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3/8/2010
A Round up of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards
The 2010 Oscar Post-Mortem
March 8th, 2010
While not as inventive and fun as last year’s show, the 82nd annual Academy Awards still provided some laughs thanks to hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, and some surprises such as…oh wait, there weren’t any surprises.
There were a few WTF moments, including Neil Patrick Harris opening the show singing and dancing (I guess Martin and Baldwin balked at the idea of a top hat and cane routine) and George Clooney’s stone face in the front row.
The Clooney’s nonstop scowl was a failed attempt at humor, but the hosts fared better with one liners and zingers. Steve and Alec even taped a Paranormal Activity sketch to introduce a horror movie retrospective, which was pretty cool. It’s a shame horror films don’t usually get recognized by the Academy.
The highlight of the show for me was the powerful John Hughes tribute, featuring many actors who worked with him in the 80’s including Matthew Broderick and Molly Ringwald. While alive Hughes never got the respect he deserved because he mostly made movies about teenagers, so it’s nice to see his peers pay tribute.
Gone were most of the innovations from last year, such ...
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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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