True Grit

Hmm...Was not wowed as much as I was hoping I would be. This film has gone through a weird few months--doing well in the box office, getting no golden globe nominations, and then getting 10 oscar nominations. I typically love the Coen brothers, and I will say that for the most part, the movie was entertaining; there were however some slow parts, and Matt Damon.

I think I should probably see the original True Grit now to compare, but the story line is solid. The epic cinematography (which will probably win) was a great backdrop to the story, and Hailee Steinfeld was the perfect LEAD actress...right? No, she was nominated as a supporting actress for the movie, landing her in a category that was not already dominated by front runner Natalie Portman. There is no question that Hailee's character was the lead--the first half hour of the movie completely revolved around her, and all of the crucial plot elements followed her movement. I do not mean to say that she wasn't amazing though. The 15 year old easily out-acted the rest of the cast, and portrayed a maturity well beyond her years.

I have read a few reviews about Jeff Bridges performance and most criticize it as not being intimidating enough--which I agree with. He is made out to be too much of a drunk to really be a formidable opponent. I also found myself missing about a third of his dialog because he slurred so much. I did enjoy his performance in the court room the first time we are introduced to his character though.

Matt Damon and Josh Brolin were both a little disappointing. I recognize that they were trying to paint Damon as the clown Texas Ranger, but I thought that they made him a little bit too much of a caricature. I know...its the Coen brothers, thats what they do...but it seemed like Damon's character was less believable than Bridges and Steinfield. I also had a problem with Brolin's performance. By looks alone, he was perfect. He had a menacing look to him that was great for the character; but it was the voice he used that I didn't like. I was expecting a man a bit more intelligent too.

Overall, the movie was good. Hailee Steinfield helped draw you into the characters, while Brolin, Bridges and Damon all were all cartoons. So how will the movie fare at the Oscars? I think that as a film it has no chance. Bridges got his acting win last year. The Coen brothers? Maybe, but unlikely. I think that the best hopes for this film will come in either the Supporting Actress category or Cinematography.

My Rating: B

Oscar Nominations List

So the nominations list came out this morning...Big suprises included Christopher Nolan NOT getting a directing nom for Inception, True Grit earning the 2nd most nominations (2nd to The King's Speech with 12, it had 10), and the recognition of both Michelle Williams and Javier Bardem. Little sad Andrew Garfield missed out too.

Below is the rundown of the major nominations and my predictions for the time being...still have a few movies to see (The King's Speech, True Grit, Blue Valentine, The Kids are Alright and Biutiful) but here it is so far...The predicted winner is in red, italics for what I actually want to win. Possible dark horses in green

Best Picture:
Inception
Toy Story 3
True Grit
The King's Speech
The Social Network
Black Swan
127 Hours
Winter's Bone
The Kids are Alright
The Fighter

Lead Actress:
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Lead Actor:
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King's Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours

Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Supporting Actor:
Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

Directing:
Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky
The Fighter, David. O. Russell
The King's Speech, Tom Hooper
The Social Network, David Fincher
True Grit, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

127 Hours

Great movie. James Franco is pretty much the heart and soul, as the final 3/4 of the movie pretty much stars him in a crevasse fighting for his life. Parts of the movie reminded a bit of Titanic--you knew the end result before going in to the movie, but the story on the way there was what made it interesting. I am glad that Franco has been earned a fair share of nominations for his performance, and think that he should get an Oscar nom also--but there is slim chance he will beat Colin Firth (although if somebody does beat Firth, it will be him).

I really liked some of the things that Danny Boyle did with the shooting. Going in, I had been warned of the split screen sections, and more artsy shots (i.e. the water traveling up the hose on the camelback), but I tended to enjoy both. The split screen multiple camera angle moments gave scenes that could have been otherwise a bit plain, an extra depth. I wondered how this story would really play out, and how they would manage to entertain an audience by showing Franco caught under a rock for an hour and a half--but they did. By giving Ralston some background in the early scenes, and in the scene with the female hitchhikers, you start to get who he is. The scene that really got me was a few days into him being trapped, when he was starting to lose it, and he put on the talk show voice and was interviewing himself. Really glad that Boyle decided to team up with AR Rahman again too(oscar winner for the Slumdog soundtrack).

As I said above, this was the James Franco show--he made the movie. Not suprised that the movie as a whole hasn't earned much recognition, it is not quite oscar winning material. I think that many people were weary of the main event of the movie...Franco hacking his arm off. They didn't shy away from showing the details in the movie either--it was probably just about as much as I could handle--but it didn't take away from the movie as a whole. And of course, as I have found recently, the actual footage at the end of the movie of the real Aron Ralston got the waterworks going (the footage at the end of The Fighter did it too!).

My Rating: B+

The Social Network

So it looks like we have a front runner--the Social Network cleaned up at the Golden Globes, winning Best picture (Drama), Best director, Best Screenplay and Best Score. Is this momentum going to continue through the SAG awards, and then on to the Oscars??

