Oscar Nominations

The most glamorous night in Hollywood is just a month away…the 81st Annual Academy Awards. The nominations were announced today.

Last year, I told Chad that it was my goal to see every Best Picture nominee. Out of the 5 nominations I have only seen one of the films…The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It looks like I have my work cut out for me over the next four weeks if I am going to meet my goal. I need to get to the Cineplex and see the following: Frost/Nikon, Milk, The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire. Fortunately, all of these films look good. Unfortunately, I don’t think they are all playing here in the Phoenix area.

Life would be easier if The Dark Knight had been nominated for Best Picture. Unfortunately, (and un-deservedly, might I add) the film was left out of some major categories including: Directing and Writing. Not surprisingly, however, Heath Ledger was nominated for Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.

Again, it’s going to be a big night for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Both are nominated in lead acting categories. So once again we will be forced to watch the camera pan to them during every break and audience reaction. Neither one of them stands a true chance of actually winning their respective categories, but we will still see more of them than the actual winners; which will probably be: Mickey Rourke and Kate Winslet (The Reader) or Meryl Streep.

I am extremely sad to see Revolutionary Road miss out on some major nominations. It looks like the Academy has no love for Leonardo DiCaprio. I would have liked to see the nominations play out for Kate Winslet they way they did at the Golden Globes…supporting role for The Reader and lead role for Revolutionary Road.

Click on the link below for a complete list of nominations

http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=nominees

Golden Globes

The Golden Globes were last night and instead of doing a long re-cap of the three hour event. I am just going to highlight my favorite and least favorite moments of the show. Chad’s least favorite moment? The entire three hours.

Best Acceptance Speech—Kate Winslet, both of them. She was so genuine and sincere. I loved her true emotion. It was superb. I nearly got chocked up when she gushed over her love for Leo.

Worst Acceptance Speech—Collin Farrell. Ugh…it was so self-serving and went on and on and on.
Funniest Moment—Tie between Sacha Baron Cohen before presenting the award for Best Comedy and Ricky Gervais before presenting nominee Happy-Go-Lucky. Also, Tina Fey’s acceptance speech. This women is a comic genius on par with Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett.

Least Funniest Moment—Seth Rogan making cocaine jokes. At least, he looked decent. He’s lost a lot of weight.

Biggest Surprise—Benjamin Button walks away with zero wins.

Least Surprising Moment—30 Rock cleans up the comedy category with wins for Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin and Best Comedy. And Heath Ledger’s win for The Dark Knight…he deserved it.

Most Overly Shown Couple—Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. They got more air time than anyone and neither of them won anything. I am so sick of staring at their perfect faces. It makes me sick.
Biggest Disappointment—I wanted to see Leonardo DiCaprio win for Revolutionary Road.

Movies I now want to see more than ever…The Wrestler and Slumdog Millionaire. I think The Wrestler will be good and I need to see what all the fuss is about with Slumdog. A movie about the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire is cleaning up at these award shows…what gives?

For a complete list of all the winners…

http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

This movie reminded me of Cameron Diaz. Now, let me explain. Cameron Diaz is tall, blonde, blue eyes, big smile, clear skin, very toned body…everything a gorgeous woman should be. Yet, I don’t find her gorgeous—just pretty. This movie has everything that will garner 8 Academy Award wins, yet I wasn’t blown away or swept away. I just thought it was a good movie not “one of the greatest films ever made,” as Rex Reed stated in The New York Observer.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the movie, I liked it a lot. The story is unique and haunting. The acting is superb. The script is amazing—probably the best part of the whole movie. The sets, costumes, and make-up were all spectacular, but the sum of the parts did not equal the whole.

The story, of course, chronicles the live, loves, triumphs, joys and sorrows of Benjamin Button who “was born under unusual circumstances.” The movie is about the bonds we create, the love we share and how even the passage of time can not disturb or destroy them.

Brad Pitt. It’s hard to even talk about him in this film. He is so good looking it almost hurts to look at him. Maybe it was the stark contrast between the old and youth version of Benjamin that highlighted the near perfection of Brad Pitt’s face. I am still convinced there was post-production work done to Brad to make him even more gorgeous. His beauty overshadows him immense talent in this film.

Missy Cinema Score: B+

Marley and Me

Ahhh…Marley and Me…where do I even begin. I read the book and loved every word of it. I loved every second of the movie. Marley and Me is probably the best movie of 2008—in my humble, non-Entertainment Weekly, opinion.

Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston were amazing in this film and I love them both more than ever. At first, I was leery of the casting but they worked together perfectly; both fitting the roles of husband/father and wife/mom seamlessly.

The movie begins with Wilson and Aniston, the Grogan’s, recently married and follows their lives over the next 15 years or so. First, comes new jobs, a new house and a puppy…Marley! All this is followed by three kids, promotions, bigger houses and the constant shenanigans of Marley.

The subtitle of both the book and the movie is: “Life and love with the world’s worst dog.” The subtitle isn’t that far off, Marley does get into lots and lots of trouble, but it makes him all the more adorable. Despite his couch chewing ways Marley proves early in the movie that he is the very definition of man’s (or woman’s) best friend.

I warn you…bring a box of Kleenex…or two. I sobbed my face off. I started crying during the opening credits. I think it was because I had already read the book and I knew what was in store for me. What’s amazing about the movie is that it just isn’t about the tears and its main purpose isn’t to make the audience cry. The movie, rather, shows a real and honest look at the start and evolution of being a family and how animals add so much to the dynamic of a family.

I was just so touched by everything in this film. It was like looking in a mirror. I think anyone could see themselves in this movie…see themselves in the Grogan’s…see their dog in Marley. I say I sobbed during this movie; that’s not saying much, I cry at most movies. The amazing thing was that I wasn’t alone, not even close; I think every person in the theatre was crying. I imagined how wonderful it would be to hear each and every member of the audience share their dog memories. I know the audience wasn’t exactly crying for Marley, but rather crying for a dog they have or had. That’s what makes the film so special; it’s completely relatable.

This movie made me go home and give Buster a great big giant hug. Raising Buster has been one of the greatest joys of my life. I know that statement is really bold. But if you have ever loved a dog you get it…you totally get it.

“A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his.” John Grogan

Missy Cinema Score: A+

7 Pounds

Okay, so this movie has gotten bad reviews, really bad reviews. My go-to movie experts at Entertainment Weekly named 7 Pounds one of the worst movies of 2008; along with such duds as The Love Guru, The Happening and Speed Racer. The movie has grossed $60 million in the three weeks since its opening; not bad, but definitely not on par with other Will Smith movies.

Maybe it was because of the ultra low expectations, but I found myself completely mesmerized by this film and bawling like a baby at the end. In my mind Will Smith transcends reviews and box office numbers. I made my mind up a long time ago…Will Smith can’t make a bad movie. Maybe it is this inherent believe I have in Will Smith’s movie perfection that lead me to like this movie so much. Maybe I just don’t want to be wrong.

I won’t lie. This film isn’t as good as The Pursuit of Happyness or even I Am Legend, but it certainly wasn’t one of the worst films of the year. I am always amazed by Will Smith’s versatility and I thought he gave a great performance in this film. I continue to be shocked that Rosario Dawson doesn’t hold the same super star status as Reese Witherspoon or Cameron Diaz.

The plot of the movie is hard to explain. Chad, in all his infinite wisdom figured it out immediately. I thought I had it 100% figured out within the first 30 minutes. Turns out I only had it 50% figured out. I didn’t have it 100% figured out until the last 5 minutes and then I was just blown away.

Missy Cinema Score: B+