Erin's Oscar Reviews 2012

The Oscar Award nominations were announced on January xx 2013, and so begins my annual quest to see as many as possible before Oscar Night (02/26/13). Fifty-three (53) films were nominated in 24 categories. On the day of the announcement, I had already seen 9 films (17%). To date (01/14/13), I have seen 12 films (22%).

The hardest films to see are always the short documentaries. If you know where I might go to see these films, please send me note.

I was disappointed to see that Kathryn Bigelow wasn't nominated this year. Her film was nominated, and I hope it does well.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order. I will add reviews of each film as soon as I see the film. The date in parenthesis is the date I saw the film.

1. Adam and Dog: nominated for best short film.
2. Amour: nominated for best actress, best picture, best directing, best foreign language film, and best original screenplay
3. Anna Karenina: nominated for best cinematography, best costume design, best original score, and best production design.
4. Argo: nominated for best supporting actor, best picture, best film editing, best original score, best sound editing, best sound mixing, and best adapted screenplay.
5. Asad: nominated for best short film (live action)
6. Beasts of the Southern Wild: nominated for best actress, best picture, best directing, and best adapted screenplay.
7. Buzkashi Boys: nominated for best short film (live action)
8. Brave: nominated for best animated feature film. I LOVED this film. (12/31/2012)
9. Chasing Ice: nominated for best original song.
10. Curfew: nominated for best short film (live action)
11. Death of a Shadow: nominated for best short film (live action).
12. Django Unchained: nominated for best supporting actor, best picture, best cinematography, best sound editing, and best original screenplay.
13. Flight: nominated for best actor and best original screenplay.
14. Frankenweenie: nominated for best animated film. I saw this film on the cruise ship. I love the homage to every monster film from the 1950s. (10/05/2012)
15. Fresh Guacamole: nominated for best short film (animated)
16. The Gatekeepers: nominated for best documentary.
17. Head Over Heels: nominated for best short film (animated).
18. Henry: nominated for best short film (live action).
19. Hitchcock: nominated for best makeup.
20. The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey: nominated for best makeup, best production design, and best visual effects. Another truly beautiful film from Middle Earth. I was as surprised as anyone that it is being stretched into three films, but not disappointed. (12/26/2012)
21. The Impossible: nominated for best actress.
22. Inocente: nominated for best documentary short.
23. The Invisible War: nominated for best documentary. This film is about rape in the U.S. military. It is a real downer. It is an important story, but there is only a very small ray of hope at the end. It makes me just too sad.
24. Kings Point: nominated for best documentary short.
25. Kon-Tiki: nominated for best foreign language film.
26. Les Miserables: nominated for best actor, best supporting actress, best picture, best costume design, best makeup, best original song, best production design, and best sound mixing. A great film, expertly done, but just too sad to watch twice. My favorite bit was when our hero sings about his future as a father, and he finally sees his life as full of hope. (12/25/2012)
27. Life of Pi: nominated for best picture, best cinematography, best directing, best film editing, best original score, best original song, best production design, best sound editing, best sound mixing, best visual effects, best adapted screenplay.
28. Lincon: nominated for best actor, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best picture, best cinematography, best costume design, best directing, best film editing, best original score, best production design, best sound mixing, and best adapted screenplay. Awesome! It was strange to see Congressmen describing Lincoln as a tyrant. Reminded me of all the bumper stickers calling Bush a war criminal. I wonder if Lincoln was really so soft-spoken and self-evaluating. And never would have guessed that even the Congressmen doing the right thing would have to sell their souls, and the winners would have to make such compromises. (01/13/2013)
29. Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare": nominated for best short film (animated).
30. Marvel's the Avengers: nominated for best visual effects. A super fun romp through the comic books again.
31. The Master: nominated for best actor, supporting actor, and best supporting actress.
32. Mirror, Mirror: nominated for best costume design. Super funny. I love that both Snow White films are nominated this year.
33. Mondays at Racine: nominated for best documentary short.
34. Moonrise Kingdom: nominated for best original screenplay.
35. No: nominated for best foreign language film.
36. Open Heart: nominated for best documentary short.
37. Paperman: nominated for best short film (animated).
38. Paranorman: nominated for best animated film.
39. The Pirates! Band of Misfits: nominated for best animated film.
40. Prometheus: nominated for best visual effects.
41. Redemption: nominated for best documentary short.
42. A Royal Affair: nominated for best foreign language film,
43. Searching for Sugarman: nominated for best documentary feature.
44. The Sessions: nominated for best supporting actress.
45. Silver Linings Playbook: nominated for best actor, best supporting actor, best actress, best supporting actress, best picture, best directing, best film editing, and best adapted screenplay.
46. Skyfall: nominated for best cinematography, best original score, best, original song, best sound editing, and best sound mixing. Too sad when M dies. I have really liked this new Bond, I’m worried they are trying to get back to the old Bond.
47. Snow White and the Huntsman: nominated for best costume design and best visual effects. The visual effects were stunning!
48. How to Survive a Plague: nominated for best documentary feature. This film is about the AIDS epidemic. I really liked it. I appreciated the historic review of events I sort of remember, and I appreciated that the first part is all righteous indignation against political leaders who won't prioritize the research, but then when it does get the attention it deserves, the science is still so hard that there is a real fear that it might not make any difference. Its just dumb luck that they finally do find an effective treatment, but ultimately it is a story of survival, and that's a good thing.
49. Ted: nominated for best original song.
50. War Witch: nominated for best foreign language film.
51. Wreck-it Ralph: nominated for best animated film.
52. Zero Dark Thirty: nominated for best actress, best picture, best film editing, best sound editing, and best original screenplay.
53. 5 Broken Cameras: nominated for best documentary feature.

Erin's Oscar Reviews 2011

The Oscar Award nominations were announced on January 24, 2012, and so begins my annual quest to see as many as possible before Oscar Night. Sixty-one (61) films were nominated in 24 categories. On the day of the announcement, I had already seen 12 (24%). To date (02/22/2012), I have seen 26 films (74%).

The hardest films to see are always the short documentaries. If you know where I might go to see these films, please send me note.

I think that the most unusual thing about this years nominees is that there are only two songs nominated for best original song. This is one of my favorite categories; although, the performances of the songs at the ceremony are usually rather bland. I hope they perform the nominees for best original score the way they did a few years ago: with dancers. It was very theatrical, and I thought it was really great.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order. I will add reviews of each film as soon as I see the film. The date in parenthesis is the date I saw the film.

1. Adventure of Tintin, The: nominated for best original score. This is the story of a young man working as a journalist and his super smart dog, Whitey. Tintin stumbles upon a mystery and embarks on an adventure. It's loads of fun watching the dog figure out the clues first even though he doesn't get any credit. The 3D effects were as annoying as usual, and there were too many chase scenes that went on for too long, but mostly, I really liked this film. (c. 12/21/2011)
   
2. Albert Nobbs: nominated for best actress (Glen Close), best makeup and best supporting actress (Janet McTeer). This is the story of a woman posing as a male butler in 19th century Ireland.
   
3. Anonymous: nominated for best costume design (Lisy Christl). This is the story of who really wrote the plays and sonnets attributed to William Shakespeare.
   
4. The Artist: nominated for best actor, best art direction, best cinematography, best costume design, best director, best film editing, best original score, best picture, best supporting actress and best writing – original screenplay. This is the story of an silent movie actor who falls in love with an upcoming star just as his career is coming to an end. It is paced a little slow in spots, and it becomes almost unbearably sad toward the end, but over all it is a wonderful film, and it was really nice to watch a black and white silent film in high definition. (03/21/2012)
   
5. The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement: nominated for best documentary short subject.
   
6. Beginners: nominated for best supporting actor.
   
7. Better Life, A: nominated for best actor. This is the story of an immigrant and his struggle to provide a better life for his son.
   
8. Bridesmaids: nominated for best supporting actress and best writing original screenplay. This is a comedy about the maid of honor and how the events surrounding her best friend's wedding bring her own troubles into sharp focus for her. The conflicts focus around the competition between the maid of honor and the bride's "new" best friend. This sort of movie has been made a million times, but the screenwriter actually bring some really original and hilarious twists. The sex jokes make this film inappropriate for children, but the final message is surprisingly wholesome and uplifting. The finale features a GREAT song. Well, it's "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips, and it was the perfect theme song for this film. it makes me a little sad that its not an original song, so it can't be in that category because it was just such a perfect ending for the film. (03/22/2012)
   
9. Bullhead: nominated for best foreign language film (from Belgium, in Dutch). This film is about the mafia forcing farmers to buy hormones for their cattle.
   
10. Cat in Paris: nominated for best animated film. This is a French film about a cat who goes out every night to join a burglar in his escapades.
    
