Weekend Roundup

I have a few minutes before I head off to the theater so I figured I should update. Now, did it sound posh of me to say "the theater?"

I've been trying to cram in as many Oscar nom'd flicks the past couple of weeks while also struggling to not maim my co-workers. Here's the quick flick run down.

A Single Man: First, I'll get the silly stuff out of the way. Colin Firth mostly naked...bonus! Matthew Goode mostly naked...bonus! This movie really lets Colin step into the limelight. He deserves his best actor nom as he takes us through the (possibly) final day in his character's life. He is a professor whose boyfriend of 16 years died 8 months earlier. He is struggling to just get out of bed every day, let alone live any sort of life. He has decided to kill himself and we spend the day with him as he says good bye to those around him (although they don't realize that is what he is doing). The movie is set in '60's California and the film is treated in such a way that you feel like you are watching a movie made with film stock of that era. It is all very cool and has gray overtones until we come across moments that make Firth's character start to want to live again. Then the film becomes warmer and the colors more vibrant. At first it's very subtle and you question whether or not what you saw actually happened. The film is a gentle, character study which means a lot of people probably won't seek it out. But, it is a beautiful movie both in look and in the acting with in it. Check it out...it will be worth it.

The second flick I've seen recently is not up for an Oscar, but it's a new release so I'll toss something out.

The Wolf Man. Ugh. I was really expecting it to be good because I really like all the actors involved. Sadly, it sucked. The script wasn't very strong. The issue with the story of the wolf man is he only goes wolfy once a month. So, you have to come up with something to keep the story going between wolf attacks. The first couple of bits were okay. Wolf Dude kills a guy and it takes a few weeks for the body to be discovered and for Emily Blunt to write Benicio Del Toro and tell him his brother has disappeared and for Benicio to come to the family estate. Fine. I can live with that. I can even live with the month that goes between Wolf Dude attack #2 where Benicio gets bit and then it takes him a month to recover.

But, when it presumably takes Benicio a month to walk from London to the estate while at the same time it takes Emily a month to get to the same place, but she's traveling by horse and carriage, I start to get annoyed.

Then there are the leaves in the foyer. I was obsessed with these frickin' leaves. At the start of the flick, we find out that Benny and Anthony Hopkins have been estranged since Benny was 11. Benny comes back because Emily wrote him about his brother. The first time he walks into his old house it is dark and dank. There are massive cobwebs everywhere and there are dead leaves all over the foyer. This is called I can't come up with actual tension so I'm going to create it by tossing a bunch of dead plants everywhere. I appreciate that the director wanted a very Gothic feel to the flick; I expected that. But, just tossing dead leaves around isn't going to cut it.

Now, if Anthony lived alone there, I could work with it. It would be as though he was a hermit. But, he wasn't. The brother lived there and the impression was given that Emily, the brother's fiance, was currently living there too! Now, you tell me that a woman from a respectable family would put up with cobwebs everywhere and a ton of flippin' leaves in the hall. I don't think so. And even if I was mistaken and Emily wasn't living there, when Benny gets bit, she comes to stay with them and the flippin' leaves are still there. They are there for the whole flippin' movie! And, I saw at least one servant rambling about besides Anthony's butler type dude...like they couldn't come up with a broom somewhere.

I hated those damn leaves.

Finally, we have Shutter Island. I'll state right from the start that I love Marty Scorsese. I've also recently become a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio (he was amazing in Revolutionary Road). So, I was ready to enjoy this from the get go. I was not disappointed, but I think some people might be.

To start off with, the trailer makes it look like the movie is a scare-fest that moves at a break neck pace. Not so much. It is actually a slow burn psychological mystery. It is about 2 1/2 hrs. long and while you do see all the moments shown in the trailer, there is a whole lot of set up in between. I thought the movie was just fabulous visually. When Leo's character is either dreaming or having an odd flashback, I instantly thought of Alfred Hitchcock. In fact, when the second dream was being shown on screen, I thought of Hitchcock's great movie, Marnie. (As a side note, if you are a Sean Connery fan, you should check this flick out. And if you always thought Sean was hot, you definitely want to see the moment when he's all wet in a white shirt...I'm just saying.)

For some people, the big reveal at the end might be disappointing, but I was comfortable with it. It didn't let me down because the performances by Michelle Williams and Leo are so strong. They sold me so I was fine. I think the movie was interesting, visually engaging, the performances are solid, the sound track is good and moody; it is worth going to see. Just don't go in expecting a roller coaster ride.

