2009 Oscar Picks

So it’s time again for the Academy Awards, and this years nominees were announced yesterday. No big surprises on who was nominated (although I’m dissapointed and bugged – more on that later), but I was a little baffled by some of the obvious exclusions.

Clint Eastwood received no recognition for Gran Torino, Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire was in my opinion noticeably absent from the Best Actor category, and The Dark Knight got hosed, missing out on expected Best Picture and Best Director nominations.

The thing that bothers me about the list is that Benjamin Button received 13 nominations. Best Actor? You know I esteem Brad Pitt pretty highly, but this is far from his best work. Best Picture? I can name a dozen films more deserving. Best Director? Again, by no means David Fincher’s best work and there are several directors I would have chosen over him this year. Art Direction? Nah. Cinematography? Nope. Editing? C’mon… Best Makeup? Yeah, now you’re getting warmer.

It just feels like the Academy is letting the Oscars turn into a farcical exhibition of *non, nod wink, wink* “winners” like every other awards show, rather than a genuine recognition of talent and accomplishment.

Anyway, here’s the list with my picks for winner in Red and Megan’s are in Purple.

Best Picture
‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
‘Frost/Nixon’
‘Milk’
‘The Reader’
‘Slumdog Millionaire’

Best Actor
Richard Jenkins ‘The Visitor’
Brad Pitt ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
Frank Langella ‘Frost/Nixon’
Sean Penn ‘Milk’
Mickey Rourke ‘The Wrestler‘

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway ‘Rachel Getting Married’
Melissa Leo ‘Frozen River’
Meryl Streep ‘Doubt’
Angelina Jolie ‘Changeling’
Kate Winslet ‘The Reader’

Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin ‘Milk’
Robert Downey Jr. ‘Tropic Thunder’
Philip Seymour Hoffman ‘Doubt’
Heath Ledger ‘The Dark Knight’
Michael Shannon ‘Revolutionary Road’

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams ‘Doubt’
Penelope Cruz ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’
Viola Davis ‘Doubt’
Taraji P. Henson ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’

Best Director
David Fincher ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
Ron Howard ‘Frost/Nixon’
Gus Van Sant ‘Milk’
Stephen Daldry ‘The Reader’
Danny Boyle ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

Best Animated Feature Film
‘Bolt’
‘Kung Fu Panda’
‘Wall-E’

Best Adapted Screenplay
‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
‘Doubt’
‘Frost/Nixon’
‘The Reader’
‘Slumdog Millionaire’

Best Original Screenplay
‘Frozen River’
‘Happy-Go-Lucky’
‘In Bruges’
‘Milk’
‘Wall-E’

Defiance

True story of 3 Jewish brother’s from Poland who defied the Nazi’s and escaped captivity during WWII . They built a secret village in the Belarusian Forest separating Russia and Poland.  They helped over a thousand other Jews and together they created a community fighting side by side for survival. 

J.’s Review:

 

Megan’s Review:

This watched like a documentary to me.  In story telling only, not acting.  I like when I get to learn something new while eating popcorn.  I had no idea of this story.  Daniel Craig is fantastic, I would rather watch him as Tuvia Bielski than James Bond any day.  Liev Schreiber was forceful and commanding, and Mia Wasikowska was endearing, I’ve loved her as Sophie from HBO’s original series In Treatment.  It was a little slow in parts but well worth the time investment to learn of these amazing men and how remarkable the human spirit is.  As the credits began to roll I had to just sit there for a minute as I tried to fathom, they actually LIVED this.  Amazing.   They were the Robin Hood of the 1940’s.

Gran Torino

A Chinese family moves next door to an ornery old man.  The teenage son tries to steal the ornery man’s car as his initiation into a gang and a very unlikely friendship unfolds.  

J.’s Review:

 

Megan’s Review:

 Loved it!  I  love well written stories in my movies, and this is a story!  It keeps unfolding and keeps you interested from opening scene to the credits.  There is no “dumbing down” for the audience here, yeah!  This is my favorite role Clint Eastwood has ever played.  He is good at ornery.  I wanted to sit on the porch with him while he drank his ice cold beer and enjoy the gruff grumblings of his thoughts.  I love how the Hmong daughter gently breaks down his walls and how willing he is to learn and respect the Hmong culture and traditions.  I was so touched by the every day way Eastwood’s character lived his life.  Unwilling to change who he was just because other’s thought he should, and how far he would go to protect his new friends.  Loved it, loved it!

Appaloosa

It’s your typical western.  Two Marshall’s chasing down the bad guy, again, and again.

 

J.’s Review:

If you enjoy classic westerns, in the style of The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly,  and A Fistful of Dollars, you’ll enjoy this one as well. Alhtough it’s a western, there’s not a lot of gunplay. This is very much a story about two men, Viggo Mortneson and Ed Harris, the friendship they share, and the lifestyule of self-appointed lawmen in the old west. Oh, and it’s got Jeremy Irons as the bad guy, just in case you REALLY needed a good reason to go see it. Nothing flashy or over-the-top, just a solid storyline, great acting, and all the elements of the classic western.

 

Megan’s Review:

It is the same story we have seen several times.  Bad guy shoots Marshall.  Scared townsfolk hire new tuff love Marshall who uses force to keep the peace.  So what’s new?  For starters Jeremy Irons.  I love to hate him.  He is everything you want in a western bad guy.  Ed Harris surprised me.  He did a great job as a cowboy.  I had my reservations when he first rode up on his horse but, I quickly forgot he didn’t look much like a cowboy.  Now, Viggo on the other hand.  Yummy.  I realize he did have first hand training at being a cowboy a million years ago in Young Guns II, and it paid off.  There was only one flaw, and it is a big one.  Renee’ Zellweger played the damsel in distress.  It is true I am not a fan but, even the lady from the old Snapple ads would have been a better choice.  Other than that I liked it, typical cowboy flick and all.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The life story of a man who is born as an old man and grows younger every year and the adventures, lives, and heartache he encounters.