11. Chico and Rita: nominated for best animated film. This is the story of two lovers torn apart by a deportation.
    
12. Descendants, The: nominated for best actor (Clooney), best director, best film editing, best picture and best writing – adapted screenplay. This is the story of a man struggling to be a good father.
    
13. Dimanche: nominated for best short film - animated. This is Canadian film without dialogue about a young boy's Sunday routine. He places a quarter on the train tracks and later donates the squashed quarter to his parish. He visits his grandma's house where the stuffed bear pulls himself out of the wall and lays down on the train tracks and turns into a squashed nickel. This film was all drawn by hand with pencils. (02/19/2012)
    
14. Drive: nominated for best sound editing. This is the story of a professional Hollywood stunt driver who takes some extra jobs on the side driving for bad guys and gets in way over his head.
    
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: nominated for best picture and best supporting actor. This is the story of a boy who tries to make sense of his father's death by hunting clues he believes that his father left for him.
    
16. Fantasitic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, The: nominated for best short film-animated. This is a delightful little story about the healing power of books. I think that's what its about. A man is seen writing a book, a journal, when a tornado comes and blows all the words off the page. As he walks away from the devastation he finds a library where the books fly around like birds. He cares for the books and repairs them as needed and eventually finds the courage to re-write his book. A perfectly charming little film available free from iTunes. (02/19/2012)
    
17. Footnote: nominated for best foreign language film (from Israel, in Hebrew). This is a story of a man who wins a literary award, but the presenters accidentally congratulate his father who is also an acclaimed writer.
    
18. Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The: nominated for best actress, best cinematography, best film editing, best sound editing and best sound mixing. This is the story of a girl who helps a man catch a murderer.
    
19. God is the Bigger Elvis: nominated for best documentary-short subject.
    
20. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2: nominated for best art direction, best makeup and best visual effects. This is the story of a boy who finally avenges his parents death and rids the world of an evil sociopath. It might be the very best in the Harry Potter series. I enjoyed every minute of it. (c. 07/15/2011)
    
21. Hell and Back Again: nominated for best documentary-feature. this is the story of a Marine who comes home from Afghanistan with a broken hip. The film tries to compare and contrast his struggles in the field with his truffles at home, but I don't think it does a very good job myself. Maybe its just because I didn't find the sergeant to be a very likable character, or maybe it was the filming style. There was not voice over narrator to give the film much context. Maybe I just prefer "big picture" stories in my documentaries rather than anecdotes like this. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I didn't enjoy this film. (03/22/2012)
    
22. Help, The: nominated for best actress, best picture, best supporting actress and best supporting actress. This is the story of three women and how writing a book together liberates them from the social pressures of conformity. A young white woman returns home from college in Mississippi in the 1960s and convinces two black women to help her write a book about what it is like to be a black maid in a white home in Mississippi. The results are liberating for all three women. For me, I was sad to know that part of the story was not true. This film really is based on a book, but the book was written in the 1990s, so it did not have the same liberating effect as portrayed in the film, but I did find the story very enlightening, and so did my children. Although one of the women is badly beaten by her husband, I am grateful those beatings took place off camera, so that my children could enjoy this film with me. (c. 01/15/2012)
    
23. Hugo: nominated for best art direction, best cinematography, best costume design, best director, best film editing, best original score, best picture, best sound editing, best sound mixing, best visual effects and best writing – adapted screenplay. This is the story about an orphan living alone in a train station. He is trying to repair a mechanical man that his father found in a museum. He accidentally finds the man who built it, and then this become the story of an out-of-work film maker. I found the 3D effects to be completely distracting as I usually do. I also agree with another reviewer who took issue with the bumbling cripple as the films antagonist. My favorite parts of the film were the scenes with the boy actor (and he's not nominated). (c. 11/30/2011)
    
24. Ides of March, The: nominated for best writing-adapted screenplay.
    
25. If a Tree Falls: nominated for best documentary-feature. This is the story of the environmentalist liberation front (ELF) a terrorist organization fighting against environmental hazards.
    
26. In Darkness: nominated for best foreign language film (from Poland, in Polish).
    
27. Incident in New Baghdad: nominated for best documentary-short subject. This is the story of a film posted by wiki leaks showing American soldiers failing to follow the rules of engagement.
    
28. Iron Lady, The: nominated for best actress and best makeup. This is the story of Margaret Thatcher, the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom.
    
29. Jane Eyre: nominated for best costume design. This story is about woman in 19th century England trying to find love and happiness in a harsh, cruel world. It is based on the novel by Charlotte Brontë.
    
30. Kung Fu Panda 2: nominated for best animated feature. This is the continuing story of a panda bear who discovers his destiny to fight with heroes against villains. In this installment, Po discovers that he and his parents were the targets of a genocidal maniac. As Po comes to terms with his loss, he finds enlightenment, and the power to defeat the evil villain. I did not think that this story was as expertly crafted as the original. Certain plot points seems to pile on top of each other, but I loved it all the same. It includes a teaser at the end which suggests a third installment may be in the works. (c. 05/30/2011)
    
31. La Luna: nominated for best animated short film. This is the story of a boy who joins his father and his grandfather in their monthly duty's to sweep up the stars on the moon. Each man reveals his particular talents and the boy shows that he too has a particular skill to add to the team. This is Pixar's entry in this category, so I was a little surprised I hadn't seen it tacked onto the front of one of their features this year. It was also my favorite in the category. (02/19/2011)
    
32. Margin Call: nominated for best writing-original screenplay. This is the story of the great financial crisis of 2008. I can't wait to see this film.
    
33. Midnight in Paris: nominated for best art direction, best director, best picture and best writing – original screenplay. This is the story of a man on vacation in Paris with his wife and his in-laws. He goes for a late night walk around Paris and gets lost in the magic.
    
34. Moneyball: nominated for best actor, best film editing, best picture, best sound mixing, best supporting actor ad best writing – adapted screenplay. This is about a man with a scheme to fix a baseball game. I think.
    
35. Monsieur Lazhar: nominated for best foreign language film (from Canada, in French). This is the story of an Algerian immigrant teaching in a Canadian elementary school.
    
36. Morning Stroll, A: nominated for best animated short film. This is the story of a chicken who goes for a walk around the block in New York City every day. It features three different styles of animation as the chicken is seen walking around the block in 1959, in 2009 and in 2059. This was my six-year-old son's favorite animated short because it has zombies. (02/19/2012).
    
37. Muppets, The: nominated for best original song. This film is the story of muppet boy who finally gets the chance to visit the muppet theatre only to discover that its about to be torn down, so he begins a quest to find Kermit and the gang to raise the money to save the theater. It a delightful romp down memory lane. Brilliantly written and produced. It is nominated for best original song. There are very few nominations in this category this year, but this nomination is well-deserved. The song is titled "Man or Muppet," and my kids love singing it around the house. (c. 11/30/2011)
    
38. My Week with Marilyn: nominated for best actress and best supporting actor.
    
39. Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory: nominated for best documentary feature.
    
40. Pentacost: nominated for best short film-live action. This is about an altar boy in Ireland who loves soccer. He makes a mistake during mass, and the priest slips and falls down the stairs. The boys father is humiliated, and he forbids his son to watch soccer for three months. As the only trained incise burner, the boy gets a second chance when the bishop visits for pentecost. The clergy man gives the alter boys a pep talk before mass that sounds a lot like the sort of pep talk you might receive before a soccer game. At the end of the mass, the boy inexplicably drop kicks the incense to the bishop-a hilarious if confusing ending. (02/19/2012)
    
41. Pina: nominated for best documentary feature. I don't think this film is going to have a story. From the trailer it looks like its going to be wall to wall choreography: breath-takingly beautiful choreography.
    
