New Year Banner Contest!

Well, it's that time again...for a eye-dentification Banner contest! I've had this current banner for far too long and it's almost time to switch it out, so you know what that means....you guys get to try to identify whose eyes are present!

AND, this time around, the prize is extra-special! Or anyway, it's kind of cool. If you win, I'll WRITE YOU A SONG! And record it, and give it to you in mp3 format! Yeah! I'll write it about whatever you want. If you want me to write a song based on your favorite movie, sure, or maybe a love song to you, or even if you want me to write you a song about like, flying ponies taking over Mars then that's cool too. It's allllll up to you.

Or, if you don't want a special song, then you can take the prize that I normally give out - a guest post on this blog! Or something else. The prize is negotiable. Heh heh.

Anyway. Let's review the rules.

1. Look at the banner at the top of my blog. You know, the one with all the eyes on it. Haha!

2. Send me an email at marioman60@gmail.com and write down the actor/actress and the film that the eyes are from. For animated films, just the name of the movie is fine.

3. Points are given for each correct part of the answer. So you get 1 point for the right actor, 1 point for the right movie.

4. Whoever gets the most points WINS!!!

All right so that's all there is to it. You've got two weeks to do it (the deadline for entries will be the 19th of January. GO!

THE MOVIE I'M MOST ANTICIPATING IN 2011

Haha. Just kidding. Though, I'm not going to say that I'm NOT going to go see this movie. It could be worth a few laughs. Just the 3D preview itself was pretty hilarious.

Can we all just take a moment...

...to recognize the awesomeness that is Emma Stone?

Needless to say, I just finished watching "Easy A" and though this may just be that post-movie high, but allow me to just say how truly wonderful Emma was in the movie. Every little sarcastic eyebrow raise, every little snarky rhetorical remark, and every single faux-slutty strut that she took was so, so perfect and she injected so much into her character. As she began to go in too deep, we could see the subtlety of Olive's lies and how she was trying to be strong above it all.

Gosh, without Emma Stone "Easy A" would be nowhere near as good as it was. Though, that's not necessarily true because the supporting cast was quite good (the Tucci-Clarkson-Stone chemistry was irresistible) but let's be honest - Emma was just wonderful.

I know I'm always the last to the party but I just had to throw some confetti Emma's way nonetheless. ;)

Right now the movie is feeling about an 8, and a large part of that score is Stone. Loooooove

The Other Guys (2010)

I thought that I had heard some good things about this movie, so imagine my surprise when it turned out to be utter garbaaaaaage. Really, it was just a huge mess. Not only was the script slightly homophobic and treated its female characters like crap, but it was also horrendously paced and chock-full of unbearably clunky dialogue, and the jokes rarely took off. Even the editing was noticeably poor. On the other hand, considering the atrocity of the script, Wahlberg and Ferrell are able to muster up some laughs and chemistry that kept the movie from being entirely unwatchable. There were also a couple of visually interesting scenes (the paper-flying-around-shoot-out and the shot-by-shot bar scene) that were like small little tiny faux-diamonds in a trash can. Ugh. What a waste of an hour and forty minutes of my evening. Skip this one.

4/10

I'm too nice.

I was just looking over at my sidebar of movies I've seen this year, and I was kind of (not really) surprised to see that for the most part, I've given pretty high scores. In fact, most are 8 or above, with a lot of sevens, and just a couple lower. Nothing lower than a five.

So that means I've not seen anything particularly stinky this year, but I was thinking - this year hasn't particularly EXCITED me filmwise. I'm surprised such a lukewarm year has merited such high scores from me. Like, even "Scott Pilgrim VS The World" and "Black Swan", a couple of my favorites this year so far, can't match the excitement I had for "Inglourious Basterds" and "500 Days of Summer" last year.

So the point is this. Am I too nice when I rate my movies? I'm thinking I need to revamp my system...or at least develop some criteria. Perhaps I should switch to the ever popular letter grade system?