 

J.’s Review:

Although this film is long, clocking in at nearly 3 hours, it didn’t feel long to me. That’s not to say that I didn’t notice how long it was because I was enraptured, only that it wasn’t painfully tedious in it’s longevity. It’s based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel of the same name (which I’ve never read), and tells the story of a man born old who ages backwards. The central story was just fine. I was bothered through the whole film by a short storyline at the beginning of a clockmaker who builds a clock that runs backwards. there was no explanation given as to how this clock relates to Benjamin or why that portion of the story was even included. Buggy. The special effects and makeup were superb throughout, although in his adolescence, he didn’t seem to age (or reverse-age, as the case may be) nearly as dramatically as he did through other parts of the film. Overall, it’s a cute show that could’ve been a great movie had it been edited down to under two hours. The real travesty here is that Brad Pitt was nominated for an Oscar (Best Actor) for this movie, and not Burn After Reading.

 

Megan’s Review:

It is no great secret that Brad Pitt can act.  He was fab but, even more impressive was the make-up and special effects department.  Wow!  When Benjamin is 7 years old he is the cutest little old man you have ever seen.  The story grabs you immediately.  I just wish it would have held me longer.  Cate Blanchett was great.  She carried many of the scenes.  Be prepared for a very long movie.  I felt like it was too long and not because of the time that passed but, more over the story couldn’t carry the amount of time invested.  They could have easily cut 20 minutes out and made the flick fantastic!  It was cute, and tender, and entertaining.  Maybe not the best story ever written.  There were several big story flaws, & holes and it was told in the over used “dying woman confessing  her life’s story” fashion but I guess I can forgive the lame premise because of where the ride takes you.

Doubt

A Priest at a Catholic school is accused of an unthinkable transgression by a nun.

 

J.’s Review:

I like Philip Seymour Hoffman.  I like Meryl Streep, too. I really liked the idea of this movie, but was somewhat dissapointed in the execution of that idea. The acting was understandably impeccable, and the story unfolded nicely, it just had a very underwhelming finale, and I left dissapointed.  Although, when you consider that writer/director John Patrick Shanley also did Moonstruck and Joe Versus the Volcano, this begins to make sense.

 

Megan’s Review:

I walked into this movie expecting a lot.  How could I not with Philip Seymore Hoffman, Meryl Streep, and Amy Adams?  I was disappointed.  The story is great, the acting is amazing, there is a lack of resolution which I loved and yet there was something missing.  I felt like they kept the story telling on the surface.  There was plenty of opportunities to go deeper and they chose not to.  I think it was the last scene that left me wanting more.  I felt like it was very out of character and thrown in there to appease the audience rather than having us leave in a state of confusion which, for me, would have made for a perfect ending. 

Seven Pounds

A man overwhelmed with guilt and grief changes the lives of 7 strangers.

 

 

 

J.’s Review:

It’s not often that I find a movie that profoundly affects me on an emotional and spiritual level and inspires in me a hunger to be more than I am, to do more, to “rage against the dying of the light” and change the world, even if it’s just my own. Dead Poets Society. My Life. Schindler’s List. Crash. And yes, Seven Pounds now makes this list as well. 

To tell you the story would be a disservice. In the previews for Seven Pounds, Sony intentionally left the entire story pretty vague. I’m certainly glad that they did, as it served to magnify the impact of the story. The best I can do here is to tell you that it is a beautiful story of a taker and a giver. And I cried through the end of the credits, something I haven’t done since I saw Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.

 

 

Megan’s Review:

It is no secret that I love Will.  I will see anything he is in.  I knew nothing of the story line of this flick before seeing it, and I am glad.  The opening scene gives you the ending and even knowing where the story would end I was in for the journey.  I liked that there was a little story twist, even though small.  Will makes it so easy to love the character and take a different look at how engrossed we become with the pain in our lives and how easy it is to drown in our guilt.   I cried, alot.  Hand over the mouth crying.

J.’s 2008 Pick “Seven Pounds “

I don’t even really have words to describe this one. Sony kept the trailer intentionally vague, and with good reason. Although many critics have panned this one, it easily makes my number one film of the year, and it’s also the last film I saw in 2008, on New Year’s Eve.

The best I can do is tell you how profoundly this film impacted me, leaving me audibly sobbing through the end of the credits.

It’s an exceptional movie, and worth seeing.

Megan’s 2008 Pick “MILK”

MILK

The story of Harvey Milk.  The first openly gay man elected to a public office.

 

I loved it!  Sean Penn is absolutely amazing.  The tender relationship portrayed by Penn and James Franco was long over due.  The movie is emotional and empowering.  Learning of the struggle Milk went through, and more importantly his determination and willingness to stay the course, regardless of numerous failed attempts is where I saw his greatest success.  A typical never give up theme, told in a very untypical for the movie screen story.  I am so grateful the love relationship was focused on with such intimacy in this movie.  They didn’t hide the love and attraction in the shadows of the story, as so many film makers have done in the past.  I for one am pleased.  Bravo!

Movies, We like ‘em.

We like movies.  We see ALOT of movies.  People ask us our opinions on movies.  Some times we agree, usually we don’t.