42. Puss in Boots: nominated for best animated feature. This is the story of an orphaned kitten who befriends an egg and plans to find the golden goose. They part ways after a botched burglary, but get back together years later to finally find the golden goose. I liked this film. It had a good, complicated story that i just loved. It also had lots and lots and lots of cute cat jokes. (02/18/2012)
    
43. Raju: nominated for best short film-live action. This is a heart wrenching story about a German couple who travel to India to adopt a four-year-old boy. When he gets lost in the market, the couple is at first terrified that they will never see him again, and then devastated to learn that he had been reported missing before, by his birth parents. He isn't an orphan at all. (02/19/2012)
    
44. Rango: nominated for best animated feature. This is the story of a lizard who accidentally escapes his aquarium into the desert. He finds a strange town called Dirt struggling to survive without water. He accepts an appointment as sheriff and sets off to find out what has happened to the water. It was a very strange story. My favorite part was the rattle snake. He was magnificent. (03/15/2011)
    
45. Real Steel: nominated for best visual effects. This is the story of a man who reconnects with his son as they attempt to win some boxing matches with a robot. The visual effects really are cool. The robots are amazing. I appreciated very much the fact that the story stayed focused on the relationship between the father and son and it didn't turn into a story about a relationship between the boy and the robot. (c. 10/15/2011)
    
46. Rio: nominated for best original song. This is the story of the last blue Macaw, raised in captivity, returning to Brazil to propagate the species. Along the way, he and his intended are kidnapped, and the human who love them chase the kidnappers all over Brazil as they attempt reunite with their birds. The song is titled "Real in Rio," and it is wonderful. It's part of a beautiful montage about Brazil that really got me excited thinking about the upcoming Olympics in Rio. (c. 04/30/2011)
    
47. Rise of the Planet of the Apes: nominated for best visual effects. This is the story of Cesar, the chimpanzee who is honored as the founder of the society we discovered in the first Planet of the Apes film. Cesar is the unexpected offspring of the subject of genetic research designed to cure Alzheimer's. The treatment is designed to grow new brain cells to replace dying brain cells. It has the unintended effect of making Cesar every bit as smart as a human, so it seems inevitable that he eventually finds it unacceptable to live in human society as an animal, so he leads an ape-revolt. My nine-year-old daughter became very sympathetic to the plight of the captive apes, and my sis-year-old son loved the scenes of destruction. (03/21/2012)
    
48. Saving Face: nominated for best documentary-short subject. This is the story of a woman who requires plastic surgery in order to repair damage sustained to her face when her husband threw acid at her while she was sleeping.
    
49. Separation, A: nominated for best foreign language film (from Iran, in Persian) and best writing-original screenplay. This is the story of a man who accidentally kills a woman and what his imprisonment will mean for his family. I think. The trailer was a little confusing.
    
50. Shore, The: nominated for best short film-live action. This is the story of a middle-aged man returning to Ireland after 30 years to reconcile with the man who married his high school sweet heart. I liked this film very much. It was my favorite in this category. (02/19/2012)
    
51. Time Freak: nominated for best short film-live action. This is the story of a college student who invents time travel. He really wants to visit ancient Rome, but he gets side tracked trying to get yesterday right. He travels back in time to yesterday over and over and over again trying to get every part of the day right. After three days, his roommate comes looking for him and discovers that he has actually been reliving different parts of yesterday for a year and a half. I liked this film very much, and I think it has a very good chance of winning the award this year. (02/19/2012)
    
52. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: nominated for best actor, best original score and best writing – adapted screenplay. This looks like a pretty standard spy thriller. Standard by today's standards. According to the trailer it is based on the novel which revolutionized the genre.
    
53. Transformers: Dark of the Moon: nominated for best sound editing, best sound mixing and best visual effects. This is the story of a race of cybernetic life forms exiled to earth and continuing to fight their civil war. The fun part about this installment is that the first manned moon landing was a mission to investigate their crashed ship. I'm always disappointed when these sequels give the hero a new girl friend. I like the girl in the last film. I think she should have been in this one, too. Other than that, this is a great looking movie. All of these nominations are well-deserved. (c. 07/15/2011)
    
54. Tree of Life, The: nominated for best cinematography, best director and best picture.
    
55. Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom: nominated for best documentary-short subject. This is the story of a tsunami in Japan and the healing power of the cherry blossoms which bloomed one week after the disaster in spite of the devastation all around them.
    
56. Tuba Atlantic: nominated for best short film-live action. This is the story of a Irish man with six days to live. He wants to call his brother. They haven't spoken in 30 years, and he doesn't have a current phone number, so he activates an old invention they worked on as children: a giant tuba designed to send a sound wave across the Atlantic to the United States. This film was a lot of fun. I really liked it. (02/19/2012)
    
57. Undefeated: nominated for best documentary feature.
    
58. W.E.: nominated for best costumes. This is the story of Wallis Simpson the American divorcee who married King Edward VIII of England .
    
59. War Horse: nominated for best art direction, best cinematography, best original score, best picture, best sound editing and best sound mixing. This is the story of a horse that goes to war (WWI) and the boy who loved him and went after him. It is an amazing story of how the horse is passed from one owner to another, surviving extraordinary odds. I liked this movie very much; although, I was disturbed by how eager people seem to be to shoot horses they have no use for. I hope this film wins at least two of the awards it is nominated for. (c. 01/15/2012)
    
60. Warrior: nominated for best supporting actor.
    
61. Wild Life: nominated for best short film-animated. This is the story of an Englishman who immigrants to Canada in order to become a cowboy. He seems very ill prepared for such a life, and it doesn't end well for him. The film ends with a photograph which leads me to believe it was based on a true story. This is the only film in the category which included dialogue at all, but it was all narration; letter from the Englishman and statements from his neighbors, as if the film maker was using primary source material to tell the story of what happened to his great grandfather. (02/19/2012)
    

Erin's Oscar Reviews 2010

The Oscar Award nominations were announced on January 25, 2011, and so begins my annual quest to see as many as possible before Oscar Night. Fifty-six (56) films were nominated in 24 categories. On the day of the announcement, I had already seen 12 (23%). By the time the Oscar show aired, I had seen 34 (61%).

The hardest films to see are always the shorts. There are fifteen: five short films, five short animated films and five short documentaries. Fortunately, the Hollywood Theater in Portland, Oregon shows the five short films and the five short animated films every year for the price of two tickets. This year I took my 8-year-old daughter with me. She had a great time. I don't know why they don’t' show the documentary shorts.

• 127 Hours: nominated for best picture, best actor, film editing, best score, best song ("If I Rise") and screenplay. This is the true story of how one plucky young man goes hiking in the mountains alone and has to cut off his arm in order to get back home again.
  
• Alice in Wonderland: nominated for art direction, costume design and visual effects. It totally deserves all these nominations. It is a very beautiful film. Anne Hathaway was probably my favorite. Johnny Depp was also wonderful, but I really liked Anne Hathaway as the white queen. Her makeup, costume and acting were such that, at times, I wasn't sure it was her. And, I loved it when Alice appeared in her suit of armor. She looked just like Joan of Arc! (03/05/2010)
  
• Animal Kingdom: nominated for best supporting actress (Jacki Weaver). This is an Australian film about a crime family. It starts with a teenage boy calling his grandmother letting her know that his mother just overdosed and died. He moves in with her and his uncles and tries not to get involved in their crimes, but he really can't escape. Weaver's character reminds me of Nurse Cratchet.
  
• Another Year: nominated for best original screenplay. This is a very dull story about a happily married couple and their unhappy friends. The performances were first rate, but honestly, I just didn't get it. (11/22/11).
  
• Barney's Version: nominated for best makeup. The nomination probably refers to the title character aging through the film. It the story of Barney and how he finds and looses love, but the audience is distracted trying to figure out if Barney really did kill his best friend or not. Although partly triumphant, it is ultimately a sad story, but an excellent film.
  
• Biutiful: nominated for best actor (Javier Bardem) and best foreign language film (Mexico)
  
• Black Swan: nominated for best picture, best actress, cinematography, director and film editing. I wasn't sure at first if I liked this film. The nail breaking scenes are really hard to watch, and the dancing is not filmed very well, but the story of this young ballerina's psychotic break is fascinating. The special effect when Natalie Portman's arms turn into wings was stunning! Mila Kunia and Winona Ryder were just as wonderful as Portman (01/23/11).
  
• Blue Valentine: nominated for best actress (Michelle Williams). This is the story of a marriage collapsing. The couple attempts to rekindle their relationship with a romantic weekend, but it all falls apart. The disastrous weekend is intercut with flashbacks of the good times that the couple shared earlier in their relationship. Michelle Williams is brilliant, but the story is too sad to watch.
  
• Confession, The: nominated for best live short film. A boy is preparing to make his first confession. Something very bad happens. The boy seeks out his priest early, but he can't bring himself to say what has happened. The priest recognizes his anguish, and grants him absolution, assuming he knows the kind of thing he needs to confess. It was sad because the boy really needed to confess. The priest guessed that he needed absolution, but the boy seemed just as anguished. Confession is good for the soul. Absolution lures us to the confessional, but I might be reading too much into this. (02/20/11)
  
• Country Strong: nominated for best song ("Coming Home"). Gwyneth Paltrow is amazing in the role of a mega star musician. Most of these films are about musicians drinking themselves into oblivion, but this one is a little different. Her husband removes her from treatment early, so that she can do a tour. Throughout the film it obvious she is not yet well, but everyone needs her to make their payday, so she goes on until she can't go on anymore.
  
