Okay okay. Every one's doing this, but I am at an entirely different viewpoint than others. This is the second year of the new century that the Academy has opened the window of Best Motion Picture to 10 films and most of them are films that should well be recognized. Unfortunately, as I write this, I've only seen 8 of the nominated 10 Best Pictures (127 Hours and The King's Speech are the remainders) so I cannot fully disclose my opinion without having seen the films firsthand.
As far as Best Picture is concerned, most of the films nominated justified their buzz. Yet I'm amazed and appalled about Winter's Bone snagging a nom. I guess there has to be a rotten egg in the bunch every year. Last year, it was An Education . This year, Winter's Bone . My vote would have been The Town .
I haven't seen Blue Valentine yet, but there are several who think that Ryan Gosling was gypped out of a second nomination in the Best Actor category. I get a little frustrated each year when a foreign film manages to sneak in an acting nomination. I am talking of Javier Bardem's nomination for Biutiful. It is not that I dislike Bardem (I thought he was the only good part of No Country For Old Men), but with all of the great acting the American films this year, Bardem must've done a damn good job to get his nomination.
Most of the Best Actress nominations were deserved, but I'm confused as to why Hailee Steinfeld from True Grit is not nominated in this category but Supporting Actress? Her character was in every scene of that film. Perhaps the Academy thought that a nomination in Best Actress might have upstaged Jeff Bridges for his nomination in the Best Actor category.
Christian Bale is a lock for The Fighter and if he loses it better not go to John Hawkes for Winter's Bone.
For the Best Supporting Actress category, some might say that Mila Kunis was robbed of a nomination for her performance in Black Swan, but the focus was on Natalie Portman, so Mila Kunis didn't have a lot to give. Melissa Leo is a lock for picking up the award for The Fighter. Animal Kingdom's Jackie Weaver is another example of a foreign film (it's Australian) grabbing a nomination for one of its actors.
I predicted that Christopher Nolan would not get nominated for a directing award for Inception though I'm glad it was recognized for several behind-the-camera awards. It may not come close in votes for winning the award for Best Original Screenplay (my vote is for The King's Speech, even though I haven't seen it. The race for Best Director is between David Fincher for The Social Network and Tom Hooper for The King's Speech though, again, I haven't seen it.
Aaron Sorkin is a lock to win Best Adapted Screenplay for The Social Network and if he loses it better go to Toy Story 3.
As far as the minor awards go, the biggest snub has to go to Daft Punk for not getting nominated for their awesome electric score for Tron: Legacy. Come on, Academy, you just nominated the lead singer for Nine Inch Nails, you couldn't nominate an electronica band in the same category?
Best Make-Up every year is a joke, with the three nominees getting the only nominations in this category for their films.
French animated film The Illusionist managed to beat out great American-made animated films like Tangled and Despicable Me. But it seems to happen every year with at least one foreign film being added to the ever-so-small Best Animated Feature category. Toy Story 3 is a lock.
Enjoy the movies everyone!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Season of the Witch
I used to enjoy looking forward Nic Cage films. In fact, two of my many favorite action films are The Rock and Face/Off. Recently, though, Nicolas Cage has been making a decline from big blockbuster budgets to thrown together reels of bad editing and acting. Season of the Witch is no exception to the string of low-budget wanna-be action flicks starring Nic Cage.
From the beginning, the film tries attempts to set the tone of the film: dark, dirty, and ready to deal with the devil, yet it is the only scene in which this is portrayed. Not even the climax can best the opening scene where townspeople toss women over the bridge for being witches.
In the years that follow, two crusading soldiers, Behman (Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman) battle through several locales doing it all apparently in God's name. When Behman stabs an innocent woman in a town they've just overtaken, Behman finally realizes that all the killing he's done in the past is not something that God would want. Behman deserts the troop and Felson, being a good friend, follows him on a month long journey to nowhere in particular. They encounter a town to stock up on ratons but Behman's sword, which has a crest on the hilt that could give them away, gives them away. Instead of sending them to a dark dungeon, the Cardinal of the town (a hilarious cameo by Christopher Lee) asks them to transport a woman who is suspected of being a witch to a monastery where the Monks can exhume the demon spirit from her body, because, as a witch, she is suspected of bringing on the horrible Plague through the land.
Despite the somewhat strong MacGuffin of a plot line, the film is riddled with plot holes. The script stumbled out of the gate from the get-go. It's as if it was submitted in its first draft and never edited. There are so many plot holes in the story it seems as if the script was never even read to try and fill any gaps. Cage can't seem to catch a break with the material he's given, because every line he speaks seems as if he just read it right off the page with no adaptation to his character. It also doesn't help that a character is hired to guide them around the deadly forest between the towns they travel, but somehow find themselves in the middle of the forest they fought so hard to avoid in the first place.