My question to you fellow bloggers is this - do you use some sort of criteria while rating movies? Do you prefer numbers or letters? Am I overly generous? I just need some advice on this topic from bloggers more experienced than myself so if you would, please respond below! :)

I am obligated to comment on this

Just a little sumpin' sumpin' I just came across today, to take our minds off awards season......

Well honestly, I have no idea what Ke$ha was going for here. I mean, with product placement more shameless than that in the "Telephone" video, religious imagery more unsuccessful than that of "Alejandro", and hairstyles worse than this, it seems like kind of a mess.

On the other hand, the song is fun, I have a guilty love for Ke$ha, and honestly I guess it fits the song pretty well. I can't say I'm disappointed! Plus, that part where she falls off the building...ooooonly Ke$ha. Only Ke$ha.

Ke$ha - love her, hate her, love to hate her, hate to love her, refuse to write her name with a dollar sign? Comment below!

Super Last Minute Globe Predictions!

Because I want to get in on the action! Muahahaha.

Motion Picture - Drama

127 Hours

Black Swan

The King's Speech

The Social Network

The Fighter

Oh no, no room for Inception? That's probably going to come back to haunt me.

Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical

Another Year

Burlesque

Easy A

The Kids Are All Right

Toy Story 3

I'm picking Burlesque because I feel like, no matter what, the Globes nominate musicals. ALWAYS. Is Date Night a threat at all here?

Director

Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan

David Fincher - The Social Network

Tom Hooper - The King's Speech

Christopher Nolan - Inception

Coen Bros. - True Grit

Actor - Drama

Jeff Bridges - True Grit

Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network

Colin Firth - The King's Speech

James Franco - 127 Hours

Mark Wahlberg - The Fighter

Actress - Drama

Nicole Kidman - Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence - Winter's Bone

Natalie Portman - Black Swan

Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit

Naomi Watts - Fair Game

Strangely I struggled with that one. Watts seems Globesy and I want her momentum to continue. Steinfeld is a lead now! And I've only heard good things about her, so, it could happen. However, a surprise Noomi Rapace or Gwyneth Paltrow nod would be nice...

Actor - Comedy

Jim Carrey - I Love You Phillip Morris

Michael Cera - Scott Pilgrim VS The World

Johnny Depp - Alice in Wonderland

John C. Reilly - Cyrus

Ben Stiller - Greenberg

Uh, the Michael Cera thing will never happen, but a guy can dream, can't he? Plus it's not SO far fetched. :P I hope Ben Stiller makes it!

Actress - Comedy

Christina Aguilera - Burlesque

Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right

Lesley Manville - Another Year

Julianne Moore - The Kids Are All Right

Emma Stone - Easy A

It was tough to leave off Rachel McAdams for Morning Glory but alas. Also, what about Anne Hathaway? Sigh. This is so tricky. If I got it completely right though, it'd be a very strange lineup. Yet, weirder things have happened before. I mean, Julia Roberts surprised us all last year, something like that could happen again! (I personally hope it does.)

Supporting Actor

Christian Bale - The Fighter

Jonah Hill - Cyrus

Mark Ruffalo - The Kids Are All Right

Geoffrey Rush - The King's Speech

Justin Timberlake - The Social Network

Timberlake and Hill are risky calls but the Globes sometimes like the superfamous people and the small comedic turns. We shall see...

Supporting Actress

Amy Adams - The Fighter

Helena Bonham-Carter - The King's Speech

Cher - Burlesque

Melissa Leo - The Fighter

Dianne Wiest - Rabbit Hole

Aw, no Jacki Weaver, but I can see her getting snubbed here but NOT by Oscar. Same with Barbara Hershey who I'm rooting for but probably won't make it. Tears! Anyway. Cher seems likely. The Globes like to have fun and just imagine the possibilities!

Well, there you have it...I wonder how well I'll do tomorrow! Haha. I can't believe it's already Golden Globes time. Sheesh! Where has the year gone!