• Crush, The: nominated for best live short film. This is a lovely, light, humorous film about a second grader in love with his teacher. When he discovers that she is engaged to someone who is not good fr her, he challenges him to duel. When he shows up with a real gun, it gets very tense, but it all ends well. If you can find this film, I think you will enjoy it. (02/20/11)
  
• Day & Night: nominated for best animated short. This film plays as a lead into Toy Story 3. It features two characters: Day and Night. When they first meet, they don't like each other, and they quarrel, but as they spend a little time together, they come to appreciate what each has to offer. In the end, they get to switch places (06/18/10)
  
• Dogtooth: nominated for best foreign language film (Greece) . This film is very beautifully shot, but the story is so strange that I do not recommend it. It's about a couple with three adult children who have never been allowed to leave the house. They live in a large house with a large yard and a high fence. They have been taught that it is dangerous outside, and they will not be prepared to leave until they loose a dogtooth. There is no explanation for why the children have been raised this way. It's just weird for weirdness sake (01/31/11).
  
• Exit through the Gift Shop: nominated for best documentary feature. Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant in Los Angeles, is obsessed with film. He films everything. When he becomes interested in graffiti artists, he films them constantly, but he doesn't actually know how to make a film, so he leaves his footage with Bansky, the preeminent graffiti artist, and he makes some art himself. He's not very good, but he is very successful. (01/31/11).
  
• Fighter, The: nominated for best picture, supporting actor (Bale), supporting actress (Adams & Leo), directing, film editing and writing. I didn't expect to like this film, and I didn't. First of all, it was boxing. I don't like boxing films. They always show the fighters all beat to hell. This film was not exception to that standard. The characters in this film were such deeply flawed individuals that it was just hard to watch, sad. The one bright spot was that Mark Wahlberg (who isn't nominated) is really very easy on the eyes, and his character is really quite likable, too. (12/17/10)
  
• Gasland: nominated for best documentary feature. Exploring the wisdom of replacing coal with natural gas. Apparently drilling for natural gas poisons the water table. Hundreds of thousands of wells have been drilled through the rural west. There are plans to drill in Pennsylvania and New York where millions of people receive their water from a single enormous unfiltered aquifer. I had to write my senator after viewing this film. (02/09/11)
  
• God of Love: nominated for best live short film. This is a very nice little film. A talented dart thrower prays to God for the love of a woman. Instead, God sends him a box full of magic darts. He tries to get the girl to fall in love with him, but it turns out he's a lot better at matching up other people. (02/20/11)
  
• Gruffalo, The: nominated for best animated short film. This is a lovely little film that maintains the language of the children's book is based on, narrated by a mother squirrel voiced by Helena Bonham Carter - perfectly charming - a bit slow of pace. (02/20/11)
  
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1: nominated for art direction and visual effects, and deservedly so. This movie looks great! It's probably the best installment of the franchise. I think it struck just right balance between details and pace, and I think Emma Watson steals the screen from her costars. (11/19/10)
  
• Hereafter: nominated for visual effects. A little boy looses his twin brother, a woman has a near-death experience, and a man with the ability to speak with the dead struggles with his gift. As they each struggle with loss, their three stories converge. A lovely but forgettable film.
  
• How to Train Your Dragon: nominated for best animated feature and best score. This was truly delightful film. I have small children, so I see a lot of animated films every year. This was truly a bright spot. It's well drawn, but nothing fancy. The dialogue is very witty. My kids quote it constantly. And, it includes some really poignant life-lessons. The lead character is a young Viking who is very clever, but not very strong, so he doesn't really fit in with his friends. The people are deeply prejudiced against dragons based on a tragic misunderstanding. (03/26/2010)
  
• I Am Love: nominated for costume design. This is an Italian film starring Tilda Swinton. The costumes are a beautiful collection of Italian fashion, but the story is completely confusing. A woman with adult children falls in love (inexplicably) with her son's friend. When her son finds out, he freaks out, hits his head and dies, but she still runs away with her lover, abandoning the rest of the family in their grief. I don't get it. (01/25/11)
  
• Illusionist, The: nominated for best animated feature. A man who has always made his living with his magic show finds his audience shrinking when he meets a girl who believes his illusions are true magic. Her faith in him is invigorating, and he allows her to follow him to his next city where he continues to charm her until she finds boyfriend who makes all her dreams come true.
  
• In a Better World: nominated for best foreign language film (Denmark).
  
• Incendies: nominated for best foreign language film (Canada).
  
• Inception: nominated for best picture, art direction, cinematography, music, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects and writing. This was a great film. It's about a spy who travels inside people subconscious while they are dreaming to steal corporate secrets, and just like the Matrix, I left the theater wondering if I was awake or asleep. (07/16/10)
  
• Inside Job: nominated for best documentary feature. This is a GREAT film about the 2008 financial crisis. It wasn't an accident. Smart people knew it was going to happen, and they were silenced, so that other people could make a LOT of money, and NO ONE went to jail.
  
• Iron Man 2: nominated for visual effects. This film is a first-rate action film and a first-rate comic book film. It looks great. The story is solid. Robert Downey, Jr. is brilliant. I was disappointed that they had to recast the character of War Machine, and I thought that the villain was far less interesting than the heroes. Scarlette Johansen was delightful surprise. Her fight scene was totally cool. (09/28/10).
  
• Kids Are All Right, The: nominated for best picture, actress (Bening), supporting actor (Ruffalo) and writing. I was very disappointed with this film. It was billed as a film about two children raised by two moms on a quest to find their biological father, but it turned out to be about two middle-aged lesbians who had lost the spark in their marriage. It's nice to have something lighter in the best picture category, but the characters and relationships were not very convincing or interesting. (2/2/10)
  
• Killing in the Name: nominated for best documentary short.
  
• King's Speech, The: nominated for best picture, actor (Firth), supporting actor (Rush), supporting actress (Carter), art direction , cinematography, costume design, directing, film editing, music, sound mixing and editing. This is a beautiful story, beautifully told, well deserving all of its accolades, full of priceless moments. At the end of the story, I was struck by the fact that this man, King George VI, found himself in such terrifying circumstances: at war with fascist Germany, but the thing that frightened him most was the rather ordinary fear of public speaking. (2/5/10)
  
• Let's Pollute: nominated for best animated short film. This is probably the shortest of the short films. It's only 6 minutes long. Of course it is trying to discourage people from polluting by pretending to encourage it. My 8-year-old daughter was thoroughly confused, but the other adults in the audience with me laughed in all the right places. (02/20/11)
  
• Lost Thing, The: nominated for best animated short film. This was really charming - lots of imagination in this film. A boy finds a thing on the beach. It's alive but cannot speak. Its about 10 feet tall and 5 feet wide and very friendly. It looks something like a teapot crossed with an crab. Anyway, over the course of the film, he tries to find the thing a home. (02/20/11)
  
• Madagascar, a Journey Diary: nominated for best animated short film. I did not like this film. It started out interestingly enough: lots of beautiful pictures in lots of different animation styles, but it never stopped switching styles, so when it finally tried to tell a story, I kept getting distracted, but it didn't try very hard. This film comes off as a student showing off how many different ways he knows how to draw a film. (02/20/11)
  
• Na Wewe: nominated for best live short film. This film was terrifying - lots of tension and drama, but ultimately much ado about nothing. It is set in Rwanda. A military patrol stops a van full of people and tries to sort out the Hutu from the Tutsi. (The Tutsi will be executed). The comedy or absurdity of the situation is finally revealed as each person tries to explain their complicated family background. (02/20/11)
  
• Outside the Law: nominated for best foreign language film (Algeria).
  
• Poster Girl: nominated for best documentary short.
  
• Rabbit Hole: nominated for best actress (Nicole Kidman). This is a heart breaking story about a couple who is coping with the death of their young son. It is a heart breaking story, but it is ultimately triumphant. Highly recommended.
  
• Restrepo: nominated for best documentary feature. This film is about an outpost in Afghanistan. As a documentary, it doesn't really tell a story, but as a snap shop of the war in Afghanistan it presents our soldiers as completely incompetent.
  
• Salt: nominated for best sound mixing. This is Angelina Jolie as an action hero and everything that you would expect from that, no disappointments. The story is that Jolie's character, Salt, works for the CIA, and she might be a sleeper spy for Russia. Half the fun of the film is trying to answer that question: who is Salt? And there are several twists to keep that interesting. The film excels with disguises, so it’s a shame is wasn't nominated for makeup, but the action films always seem to show up in the sound categories. (01/30/11)
  
• Social Network, The: nominated for best picture, actor (Eisenberg), cinematography, directing, film editing, music, sound mixing and writing. This is the story of how Mark Zuckerberg invented facebook. It's mostly a character study. It's really, really good - a lot of fun to watch. Highly recommended. Don't miss this one. In the story there is a conflict between two characters about putting advertising on the site. Ultimately they don't put advertising on the site, but they never explain how they make billions of dollars with this website (02/12/11).
  
• Strangers No More: nominated for best documentary short.
  
• Sun Come Up: nominated for best documentary short.
  