Season of the Witch is a predictable journey with little thrills. Its attempts in enticing action throughout the story are futile because Behman, Felson, and the characters that follow them are not real heroes. They bob along the plot because that's where they need to go. There is no real goal for these two protagonists and that's why there is no need to care about them as they go on their journey. F
From the beginning, the film tries attempts to set the tone of the film: dark, dirty, and ready to deal with the devil, yet it is the only scene in which this is portrayed. Not even the climax can best the opening scene where townspeople toss women over the bridge for being witches.
In the years that follow, two crusading soldiers, Behman (Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman) battle through several locales doing it all apparently in God's name. When Behman stabs an innocent woman in a town they've just overtaken, Behman finally realizes that all the killing he's done in the past is not something that God would want. Behman deserts the troop and Felson, being a good friend, follows him on a month long journey to nowhere in particular. They encounter a town to stock up on ratons but Behman's sword, which has a crest on the hilt that could give them away, gives them away. Instead of sending them to a dark dungeon, the Cardinal of the town (a hilarious cameo by Christopher Lee) asks them to transport a woman who is suspected of being a witch to a monastery where the Monks can exhume the demon spirit from her body, because, as a witch, she is suspected of bringing on the horrible Plague through the land.
Despite the somewhat strong MacGuffin of a plot line, the film is riddled with plot holes. The script stumbled out of the gate from the get-go. It's as if it was submitted in its first draft and never edited. There are so many plot holes in the story it seems as if the script was never even read to try and fill any gaps. Cage can't seem to catch a break with the material he's given, because every line he speaks seems as if he just read it right off the page with no adaptation to his character. It also doesn't help that a character is hired to guide them around the deadly forest between the towns they travel, but somehow find themselves in the middle of the forest they fought so hard to avoid in the first place.
Season of the Witch is a predictable journey with little thrills. Its attempts in enticing action throughout the story are futile because Behman, Felson, and the characters that follow them are not real heroes. They bob along the plot because that's where they need to go. There is no real goal for these two protagonists and that's why there is no need to care about them as they go on their journey. F
Monday, January 10, 2011
Resolutions
It's been eight months since I last posted to this blog and if you're a die-hard follower, I hope you haven't been holding your breath for my next post.
As it's January of the new year, which caught most of us off-guard by its quick approach, it's time to make some resolutions film-style. My first resolution is to watch every single stinkin' movie that gets released at the chain of theaters where I work. And yes, that even includes the god-awful fifth installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise. I'm hoping that this will break my 2005 record of number of films seen on the Big Screen. And I believe that number to be 112.
My second resolution is to not pre-judge films before I see them, so, for now, I take back everything I said about Fast Five in the previous paragraph. At least until June.
My third resolution is to continue my epic task of watching every Best Picture Oscar winner and nominee (except for 1927's The Patriot, which cannot be found on film or other medium anywhere. Betcha didn't know that, did you?)
Personally, I'm in a state of transition from my current job of theater manager to one of more career-going status, which, ironically enough, will allow me more time to enjoy the movies. In case you're wondering, working at a theater is not quite the career-going field. It's also difficult to spend my precious leisure time at a place where I work, especially when it's close to being the only thing in town that's open past 10pm.
As I write this, I have achieved exactly zero percent of these resolutions as I have already mocked Season of the Witch for being at 1% on the Tomatometer at Rotten Tomatoes. Sigh. What have I gotten myself into?
As it's January of the new year, which caught most of us off-guard by its quick approach, it's time to make some resolutions film-style. My first resolution is to watch every single stinkin' movie that gets released at the chain of theaters where I work. And yes, that even includes the god-awful fifth installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise. I'm hoping that this will break my 2005 record of number of films seen on the Big Screen. And I believe that number to be 112.
My second resolution is to not pre-judge films before I see them, so, for now, I take back everything I said about Fast Five in the previous paragraph. At least until June.
My third resolution is to continue my epic task of watching every Best Picture Oscar winner and nominee (except for 1927's The Patriot, which cannot be found on film or other medium anywhere. Betcha didn't know that, did you?)
Personally, I'm in a state of transition from my current job of theater manager to one of more career-going status, which, ironically enough, will allow me more time to enjoy the movies. In case you're wondering, working at a theater is not quite the career-going field. It's also difficult to spend my precious leisure time at a place where I work, especially when it's close to being the only thing in town that's open past 10pm.
As I write this, I have achieved exactly zero percent of these resolutions as I have already mocked Season of the Witch for being at 1% on the Tomatometer at Rotten Tomatoes. Sigh. What have I gotten myself into?
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