If I can fit it in this week, Crazy Heart is still in town. We'll see. If I have another day when my co-workers leave at 2pm and 3pm, I may be too tired to swing it.

Oskee Ow Ow.

Yes, you are reading that score correctly. We could not hit the broadside of a barn today. I lost track of how many shots rolled around the rim and then popped out. I think our FG% ended up being 35. Ugh. This was not the same team that beat Michigan State and Wisconsin (at flippin' Wisconsin for goodness sake) last week. Maybe there was too long a break between the WI game and this one. I don't know what it looked like on national television, but it wasn't pretty in person.




I took this shot during the pre-game shoot around with about half an hour before the game started. This gives you an idea of where our seats were. During the game the place was packed with people in orange and one little section of folks in red. Damn them.

Oscar!

Damn, it's been awhile since I've updated. I suck. Anyway, the Oscar nom's have come out. I, of course, printed them out at work moments after the announcement. I am that big of a dork.

I guess I can appreciate expanding the Best Picture category to get more flicks noticed, but it still feels weird. I believe the theory is that with a larger group you can get more variety (ie. comedies, sci-fi, animation). Not to mention, those films will get people into the theaters or renting the DVD's just to see something that was nominated (more moola for the man). My worry is that it's going to end up being a dumping ground. As far as I'm concerned, if a film is amazing enough to be nominated, it shouldn't matter if it is animated, science fiction, or a silent movie. Whatever.

I'm sorry, but The Blind Side? Avatar? Inglorious Basterds? Really? The Blind Side was a good movie, but not really a Best Pic. I think you know my opinion of Avatar and Inglorious could have been better. It will be interesting to see how things go over the next few years. I think that will be the real test of whether or not this was a good idea.

Along those lines, over the last couple of weeks I got the chance to see two of the Best Pic nom's. Both pictures were about teenage girls struggling to work their way to adulthood.

First up, An Education. For me, the big draw was the screenplay written by Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About A Boy) and (lead actress nom) Carey Mulligan, who is one of my favorite new-ish actresses. The movie follows Carey's character as she grows up in the London of 1961. She is working towards going to Oxford. She is smart, funny, and is tired of her parents' (and England's) quiet and boring life. By chance, she meets a man who is all that her parents are not. He loves art, music, most things French...he travels, he's funny and respectful to her...oh and he's about 30. She's 16.

We get to watch as he woos her parents into trusting him to first take her to a concert, and then eventually taking her to Paris for the weekend. Even though her parents only want her to be happy, her father still holds on to the idea that all she needs is a husband. He does support her desire to go to Oxford, but he doesn't know what sort of job she's going to get when she finishes school so she might have better luck getting married. I won't spoil the rest of the story, but I will say Carey's character learns the lesson that most of us learn in our late teens and early 20's. The world is a much larger place than your own head and while your feelings are important, they are not the be all end all.

The second movie was Precious. I missed it the first time it came through so I was very happy to see it come back. Precious is one of those movies that I recommend seeing, but I don't think I'll probably watch it again. I've had that happen with other movies: Requiem For A Dream, Affliction, Heavy...I could probably add several more.

Set in 1987 NYC, we join Precious as she is pregnant with her second child at the age of 16. She gets tossed out of school, but is enrolled in an alternative high school. There she meets a teacher that genuinely wants to help her get out of the misery that is her life. Precious is abused in several ways by her mother and father. It's amazing she has not been completely defeated by her situation in life. But, somewhere inside, she still has this little ember of hope. Bit by bit, she opens up to her teacher and fellow classmates. She creates a new family for herself.

Even though I haven't seen all the best supporting actress nominees, I really think Mo'Nique deserves heaps of praise for her role as the abusive mother. She does not back down in her performance. The abuse is harsh, realistic, and jarring (especially when she explodes without warning). The scene where she is explaining to the social worker (nicely played by Mariah Carey) why she did not keep her boyfriend from abusing Precious is heart stopping. Gabourey Sidibe, who plays Precious, also gives a strong performance. She almost seems like two different people as she goes from Precious in reality and the Precious seen in the dream sequences.

Precious is one of those movies where you feel emotionally and mentally drained afterward, but it is definitely worth your time. I believe Lee Daniels is a first time director, but don't quote me on that. There were a couple of montages that I thought were a little cheesy, but overall, he had a solid grasp on what he wanted. It's not all gloom and doom. Precious' classmates provide needed humor. Plus, Lenny Kravitz is in it. Something I didn't realize until I was watching the credits.

Next up, A Single Man and hopefully Crazy Heart next week. February is going to be an expensive month.