• Tangled: nominated for best song ("I See the Light"). This is a completely delightful film. I can't imagine why it was denied a nomination for best animated feature (along with Despicable Me). My favorite thing about this film is that animal companions do not steal the scenes from the human characters, and the prince doesn't upstage the princess. She got to be the hero of her own story, and that is important to me. I credit the addition of John Lasseter to the production teams at Disney Studios to the superior quality of work coming from that studio in recent years (11/24/10).
  
• Tempest, The: nominated for costume design.
  
• Town, The: nominated for best actor in a supporting role (Jeremy Renner). This film is about a bank robber who falls in love with his hostage. Renner turns in a first class performance, and its fun to see films set in Boston. The story and the characters are interesting but not captivating. This is a great film to see, but it is not a must-see film. (02/15/11)
  
• Toy Story 3: nominated for best picture, best animated feature, best song ("We Belong Together"), sound editing and writing. This was a very sentimental film. The toys' boy, Andy, is going to college, and they worry about being thrown away, put into storage, or donated. The great adventure surrounds their accidental donation to a day care facility and subsequent quest to return to Andy's house. It's the perfect conclusion to the greatest animated trilogy in film (06/18/2010).
  
• Tron Legacy: nominated for sound editing. This film was visually spectacular, but I did not find the story, characters or even the world particularly compelling or interesting. I did love the way they were able to cast a young (12/17/2010).
  
• True Grit: nominated for best picture, actor (Bridges), supporting actress (Steinfeld), art direction, cinematography, costume design, directing, sound editing, sound mixing and writing. I liked this film very much. This is one of those rare gems in which a very young protagonist is very well written. Steinfeld plays a young girl who hires a Marshal to hunt down her father's killer in the Wild West. She delivers a spectacular performance, at least as good as Anna Paquin in The Piano (1993). I was also impressed with the way in which the west was portrayed as a very rough, no-nonsense place (01/23/11).
  
• Unstoppable: nominated for sound editing. This is a cool action adventure story about a runaway train. Loosely based on a true story.
  
• Warriors of Qiugang: nominated for best documentary short.
  
• Waste Land: nominated for best documentary feature. This is a lovely story about turning garbage into art. The artist went to Rio de Janeiro and hired trash pickers to help him gather the materials he needed. He did portraits of them and sold them for LOTS of money which he gave them. It was interesting that some pickers were able to use the money to change their lives forever but others were not. Highly recommended.
  
• Way Back: nominated for best makeup.
  
• Winter's Bone: nominated for best picture, best supporting actor (Hawkes), best actress (Lawrence) and writing. It was really good. The trailer had filled me with dread, but the fate of our heroine was not nearly as bad as I had imagined. This film is about a 17-year-old girl taking care of her 12-year-old brother and 6-year-old sister when she finds out that her father put up the house for his bond, and if he doesn't show for court, they will be evicted. She sets off looking for him, and she finds a lot of trouble, but eventually, she finds the truth, and the solution to her problem. (2/2/10)
  
• Wish 143: best live short film. This is a cute little film about a boy with cancer who makes a wish. It's a British film, so he's not talking to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, but a similar organization. What he really wants is to loose his virginity. What follows is hilarious and heart breaking all at the same time. (02/20/11)
  
• Wolfman: nominated for best makeup. This film really does have great makeup, and a great cast, and great sets, but the story is time-worn, and I did not find the characters compelling. I could not bring myself to care one way or the other about their fate. (02/15/11)

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards
February 27, 2011
honoring the best in film during the year 2010

5:30 PM The show starts with clips form the ten films nominated for Best Picture. Then the hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway inserted themselves into clips. Very much like Billy Crystal did when he hosted. Their opening "monologue" was not bad. They both drew attention to their mothers. Mothers has been chosen as a theme for the evening.

5:40 BEST ART DIRECTION presented by Tom Hanks, and the Oscar goes to ALICE IN WONDERLAND. The recipient had prepared a tiny hat for the Oscar Award that looked just like the hat worn by Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.

5:45 BEST CINEMAGRAPHY presented by Tom Hanks, and the Oscar goes to Wally Pfister for INCEPTION.

5:50 BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS presented by Kurt Douglas a hilarious presentation which he dragged out as long as he could. The Oscar goes to MELISSA LEO for The Fighter. She was quite speechless at first, but she got going alright after she cursed a little, just the king in the The King's Speech.

6:00 BEST ANIMATED SHORT presented by Kunis and Justin Timberlake. Justin used an "app" to change the backdrop on stage. And the Oscar goes to THE LOST THING.

6:05 BEST ANIMATED FEATURE presented by Kunis and Justing Timberlake, and the Oscar goes to TOY STORY 3.

6:10 BEST ADAPTADED SCREENPLAY presented by Javiar Bardem, and the Oscar goes to Aaron Sorkin for THE SOCIAL NETWORK. His speech went on a little bit long. The music was playing louder and louder and louder.

6:15 BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY presented by Javiar Bardem, and the Oscar goes to David Seidler for THE KING'S SPEECH. "My father always said to me I would be a late bloomer. I believe I am the oldest person to ever win this award. I hope that record is broken quickly and often… I would like to thank her Majesty the Queen for not putting me in the tower for using the Melissa Leo F word... I would like to accept this on behalf of all the stutters in the world… We have a voice…"

6:20 Anne Hathaway sings a version "On My Own" in which she complains about Hugh Jackman's refusal to sing a duet with her. She was wearing a tuxedo, so James Franco came out in a dress. I hate it when drag is used as a joke like that.

6:25 BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM presented by Helen Mirren and Russell Brand. Helen speaks in French, and Brand translates hilariously, comparing Helen's performance as Queen Elizabeth II to Colin Firth's performance as King George VI and the Oscar goes to IN A BETTER WORLD from Denmark.

6:30 BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR presented by Reese Witherspoon. Reese's presentation was very ordinary, the emphasis was on the clips of the performances, and the Oscar goes to Christian Bale in the FIGHTER. Christian gives a very nice speech that ends in tears when he thanks his wife.

6:40 Somebody from the Academy and Somebody from ABC Network announced that they have renewed their contract and ABC will continue to broadcast the Oscars through 2020.

6:40 BEST ORIGINAL SCORE presented by Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. Their introduction included some bits from some really great scores such as Star Wars, E.T. and West Side Story. Followed by clips from the nominees, and the Oscar goes to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for THE SOCIAL NETWORK

6:45 BEST SOUND MIXING presented by Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson and the Oscar goes to Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick for INCEPTION.

6:50 BEST SOUND EDITING presented by Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson, and the Oscar goes to Richard King for INCEPTION.

Marissa Tomei reviews the Academy's Scientific and Technical Awards.

6:55 BEST MAKEUP presented by Cate Blanchet, and the Oscar goes to WOLFMAN.

7:00 BEST COSTUME DESIGN presented by Cate Blanchet, and the Oscar goes to Colleen Atwood ALICE IN WONDERLAND. She also won for Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha. She is the first winner tonight who actually had a written speech prepared. Unfortunately it was not very good, nor very well delivered.

7:05 President Obama announces that his favorite movie song is "As Time Goes By" from Casablanca. Kevin Spacey announces the first performance of a song nominated for Best Song: "We Belong Together" from TOY STORY 3 performed by Randy Newman. I've been looking forward to this portion of the show. I am almost always disappointed. This year was no exception. The piano was too loud, couldn't here the vocals. Why can't the Academy get this right. They mess up the Best Song performances EVERY year.

Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi sing "I See the Light" from TANGLED. This performance was much better, but sedate. It would be nice if this portion of the show looked and felt more like the Grammys.

7:10 BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT presented by Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhall, and the Oscar goes to Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon for STRANGERS NO MORE.

7:15 BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM presented by Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhall, and the Oscar goes to Luke Matheny for GOD OF LOVE. The recipient who is presumably the director was also the star of the film. He also pulled out a scrap of paper and started thanking people including his mother, father and love.

James Franco introduced a series of clips altered to make the following films appear to have been musicals: Harry Potter and he Deathly Hollows, Toy Story 3, Social Network and Twilight: Eclipse. It was pretty funny.

7:20 BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE presented by Opra Winfery. Winfery describes a documentary as the opposite of an escape which is what most films are, and the Oscar goes to Charles Fergunson and Audrey Marrs for INSIDE JOB. Fergunson began by stating that no financial executive has yet been sent to jail.

7:25 Billy Crystal received a standing ovation. He introduces a clip from the very first televised Oscar show hosted by Bob Hope.

7:30 BEST VISUAL EFFECTS presented by Robert Downy Jr and Jude Law. Their presentation banter was really funny, and the Oscar goes to Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb for INCEPTION.

7:35 BEST FILM EDITING presented by Rober Downy Jr. and Jude Law, and the Oscar goes to Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter for THE SOCIAL NETWORK.

7:40 Jennifer Hudson announces the performance of "If I Rise " from 127 Hours by A. R. Rahman and Florence Welch. This is a really beautiful song.

