar Wrap-Up!

First of all, so glad last night wasn't a sweep by The King's Speech, which ultimately only took home four awards (although they were four big ones) which was the same number taken home by the clearly superior Inception. Second of all, I did fairly badly with my predicting since I went gutsy in the big six and had absolutely NO idea about the categories I usually have NO idea about (documentary short, live action short, animated short, etc.). I tried to Live Tweet the Oscars but halfway through realized by tweets via text were being uncooperative and gave up the ship.

The Red Carpet Arrivals - As the director loving geek that I am, I was hoping to have E! talk to such handsome, brilliant men as David Fincher and Darren Aronofsky. Instead, they chose to speak to the dude from Chuck (he's fine but it's the OSCARS) and Florence Welch for 25 minutes each (I love her too but, again, NOT an Oscar nominee). Maybe Ryan Seacrest doesn't know who David Fincher / Darren Aronofsky are? Wouldn't surpise me. There were a lot of great dresses (and I will name my best dressed at the bottom of the page) including: Scarlett Johansson, Hailee Steinfeld (whose been killing it all award season), and the top half of Halle Berry's dress. Everyone talked about how great Natalie Portman looked but it was sort of EH for me. I mean, she's arguably the most beautiful woman in the entire world and she wears such ugly clothes. It's a waste and a shame. Also worst dressed? E! thought she looked amazing but Gwenyth Paltrow = yuck!

The Winners -
-Best Picture: The King's Speech (I picked this correctly, although up until Best Director was announced, I thought The Social Network was going to take it. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Borefest 2010 won out in the end!)
-Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan (I picked this also and YAY! She totally deserved it!)
-Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech (Also picked correctly. His speech was about as boring as his movie!)
-Best Director: Tom Hooper, The King's Speech (I picked Fincher and I thought it could happen too. Whatev. Fincher will win next year for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Hooper will never direct a movie that any of us will talk about ever again.)
-Best Adapated Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, THe Social Network (Another one right! Sorkin is crazy smart. It's hard to believe that a movie involving two of the most brilliant people in Hollywood managed to lose Best Picture.)
-Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler, The King's Speech (Another one right / another win for the borefest!)
-Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3 (Another one right and actually this is the first one I got correct while watching the show live.)
-Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter (I picked Steinfeld over Leo. I find it hard to believe that anyone actually likes Melissa Leo. Like, you could be a fan of hers until you hear one of her acceptance speeches and then you want to punch her in the face, I think, right?)
-Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter (Another one right and yay!)
-Best Editing: Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter, The Social Network (Another correct prediction. Editing, to me, is what keeps a movie going and entertaining and alive. That said, there's no way borefest 2010 could have possibly won this category.)
-Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister, Inception (I picked Roger Deakins for True Grit but I'm not mad that Inception took the prize. That was an excellent movie also. It's just sad that Deakins, an amazing cinematographer currently has 9 nominations and 0 wins! He's like the Annette Bening of cinematographers.)
-Best Original Score: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, The Social Network (Another one right! And, also, yay!)
-Best Art Direction: Alice in Wonderland (This was the first award of the evening and I thought for sure The King's Speech would take it on its road to Sweeps-ville. Eventhough I thought this movie was terrible, I was so happy it won over borefest!)
-Best Costume Design: Alice in Wonderland (I predicted this one since it was the only nominee with pretty dresses!)
-Best Visual Effects: Inception (No brainer!)
-Best Make-Up: The Wolfman (I was going to pick this and then I picked Barney's Version instead because I thought the Academy was classy enough to not give awards to shitty movies. I was wrong.)
-Best Sound Mixing: Inception (No brainer!)
-Best Sound Editing: Inception (No brainer!)
-Best Song: We Belong Together, Toy Story 3, Randy Newman (Honestly, all of these nominees sucked. I chose the song from 127 Hours instead but Newman gave a funny speech so I guess it's okay that he won!)
-Best Documentary Short: Strangers No More (These are the categories with which I have NO knowledge so I typically just pick the one with the coolest sounding title. I forget what I picked but it certainly wasn't this!)
-Best Live Action Short: God of Love (Again, didn't pick this one! I think this is the guy with the crazy, curly hair who gave the super funny, super cute acceptance speech? If so, yay him! Best acceptance speech of the night!)
-Best Animated Short: The Lost Thing (Again, didn't pick this!)
-Best Foreign Language Film: In a Better World (I picked Dogtooth here. Cooler title!)
-Best Documentary: Inside Job (I forgot that the Academy is old and un-fun and not young and hip because I picked Exit Through the Giftshop.)
Ultimately, I was 13/24 which was super pathetic, not nearly as good as my ass kicking predictions last year but whatever. At least it was better than 50%, yeah? And for the first time ever, Dane and I TIED in our predictions, so that was fun!

Best Dressed - It's a tie...
Jennifer Lawrence
and
Mila Kunis

That's a wrap on the movies of 2010. Now onward to 2011!