As I sat through the opening dialog between Zuckerberg and his girlfriend, I was nervous that I was going to get exhausted from how spitfire the dialog was flying at me. It was definitely difficult to get used to the fast pace, but Sorkin's intelligent dialog is the movies strong suit. Sure, at times it felt a little like the Gilmore Girls, but the fast pace was what kept the audience invested. Nobody thought a story about the creation of facebook would be too riveting a story-- but Mark Zuckerberg, the Winklevoss twins, and Eduardo Saverin definitely made some entertaining characters to build a movie around. How accurate was the story? Probably not even a little bit.

It was hard not to get a bit nostalgic in the early scenes of the movie as the idea for a website like facebook was hatched, and to think about how awesome it was to be able to join such an elite network once we got to college. Of course that exclusivity is gone now, but I think the movie did well showing the path that the website took.

As mentioned above, the character portrayals were awesome--and from almost completely unknown actors. Jesse Eisenberg should not have been nominated for a Golden Globe for it, but his performance was hilarious (although not a lot different from his previous roles?). Pretty sure Andrew garfield stole the show...and I can't wait to see him as the new spiderman. I think that Josh Pence as the hateable Winklevoss was perfect though. I enjoyed most of the performances in the entire movie, except Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker. Timberlake was playing himself--there wasn't a second he was on screen that I really thought he was acting as somebody else.

On a completely separate note, I love that Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails wrote the score, and further more, that he won the Golden Globe for it. I thought the score was awesome, and hope he gets the oscar too.

Overall, I guess I am not surprised that the movie took the Golden Globe...It undoubtedly felt like one of the more intelligent and whole movies of the group (although I have yet to see the Kings Speech), and although I would have loved to have seen Black Swan win, it was definitely too artsy. With great writing, an fresh cast (despite Timberlake), and a awesome score, It was pretty good all around.

My Rating: A

The Fighter

Christian Bale. Christian Bale, Christian Bale, Christian Bale. And Melissa Leo. The movie was entertaining as a whole, and has awesome fight sequences, but Bale and Leo stole the show. The two play a pair of completely wretched human beings, but through some intense characterization and relationhips with Mark Wahlbergs character, you still feel for in the end. The realness of this whole story is what made it for me, coupled with the actual story of how it came to be (Mark Wahlberg bought the story, from his home town in Southie years ago, so that he could be the one to produce it and make sure it happened.)

Christian Bale blew me away. Everybody knows he is a character actor, as seen in The Machinist and American Psycho, but this portrayal was flawless. He transformed his body into that of an addict, and took on all the ticks and habits of the real life character as we saw during the credits of the movie when the real life people that the movie was based on were shown. Additionally, Melissa Leo gave an amazing performance as the over-bearing matriarch that you wanted to slap through the whole movie.

I was excited before seeing the movie for Amy Adams performance, as it is a role very far outside the roles we have seen her in, but I was a little let down. It was definitely refreshing to see her swear (a lot) and show a little skin, but I wish she had gotten a little grittier...although one of my favorite seens in the movie was her beating on the ugly sisters. Mark Wahlberg was another that didn't necessarily wow me--he played the character well, but did anybody really expect Markie Mark to get an acting nomination? That being said, he was better than I thought he would be. And he looked good.

Overall, Christian Bale and Melissa Leo carried the movie. I really felt that the on screen relationships that the two made were what drove the movie. Without the two of them, I don't think that the movie would have been anywhere near as successfull. Again, I think this movie will be nominated for an oscar for best film, but don't think it will win...the ensemble as a whole wasn't strong enough. I think that Bale has it for supporting, and Leo has a good shot also.

My rating: B+

Black Swan

I know everybody is raving about this, and not to jump on the bandwagon...but damn--It's good. Not only does Natalie Portman look smokin hot the whole movie, she does crazy ballerina pretty well too. Darren Aronovsky succesfully put together another stressfull and uncomfortable movie to watch (think Reqium for a Dream and The Wrestler). I have described this movie to a few people as a cross between Fight Club and The Machinist, for its ability to make the viewer constantly question what is actually happening and what is halucination.

Thought Natalie Portman that did an amazing job portraying the life of a ballerina, and the ridiculous amount of pressure that they are put under. Her body was perfect for a ballerina, and although I know she ahd body doubles for some of the dancing, I thought that the portions she actually did were impressive for a non dancer. Excited that she got a nom at the Golden globes, and I think that she stands a good chance of getting an oscar nom.

The rest of the cast framed the movie well...Mila Kunis looking all cute and spunky, Wynonna Ryder playing herself more or less as a washed up star, and Barbara Hershey playing the mom from Carrie. All great performances, although kind of suprised that Hershey got a nom.

Overall the movie was awesome, but I think it might have been a bit too artsy and weird to win an oscar. I have no doubt that it will be nominated because of the stupid 10 movie nomination change, however I do not think that it will win. I think that Natalie fares to do the best at the Oscars, but we'll see. Also, maybe Aronovsky?

My rating: A

So I decided to make a blog...

I have been wanting to blog about something for a while, but it took me a while to think of something good enough that someone other than myself might want to read. Decided to blog about movies that I watch, both new and old (especially now, during awards season while I am seeing a lot of new movies). Will probably also post my predictions for winners of the golden globes and oscars.