Jennifer Hudson announces the performance of "Coming Home" from Country Strong by Gwyneth Paltrow. She does a really nice job, but it is staged in such a dull way. She stands in the middle of a dark stage in a beautiful dress with a microphone and a spotlight.

7:45 BEST ORIGINAL SONG presented by Jennifer Hudson, and the Oscar goes to Randy Newman for "We Belong Together" from TOY STORY 3. Newman notes that he has been nominated 20 times and he has only won twice. He also notes that he must thank several people even though it doesn't make good television. He also complains that there were only four nominees when every other category has five nominees.

7:50 Celine Dion sang "Smile Though Your Heart is Breaking" while they show clips of people who have passed on during the past year. I didn't recognize many names or faces except Leslie Nielson, Robert Culp, Bob Boyle, Lynn Redgrave, Dennis Hopper, Blake Edwards and Lena Horne.

7:55 Halle Barry spoke a special tribute to Lena Horne, the first person of color to sign a performance contract with a major motion picture studio. Halle Barry is the first woman of color to win the Oscar for Best Actress. Lena Horne was the first woman of color to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress.

8:00 BEST DIRECTOR presented by Hilary Swank and Kathryn Bigelow (the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director), and the Oscar goes to Tom Hooper for THE KING'S SPEECH. He thanked his mother for suggesting The King's Speech as a suitable film project. The moral of the story: listen to your mother.

8:05 Govenor's Awards for Lifetime Achievement presented earlier, introduced by Annette Bening: (1) Jean-Luc Godard, director, received an Honorary Award for passion. For confrontation. For a new kind of cinema; (2) Francis Ford Coppola, producer-director, received the Irving G. Thalberg Award for a consistently high quality of motion picture production; (3) Eli Wallach, actor received an Honorary Award for a lifetime’s worth of indelible screen characters; (4) Kevin Brownlow, historian and preservationist, received an Honorary Award for the wise and devoted chronicling of the cinematic parade.

8:10 BEST ACTRESS presented by Jeff Bridges. As he announced the name of each nominee, he said something nice about each nominee. This is better than last year when they chose five different people to say nice things about each nominee, but I still think it is over kill. We've seen all this sort of thing for actors. Do this for directors or producers or writers. And the Oscar goes to Natalie Portman for BLACK SWAN.

8:20 BEST ACTOR presented by Sandra Bullock. She also said nice things about each nominee as she announced their names, and the Oscar goes to Colin Firth for THE KING'S SPEECH.

8:30 BEST PICTURE presented by Steven Spielberg. A very clever set of clips with the audio from the king's speech. And the Oscar goes to THE KING'S SPEECH!

Erin's Oscar Picks 2010

Best Actor: Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
Best Supporting Actor: Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)
Best Actress: Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
Best Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Art Direction: Alice in wonderland
Best Cinematography: Inception
Best costume Design: Alice in wonderland
Best Directing: The King's Speech
Best Documentary Feature: Inside Job
Best Documentary Short: The Warriors of Quigang
Best Film Editing The King's Speech
Best Foreign Language Film: Biutiful
Best Makeup: Barney's Version
Best Original Score: 127 Hours
Best Original Song; We Belong Together from Toy Story 3
Best Animated Short Film: The Lost tHing
Best Live Action Short Film: the Crush
Best Sound Editing: Inception
Best Sound Mixing: Inception
Best Visual Effects: iNception
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network
Best Original Screenplay: The King's Speech
Best Picture : The King's Speech

Erin's Oscar Reviews 2009

I set a goal for myself to watch all the films nominated for an Oscar last year (2009). The year is almost over. The Golden Globe nominations were announced 12/14/2010. The Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced 12/16/2010. The Oscar nominations will be announced 01/25/2011. As of 12/27/10, I have seen 52/58 of the nominated films, that's 90%. I know I can get at least one more of the remaining six (Which Way Home). I might be able to see two others, but it is highly doubtful. Here I've written a brief (100 words or less) review of each film. They are listed in alphabetical order in case you want to find a particular film. The date in parenthesis is the date I saw the film. The most recently written reviews are underlined.



Ajami was nominated for Best Foreign Film (Israel). It is the story of two brothers in Tel Aviv. The film is divided into five stories. The stories all connect at different points. That was interesting, but the theme of the stories was desperately depressing that I cannot recommend this film unless you are deeply curious about life in Israel. (11/2010)



Avatar was nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Score, Best Picture, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. It's a great show. It lives up to its hype. The animation is extraordinary, but the story is not original. I've seen it at least three times, and I thought the science fiction was a bit weak. The avatars and the ponytails were cool, but I thought the end was bit anticlimactic. (01/10/2010)



The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock was nominated for Best Actress and Best Picture. It's the true story of a woman who adopts a homeless boy who becomes a big shot in the NFL. I love stories like this. The woman was a real hero who made a real difference. I hope I have that kind of bravery. Sandra Bullock is a very popular actress, but this is her first nomination. I love seeing popular celebrities achieve critical and professional acclaim. (c. 11/20/2010)



Bright Star was nominated for Best Costumes. It has great costumes, and a character to point out their greatness. The pace of the story is uneven, but if you like John Keats, you should not miss this film. It's about his love affair with Fanny Braun. If you don't know Keats, you might appreciate knowing that he died young and unappreciated. I love period films. They're like time machines. Still, I remained perplexed by the lives and lifestyle of 19th century English gentry. (02/06/2010)



Burma VJ was nominated for Best Documentary. (It lost to The Cove.) It is about the video journalists who documented the popular uprising against the ruling military regime in Burma in September 2007. They did all of their work with hand held cameras and smuggled their images out of the country at great personal risk. Although the uprising was ultimately unsuccessful, and many of the video journalists were imprisoned, their work has inspired more Burmese to document what is happening in their country. (06/11/2010)



China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province was nominated for Best Documentary Short.



Coco Before Chanel was nominated for Best Costumes. It's about the most famous designer of all time. At nine, her father left her in an orphanage. At 18, she worked as a seamstress and a singer. She follows a man to Paris where she meets another man who helps her open a hat shop. Her clothes are stunningly revolutionary. She wears a lot of black and no corsets. It is a beautiful film. I highly recommend it. (03/05/2010)



Coraline was nominated for Best Animated Feature. It's a stop-motion animated film made right here in Oregon. It looks a little like The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's also set in Oregon which is super-fun for me. Coraline is tricked and abducted by some kind of witch, and she must use her wits to escape. It's really creepy, but my kids love it, too. It actually provided an opportunity for some good discussions - highly recommended. (c. 07/21/2009)



The Cove was nominated for Best Documentary Feature. Free Willy and the subsequent mission to actually free Keiko, the whale who performed in that film, made me aware of the evil that is Sea World. This film is about that industry (captive sea mammals as entertainment). It is also about the systematic slaughter of dolphin as vermin which makes no kind of sense whatsoever. The horror is truly heart breaking. It's time to save the whales - again. (02/20/2010)



Crazy Heart starring Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal was nominated for Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Song. It's fictional biography of a country singer. Predictably, he neglects his family and abuses drugs. I thought it honestly portrayed his drunkenness as worse some times than other. His rock bottom was interesting: he lost his girlfriend's four-year-old boy. He leaves the area and can't give security much information. They find him anyway. All's well that ends well, but he finally checks into rehab. (03/01/2010)



District 9 was nominated for Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Visual Effects and Best Screenplay. I really loved it right up until the South African betrayed the alien, then I disconnected, and I didn't care what happened for awhile. I found the scenes where they are experimenting on the South African to absolutely disturbing. They will stick with me for a long time. (12/31/2009)



Il Divo was nominated for Best Makeup. I don't recommend this film unless you are familiar with the subject: a seven-term president of Italy with connections to the mob. The film seemed to serve as (beautiful) illustrations for a story which its target audience already knows. I am clearly not a member of its target audience. I was pretty bored. (02/07/2010)



The Door was nominated for Best Live Short. It is an Irish film but everyone speaks Russian. The film opens with a man sneaking around, breaking in, and stealing a door. Later we learn that it was his own door he was stealing. He had to abandon his house, but he wanted the door for his daughter's funeral. His daughter died of radiation poisoning following the Chernobyl accident. It's a terribly sad story. (02/25/2010)



An Education starring Carey Mulligan was nominated for Best Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Picture. Mulligan reminded me of Audrey Hepburn. She was enchanting. The story is about a young student in the 1960s trying to get into Oxford when she falls in love with an older man. She has to choose between her man and her education. I think the film did a very sloppy job of answering that question. What do you think? Why do women need a university education? (03/02/2010)



