The rants and raves of a teenage cinephile who is just a little bit obsessed with Catherine O'Hara and Hayao Miyazaki.
Showing posts with label Lists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lists. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Oscar Nomination Day Laughs and Tears

DUDE DID YOU HEAR THE OSCAR NOMINATIONS WERE ANNOUNCED TODAY!!! OMG

Anyway, needless to say, like everyone else this year's slate of nominees gave me some things that made me really happy and also some things that made me not so happy. Though, honestly, more of the former than the latter. So, here's what I thought of the noms.

Things That Made Me Smile
  • JACKI WEAVER. Sure, it came at Mila Kunis's expense (or was that Hailee Steinfeld's fault) but since Weaver was kind of iffy it made me so happy to hear her name being called. I can't wait to see her on Oscar night.
  • JOHN HAWKES. What a very pleasant surprise! Jennifer Lawrence is fantastic but it's Dale Dickey and Hawkes that really shine in "Winter's Bone" so I'm glad to see at least one of them getting recognized.
  • "How to Train Your Dragon" and "The Social Network" in Best Score. In fact, that whole Best Score category is pretty good. The music branch didn't screw it up too badly, did they! But those two are particularly deserving (more thoughts on this category later).

    What would "How To Train Your Dragon" have been without it's stellar John Powell score?

  • "Dogtooth" in Best Foreign Film. HELLLLL YESSSSS.
  • The Christopher Nolan snub. I know I'm going to get a lot of hate for that, and honestly I do feel sorry for the guy, but he was the weakest link in that category and though Id've preferred the spoiler to be Debra Granik or Luca Gaudagnino or someone like that the Coen Bros. are totally deserving.
  • "Exit Through the Gift Shop" in Best Documentary. So, the Documentary branch has proven that they don't just care about relevant subject matter, and that they just award really good documentary filmmaking! Yea!
  • "I Am Love" in Best Costumes. I think it speaks for itself, but the Costume Branch always seems to throw a bone to movie bloggers (remember "Bright Star" last year? heh)

  • Ooooh so pretty!

  • Michelle Williams bringing the otherwise sadly ignored "Blue Valentine" to at least one nod. I wish it had been Ryan Gosling but I'm super happy for her since the performance was wonderful and she totally deserves it.
  • The fact that I predicted 10 out of 10 in Best Picture. I mean, not that it was that hard, but still.
Things That Made Me Frown

  • The lack of "Scott Pilgrim" in the visual effects category. I don't want to call it a snub because maybe it was never that realistic to begin with but it's a real pity.
  • Andrew Garfield's snub. I suppose this is John Hawkes's fault and I'm happy for him but Garfield gives a fantastic performance and it's depressingly ironic how he was shafted, just like Eduardo in the movie.
  • The Best Song category. I didn't really have any favorites going in but that group is really weak. I think this category becomes increasingly irrelevant as the years go along...
  • Julianne Moore's "snub". The more I think of it, the sadder it is. In my opinion, Moore's performance is superior to Annette's and she is just as overdue as Bening, if not more so. It's odd how out of the two performances, it was Bening's and not Moore's that took off. I think Bening is totally deserving but I wish they'd gone for two leading lady noms from the same movie this year.

  • It's okay Julianne. You'll get your Oscar soon.

  • Mila Kunis won't be an Oscar nominee. I'm totally okay with her not getting nominated (duh, Jacki Weaver), but the idea of her being an Oscar nominee was so awesome to me. Plus, what clip would they have used for her? HA!
So there you have it. All in all, it's a pretty satisfying group of nominees and I can't wait for the big night. Comment below on your reactions to the big announcement! :)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Christopher Guest...From Best to Worst

I'm a huge fan of Christopher Guest's hilarious ensemble comedies. I'm including "Spinal Tap" on this list even though it wasn't directed by Guest, because... it still counts!!! Sort of. And I'm excluding "Almost Heroes" because...well, if you've seen it, then you'd understand.

Here's my list...
  1. Waiting for Guffman
  2. This is Spinal Tap
  3. Best in Show
  4. A Mighty Wind
  5. For Your Consideration
The top two are really close, and the middle two are really close...For Your Consideration was kind of weak, minus Catherine O'Hara's brilliant performance. I love you Catherine!!!

So what are your favorite Christopher Guest mockumentaries and performances?

Sunday, April 4, 2010

My Piano Teacher's Movie List...

This is a list of all the movies that my piano teacher recommends. Or as he said, "when you don't know what to rent...". He's like, the smartest person I know, and an amazing teacher, with a pretty great taste in movies if this list is any indication. So I thought I'd share! Just note that I'm giving it to you straight from his list, so this is how he organizes it (Pre and Post 1960). Enjoy!

PRE-1960 CLASSICS (mostly comedies)
  • Adam’s Rib
  • Anna and the King of Siam
  • Anastasia
  • Born Yesterday
  • Casablanca
  • City Lights
  • Bringing up Baby
  • Bonnie and Clyde
  • Deskset
  • The Devil and Miss Jones
  • Gaslight
  • The Glass Menagerie
  • His Girl Friday
  • The Graduate
  • Harvey
  • I remember Mama
  • It’s a Wonderful Life
  • Modern Times
  • Monkey Business
  • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
  • Notorious
  • Ninotchka
  • Our Man Godfrey
  • Roman Holiday
  • Some Like it Hot
  • The Women
  • Top Hat
  • You Can’t Take it with You
AFTER 1960 . . .
  • All the President’s Men
  • Amadeus
  • As Good as it Gets
  • Before Night Falls
  • Breakfast at Tiffany’s
  • Big
  • Butterfly (Las lenguas de Mariposas)
  • Charade
  • Deliverance
  • Doctor Zhivago
  • Driving Miss Daisy
  • E. T.
  • The Eye of the Needle
  • Farewell, my Concubine
  • Gandhi
  • Goodbye, Mr. Chips
  • The Graduate
  • The Hours
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • The Last Emperor
  • The Lion in Winter
  • The Lives of Others
  • Long Day’s Journey Into Night
  • No Way to Treat a Lady
  • Ordinary People
  • Pan’s Labyrinth
  • Passage to India
  • The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
  • Rebecca
  • Romeo and Juliet (Zefirelli, director)
  • A Room with a View
  • Schindler’s List
  • Ship of Fools
  • Summer and Smoke
  • The Sting
  • The Trip to Bountiful
  • Tootsie
  • Who’s afraid of Virginia Wolff?
  • Women in Love
He also has a list of his favorite performances, which maybe I'll share another time.

So how many have you seen??? (that's sort of a rhetorical question. haha) So many classics up here!