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3/5/2010
A Non-Nerd guide to the Oscars
The 82nd Academy Awards are this Sunday, hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, who I view as a step down from last year’s host Hugh Jackman. Hugh did a great job last year, which was the best Oscars show I’ve seen in years.
This year the Best picture nominees have been expanded to include ten nominees instead of the standard five, and I believe this is a bad idea. It’s too easy to pick out the five that don’t belong (Blind Side, I’m looking at you) and it will hurt the chances of the films that shoulda been a contender (I’m sorry, Up in the Air).
So let’s go over my 5th annual Non-Nerd Guide to the Oscars, a cheat sheet focusing on the six big awards you care about: Best Picture, Director, and the four acting categories. Because who cares who won Best Sound Mixing?
And the Nominees are:
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side” Helen Mirren in “The Last Station” Carey Mulligan in “An Education” Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”
Who should win: I know the Academy is probably ...
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12/11/2009
Release Date: December 11th, 2009
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick
Rating: R
Where is your home? I image you’d give me an address as an answer. But I don’t mean where you live or keep your stuff or pick up your mail. I mean your home. Is it anywhere your family is? Your spouse? Anywhere you hang your hat?
For Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), it’s Up in the Air.
Bingham spends more time traveling than most of us spend at home. He’s a corporate downsizer, sent from city to city to tell employees they’ve been let go (never fired).
In between flights, Bingham finds comfort in airport lounges and terminal gift shops. He finds this comfort mostly because he tells himself to.
Sometimes he takes a podium as a motivational speaker. His message: unburden yourself from all attachments. Make no mistake, Bingham walks his talk, but he is forced to re-examine his philosophy when he is partnered with a young upstart who questions his lifestyle.
Anna Kendrick’s short screen time in the Twilight films doesn’t give any indication of what she’s capable. As Natalie Kenner, she goes toe to toe with Clooney and comes out a winner. Kendrick is ...
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11/25/2009
Release Date: November 25th, 2009
Directed by Wes Anderson
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman
Rating: PG
Wes Anderson has not made a film I haven’t enjoyed, and his latest, the animated Fantastic Mr. Fox, is every bit as good as Anderson’s live action efforts.
Mr. Fox (Clooney) used to steal chickens for a living before he met Felicity Fox (Streep) and settled down. Now a columnist in the local paper, he doesn’t quite know what to do with his young son Ash (Schwartzman), who fancies himself an athlete but spends most of his time reading comic books.
Fox itches for one more chicken heist, something to make him feel alive again. Behind his wife’s back, he steals chickens, turkeys, and alcoholic cider from three mean farmers: Boggis Bunce and Bean.
In this universe this is a story big enough for the local TV news to cover, and that they do, sending out a human reporter to report on the farmer’s efforts to stop Mr. Fox.
The farmers are ruthless, trying to kill Mr. Fox and any other animals that get in their way. It’s up to Foxy and his pals to stay one step ahead of the farmers.
The film is footloose ...
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6/24/2009
Release Date: June 24th, 2009
Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, John Turturro
Rating: PG-13
I loved the Transformers cartoon and comic books growing up, and I still have many of the original toys, including Jetfire and Optimus Prime. In Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen we see a glimpse of Cybertron, the Matrix of Leadership is mentioned, and in one fleeting scene Megatron smacks Starscream around for usurping his command. That's all that remains of the Transformers of my youth. Instead of incorporating the franchise's 25 year history, screenwriters Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman seem happy to ignore it, instead giving us a film with a plot that is utterly incomprehensible.
The film starts off with the Autobot's pal Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), heading off to college. His father is excited to get him out of the house so he can have some alone time with his mother, who is portrayed as a blubbering idiot for most of her screen time. Of course we all know Sam's not going to be able to get much studying done, because of all the GIANT ALIEN ROBOTS.
Before the good Autobots and the bad Decepticons show up, we learn Sam is still together with ...
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5/1/2009
Release Date: Friday, May 1st 2009
Directed by Gavin Hood
Starring Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston
Rated PG-13
Wolverine has been slicing and dicing in the comics world since 1974, but it wasn't until 2001 that the mysterious past of the mutant who calls himself Logan was revealed. Eight years later (and nine years after the first X-Men film) his history plays out on the silver screen.
As a young man in late 19th Century Canada, Logan was known as James Howlett. After a tragedy brings about his mutation (regenerative powers, which explains his slow aging, and bone claws, which explain his...well...bone claws), Jimmy high tails it away from his house at the urging of his half brother Victor Creed, he of the long sharp fingernails.
The two are inseparable, fleeing to America and fighting in all her wars through the ages, as seen in the fantastic opening credits sequence. They both share the mutation of regenerative power (which keeps them young), as well as animalistic rage, which must be handy during wartime. You get shot, you keep going.
Eventually the fact that the brothers are mutants is discovered, and they're locked up. Shady government guy William Stryker (Danny Huston) offers them a way out ...
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