El Secreto de Sus Ojos was nominated for Best Foreign Film (Argentina). This is film is two stories told out of sequence: that sounds like the sort of thing that would normally annoy me, but I think they did it very well, and I liked it very much. The first is the story of a murder and the investigation. The second is the story of the investigator and his infatuation with his boss. It's a great film. I particularly liked the character of the grieving widower. He puts forth a convincing argument for a life sentence over the death penalty. (11/30/2010)



Fantastic Mr. Fox was nominated for Best Animated Feature. It is stop-motion animation (like Coraline), but it never really drew me into the story. The characters are all a bit odd, and I just kept noticing the film-making. The way the animals' fur moved reminded me of the old Rudolf cartoons from the 1970s. (02/07/2010)



Food, Inc was nominated for Best Documentary Feature. It was very enlightening, better than Super-size Me, much better than King Corn. I was very surprised to learn that the USDA has lost the authority to shut down meat packing plants that fail their quality control tests. I was also surprised to learn how many children die from e. coli poisoning in the ground beef that they eat. It's an important film. I hope the Oscar nomination gets it watched by lots and lots of people. (02/03/2010)



French Roast was nominated for Best Animated Short. I saw it on You Tube. I liked it VERY much. The images were interesting and the characters were charming. The filmmaker employed this very clever device where a mirror on the wall behind the main characters allowed us to see what they were looking at without changing the camera angles, but the thing that really made me fall in love with the film was the message was at the end. (02/24/2010)



Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty was nominated for Best Animated Short. I saw it on You Tube. It's cute and clever. Granny comes in to tell her granddaughter a bedtime story. She starts telling the story of Sleeping Beauty, but she identifies with the bad fairy. It turns out to be quite a statement about being nice to the elderly. In the end she leaves her granddaughter quite terrified. It's pretty funny. (02/24/2010)



Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was nominated for Best Cinematography. I was disappointed that the filmmakers didn't tell more of Voldemort's story in this film. I think we needed more dialogue between Dumbledore and Harry following his views of selected memories. I loved the bits about the love triangle. Some people think that was the wrong place to focus, and maybe they are right. The Cinematography nomination is well-served. There are some really great shots in this film. (c. 07/15/2009)



The Hurt Locker starring Jeremy Renner was nominated for Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Director. It is the story of a soldier who disarms bombs in Iraq. He is really good at his job, but sometimes he seems very reckless and stupid, and sometimes he seems very brave and noble. The pace of the film is quite uneven, but I really liked the ending. (02/15/2010)



The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Costumes. It really is a very beautiful film. I didn't find it at all confusing as other reviewers. Dr. P sets himself up as a sideshow and people may enter his imagination for a small fee. Even though the imaginarium is a wondrous place, his business is failing until his troop rescues Heath Ledger who seems a hero before revealing himself a villain. (05/19/2010)



In the Loop was nominated for Best Screenplay. I did not like this film. It a political comedy about how government operatives in the United States and Great Britain try to stop the invasion of Iraq. Of course they fail miserably, and they end up miserable, so how is that funny? It did make me feel a little bit better about the so-called office politics where I work. We are complete amateurs compared to the characters in this film. (03/11/2010)



Inglorious Basterds starring Christopher Walz was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Screenplay. The pace is uneven. It begins as an action film with Jewish American soldiers terrorizing the Nazis in France. Then it becomes a French film about a Jewish woman who accidentally catches the favor of a German war hero. When the stories converge the French story ends tragically and the American story ends triumphantly - typical. (c. 08/21/2009)



Instead of Abracadabra was nominated for Best Live Short. It is a Swedish film. This film is about a young twenty-something magician, still living with his parents, trying to impress the new girl next door. It's very funny. The lead actor does awkward super geek to perfection. It's almost painful to watch. It is quite reminiscent of Napoleon Dynamite (02/25/2010)



Invictus starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon was nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. It is the story of South Africa winning the rugby world cup shortly after Mandela was elected president. It is very much like other sports movies, very exciting and very sentimental. It made me cry. The setting of this film is unique. I came away with a better understanding of who Nelson Mandela was - quite extraordinary. Unless you really hate sports movies, I highly recommend this film. (03/04/2010)



Julie & Julia starring Meryl Streep was nominated for Best Actress. This film is based on two true stories. It is the story of Julia Child's life in France and how she accidentally became a first class chef. The love story between her and her husband is really very charming. The other story is about a girl named Julie living in New York just after the September 2001 attacks (more historical context). She distracts herself by cooking every recipe in Julia Child's cookbook. (c. 12/08/2009)
Kavi was nominated for Best Live Action Short. It is about a little boy in India who is forced to make bricks all day with his mother and father. His father owes the kiln owner a lot of money, so he has effectively been sold into slavery. It' was hard for me to watch the abuses laid on this sweet boy, but he managed his escape in the end. The closing credits listed the film as part of someone's MFA. (02/25/2010)



The Lady and the Reaper was nominated for Best Animated Short. I saw it on You Tube. It is very cute. I don't think that it was the animator's intention to make any kind of a statement about the right to die, but it did leave questions and worries in my head. I don't believe that doctors really try to revive older people over and over again as depicted in this film. (02/24/2010)



The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner was nominated for Best Documentary Short.



The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant was nominated for Best Documentary Short. This film was a little hard to find. It was made by HBO films, and I was finally able to buy a copy from Amazon.com. What I found most interesting was that the plant was closed in spite of having one of the highest efficiency ratings in the whole company. It was closed because sales were down of the particular truck they made. I find it incomprehensible that factories are built to make only one thing, and then when we want to build something else, we have to build a whole different factory.



The Last Station starring Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren was nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress. It is about the last year of the life of Leo Tolstoy. The title refers to the last train station on the Russian border. Tolstoy and his wife were obviously in love with each other, but they had grown to want different things. The countess wanted financial stability and security. Tolstoy wanted to improve the lives of all Russians. It seemed so tragic that I just cried and cried. (03/01/2010)



Logorama was nominated for Best Animated Short, and it was preceded by an advisory warning of foul language and violence. There were lots of bad words. The most violent thing I think was when a man kicked a child in the head. The animation seemed really unique to me. Everything was a logo: the people, the landscape, the buildings and vehicles. The story was a car chase. The police were played by Michelin tire men and the villain was Ronald McDonald. (02/25/2010)



The Lovely Bones starring Stanley Tucci was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. It's about a young girl who is gruesomely murdered (off screen). Surprisingly, the message of the film turns out to be how the dead cope with death, which I think is really very interesting. It might have been more interesting if I hadn't been so distracted by the other two stories: how the survivors deal with their loss and how the bad guy gets away with it. (01/31/2010)



A Matter of Loaf and Death was nominated for Best Animated Short. It is a British film starring Wallace and Grommit. They have a new business now as bakers but there is someone in town that is killing bakers. Of course Wallace meets her right away and Grommitt is unsuccessful in his attempts to convince him that she's no good - a very nice little film with some very witty dialogue. (02/25/2010)



The Messenger starring Woody Harrelson was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay. This film is about a wounded soldier assigned to perform notifications to the next of kin following the deaths of soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's quite dull, but I'm really very glad I saw this film because my father told me that he was assigned to this same duty when he finished his tour in Vietnam. He says it was the worst or hardest duty he had ever been asked to perform. I wish we had seen the film together. (06/12/2010)



Miracle Fish was nominated for Best Live Short. It is about a boy in Australia with a toy fish that predict your future. After a nap in the nurse's station he wakes up to an empty school. The little actor who plays the boy is super cute and a joy to watch. Eventually we learn why the school is empty and the boy shows enormous resilience in his ability to handle the situation. (02/25/2010)



The Milk of Sorrow was nominated for Best Foreign Film (Peru) The title comes from the belief that mothers under stress transfer their fear to their nursing babies. The main character's mother was raped by Shining Path, and although she is now safely in Lima, she is still afraid of everything. For example, she keeps a potato in her vagina to ward off rapists. Her mother dies in the opening and she spends the rest of the film trying to secure her burial. Along the way she is cruelly cheated by a rich, white woman, but she triumphs in the end. (12/27/2010)



The Most Dangerous Man in America was nominated for Best Documentary. This is my favorite film, so I'm allowing myself more than 350 words for this review. This film is about Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press in an attempt to bring an end to the Vietnam War. I learned a lot; for example, all five presidents lied to the public about American involvement in Vietnam, just because no one wanted to be the guy who lost the war.



A memo from the Defense Department under the Johnson Administration listing the reasons for American persistence: 10% - to permit the people [of South Vietnam] to enjoy a better, freer way of life - 20% - to keep [South Vietnam] (and the adjacent) territory from Chinese hands - 70% - to avoid a humiliating U.S. defeat - ALSO - to emerge from the crisis without unacceptable taint from methods used - NOT - to 'help a friend'. American soldiers are willing to die to preserve another's freedom. They are not willing to die to preserve another's pride.



In the end, the leak of the Pentagon Papers did not contribute to the end of the Vietnam War, but the leak did strengthen our First Amendment right to freedom of the press as the Supreme Court had to make a decision regarding the injunction to stop the New York Times from publishing the Papers. The leak also prompted Nixon to do one more illegal thing that got him caught and impeached - which was a good thing - I think that man hated the Constitution more than anybody since Jackson.



Daniel Ellsberg was arrested for treason, but the government's case was so full of irregularities that the judge declared a mistrial. He was released on his own reconnaissance. He was not acquitted, but the film included clips of him protesting the war in Iraq, and I think that is the happy ending. In spite of the obvious and horrible levels of corruption, they were not limitless. Ellsberg was not imprisoned or tortured or murdered as he might have been in some other country. (09/09/2010)



Music by Prudence was nominated for Best Documentary Short.



The New Tenants was nominated for Best Live Short. Two guys move into an apartment and before they can unpack, their neighbor knocks on the door and asks for some flour. She tells them that the previous tenant was murdered. Another guy shows to collect his heroin. The neighbor returns claiming her granddaughter is sick. The heroin dealer kills her. The grand daughter shows up and kills the heroin dealer. Then she dies. The film had some very clever dialogue. (02/25/2010)



Nine starring Penelope Cruz was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction and Best Song. It is a story about filmmaker trying to make his ninth film. As he struggles with an idea he fantasizes about the various women he has loved throughout his life. Each fantasy was presented as a stage production. The hero is finally exposed as a villain. We are lead to believe that he finds redemption, but we only see his down fall. (03/04/2010)



Paris 36 was nominated for Best Song. It is a French film about a group of out-of-work singers and comics who open up a theater as a co-op during World War II. It's an interesting story which includes a love triangle, a murder, and some really great songs. It got to be a bit dull in the middle, but it had a really great ending, which I don't expect from French films. (02/22/2010)



Precious starring Gabourney Sidibe and Mo'Nique was nominated for six academy awards: Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Editing and Best Picture. It is the story of a seventeen-year-old girl who is pregnant for a second time by her father and how she escapes her abusive home. There are lots of heroes in this film including the alt-ed teacher and Precious but I was also impressed by the positive roles that the public school system and the welfare system played in her story. (03/01/2010)



The Princess and the Frog was nominated for Best Animated Feature and twice for Best Song. It is about a young black woman in New Orleans in the 1930s, she has a dream of opening her own restaurant when she kisses a prince and turns into a frog. I thought the way they portrayed the racism and sexism from that era was totally appropriate for children. I loved this film. It was enchanting. I loved that it was 2-D cell-animation. (12/27/2009)



Un Prophète was nominated for Best Foreign Film (France). A well crafted film to be sure, but I never connected well with protagonist, a 19-year-old French Arab convict sentenced to six years in prison. The film traces his transformation from an illiterate, tentative, naïve coward into a bold, brutal, cunning crime boss. I would have liked it better if it were only half as long. It's 2hrs 30min. (09/06/2010)



Rabbit à la Berlin was nominated for Best Documentary Short.



The Secret of Kells was nominated for Best Animated Feature. This is a really beautiful film. The animation is quite unusual. Everything about the story is quite unusual. It is sort of epic in nature. It begins with a boy and doesn't end until he is an old man. It seems to be set in a monetary and there is significant disagreement over how to deal with an impeding invasion, but there is much magic at work as well. I streamed this film from Netflix, and I recommend you take a look. (11/2010)



A Serious Man was nominated for Best Screenplay and Best Picture. I hated it. It's by the Coen Brothers, who I usually like, but it managed to offend me on several levels. This film was supposed to be about a man whose life spirals out of control due to forces beyond his control, but I was not convinced that he was trying. He seemed to me to be allowing people to mistreat him without protest. (02/24/2010)



Sherlock Holmes was nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Score. I don't think I've ever seen the great detective portrayed as a brawler before, but I really liked the way he described the injuries that he was about inflict upon his enemies. I liked the usual scenes of how he analyzes minute details. The chemistry experiments were cool, too. I was less interested in the villain. I thought he was kind of boring, but I will show up for the sequel. (01/10/2010)



A Single Man starring Colin Firth was nominated for Best Actor. It's the story of a man mourning the loss of his partner in 1962. The period elements of the film are wonderful. He has been miserable for 8 months, and he has decided that today he will kill himself. He enjoys every part of his day as he sets his affairs in order. He is especially nice to people, and in the end, a new friend convinces him to live. I wish that were the end, but the very next moment, he dies of a heart attack - lame. (08/08/2010).



Star Trek was nominated for Best Makeup, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. This movie was really beautiful, and I even liked the actors and the characters, but I did not love the premise. I don't want the franchise re-launched by creating a new continuity. If they wanted to create a whole bunch of new situations, why didn't they just come up with new characters, like they did for The Next Generation? How about a Star Trek series with lawyers, like JAG? (c. 12/28/2009)



Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was nominated for Best Sound Mixing. It was also nominated for the Razzie for Worst Picture. I did not love this film. It was fun to see Shea Beowulf and his costar again, but some of the Autobots were really annoying and the story line was mostly lost on me. I particularly detested the scene in which the mom takes her boy to college and accidentally buys some brownies laced with marijuana and then acts like a fool. (c. 12/28/2009)



Up was nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Score, Best Picture, Best Sound Editing and Best Screenplay. This is an absolutely charming film. I love the way they tell two short stories before the end of the opening credits and then tell another short story during the closing credits - very craft fully done. I also loved the way that the house floats like a parade balloon: sometimes they are weighing it down, and sometimes it is carrying them along. (c. 05/29/2009)



Up in the Air starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick was nominated for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress twice, Best Director, Best Picture and Best Screenplay. I thought it was really good, very unusual, and terribly sad. It is the story of a man who flies a lot for work. He likes this lifestyle because it keeps him disconnected from everyone. He comes to realize this is not a great way to live, and he tries to change his life. (01/16/2010)



Which Way Home was nominated for Best Documentary.



The White Ribbon was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Film (Austria). I did not like this film. It is set in Germany just before WWI. The children in the film are being abused, and they in turn commit horrible crimes against their neighbors. The message seems to be that violence begets violence, but it ending is so unsatisfactory that I cannot recommend it. (09/12/2010)



The Young Victoria was nominated for Best Costumes, Best Set Design and Best Makeup. It is a stunningly beautiful film. It is also a very beautiful story. It begins one year before Queen Victoria's coronation when she is 17 years old. She is being manipulated by her mother and step-father. It tells the story of how she gained independence, power and love. It's really too beautiful to be true. I've got to read a biography of Queen Victoria.(03/02/2010)

005 Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

In 1998, the American Film Institute celebrated the first 100 years of cinema (1896-1996) by listing the 100 best American films of the century. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) was Number 5 on the list. It is based on the true story of T. E. Lawrence, a British army officer who served as liaison during the Arab Revolt of 1916 in which the Arabs revolted against the Turks and won their independence (more or less).

Lawrence of Arabia has been widely popular among fans and critics ever since its release. It was nominated for ten Oscars and won seven: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Music Score, Best Film Editing and Best Sound. I thought this was a beautiful picture. I loved the images of the horses and the desert and the costumes.

Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) is sent from Cairo to assess the prospects of Prince Faisal (Alec Guinness) in his revolt against the Turks. Instead of making his assessment and leaving, Lawrence advises Faisal to attack Aqaba, so that the British would have a port through which to deliver supplies to Faisal. Lawrence accompanies a contingent of 50 men across the impassible Nefud Desert and risks his life to save a man who falls behind.

Near Aqaba, Lawrence forms an alliance with a Bedoin leader who agrees to help attack Aqaba. The alliance is threatened when one of Lawrence's men kills one of the Bedoin's men because of a blood feud. In order to preserve the alliance, Lawrence offers to execute the murderer himself. It turns out to be the same man he saved in the desert. The attack on Aqaba is a success. Lawrence returns to Cairo to give his report, and he is promoted.

Lawrence launches a guerilla war with a jouranlist following him around making him famous all over the world. He recruits an army of mercenaries and massacres a column of Turks who slaughtered an Arab village.

The Arabs enter Damascus before the British. They form up a council to run the city, but they can't stop squabbling. They can't keep the electricity, telephones or water working, so they abandon the city to the British. This was my favorite part. Today, the leaders in the Middle East have all been well-educated at the best schools in Europe and the United States, but in spite of having more oil money than they know what to do with, they have failed to bring prosperity to their people.

It turns out that the bit about the Arabs abandoning Damascus to the British is one of the least accurate bits in the film. The council that the Arabs created to govern Damascus remained in power until the French drove out the British in 1920. More generally, this film portrayed the Bedouins as talented, powerful and noble. I appreciate that. What do you think a remake of this film might be like? Have American attitudes towards Arabs changed so much since 1962?