Monthly Archives: February 2013

My Totally Pointless Oscar Predictions

Meh. Not really into it this year…

I love watching the Oscars. I watch it live every year (yes, even since moving to the UK, where they start at like 2:00 in the morning. that’s commitment, people! and, yes, I still go to work Monday morning). 😉

But… I’m not sure WHY I feel the need to watch the Oscars every year. I love movies. But more and more over the past decade or so the Academy really doesn’t seem to have a clue. Looking at the best picture winners since 2000, I’ve only seen 7. And out of those, I only really liked two of them (The Artist & The Return Of The King). Other than The Artist, I haven’t seen a best picture winner since The Departed in 2006. The ones in between just don’t appeal to me. But I’ll still watch the Oscars anyway. Because I love movies. And because I find all that glitz and glamor interesting. And, yes – because I’m a girl and I love seeing the dresses!

I’ll do my predictions for this year but it seems a bit silly as I’ve seen so few of the nominees. So bear in mind that for the best picture, acting & directing categories I’ve only seen: Argo, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Life Of Pi & The Impossible. And this year I’ve paid no attention to other awards shows and have the least informed opinion that I’ve ever had. So… This is really totally pointless. Lol!

I always do a WILL win and a WANT to win…

Best film:

WILL – Argo

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WANT – Django Unchained

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MAYBE WANT (the one nominee I’ve not seen that I really want to see) – Beasts Of The Southern Wild

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Best actress:

WILL – Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
WANT – Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best actor:

WILL – Daniel Day Lewis – Lincoln
WANT – Denzel Washington – Flight

Best director:

WILL – Ang Lee – Life of Pi
WANT – Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best supporting actor:

WILL & WANT VERY MUCH – Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained

Best supporting actress:

WANT – Amy Adams – The Master
WILL – Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables

Best foreign film:

WILL – Amour
WANT – Untouchable which isn’t even nominated!!!

Best animated film:

WILL & WANT – Brave

Best documentary film:

WILL & WANT (desperate to see this) – Searching For Sugarman

Music (original song):

WANT – Everybody Needs A Best Friend (Ted) – Music by Walter Murphy, Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
WILL – Skyfall (Skyfall) – Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth

Music (original score):

WILL – Lincoln – John Williams
WANT (because it’s Thomas Newman & he’s a genius & never gets the recognition he deserves) – Skyfall – Thomas Newman

Adapted screenplay:

WILL – Argo – Chris Terrio
WANT (because I actually read it) – Life Of Pi – David Magee

Original screenplay:

WANT – Django Unchained – Quentin Tarantino
WILL – Zero Dark Thirty – Mark Boal

Cinematography:

WANT – Django Unchained – Robert Richardson
WILL – Lincoln – Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design:

WILL & WANT – Les Miserables – Paco Delgado

Best documentary short subject:

WILL & WANT – Inocente

Film editing:

WANT – Argo – William Goldenberg
WILL – Zero Dark Thirty – Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Make-up and Hairstyling:

WILL & WANT – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane

Production Design:

WANT – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Dan Hennah, Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
WILL – Les Miserables – Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson

Short film (animated):

WILL – Fresh Guacamole
WANT – Paperman

Short film (live action):

WILL & WANT – Death of a Shadow (Dood Van Een Schaduw)

Sound editing:

WANT – Django Unchained – Wylie Stateman
WILL – Skyfall – Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers

Sound mixing:

WILL & WANT – Les Miserables – Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes

Visual effects:

WANT – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R Christopher White
WILL – Life Of Pi – Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R Elliott

IMDB Top 250 Challenge – Movie #11 – The Kid

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The Kid (1921) – IMDB Rank #128

Watched 19/2/13

The Kid is the third Chaplin film I’ve watched now for my IMDB Top 250 Movie Challenge. I first watched Modern Times and then City Lights.

Hmm… I think I’m watching these out of order! I was kind of going by what ones were the most highly rated on IMDB. It was a bit strange going from the 1936 film Modern Times, which was made after movies with sound came along, to the much older 1921 film The Kid – I probably should have watched them in order starting with the oldest. You really can see how much Chaplin’s comedy (especially physical comedy) evolved in the years between these two. Not that I’m exactly an expert after only watching three of his films! I’m assuming the budget was much bigger for later films as well & that other advances in filmmaking made for much more complex gags (such as the gears in Modern Times). I’m not saying that The Kid doesn’t have some great comedic moments, though. It’s just a more simple story and as sweet & heartwarming as City Lights. You can’t watch the movie and not fall in love with that adorable kid in the over-sized trousers. 🙂

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The story is about an unwed woman (oh, the shame in those days!) who leaves her newborn baby in an expensive car with a note asking them to take care of her baby. The car is stolen, the baby abandoned by the thieves and, of course, Chaplin’s Tramp is the one who finds the baby boy & raises him.

The relationship between The Tramp and the boy is so sweet and charming and it’s fun watching them trying to earn a living by The Tramp fixing windows after the boy has broken them with rocks and run away. At one point the now five-year-old boy gets into a fight with an older boy (and kicks his ass!). The boy is GREAT in this scene and so funny. He was so excellent in this that I had to look him up on IMDB. Kind of wish I hadn’t – how did that adorable little kid grow up to be Uncle Fester in The Addams Family?! Haha! Ruined the magic of The Kid for me a little bit… 😉

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I’m not sure how safe this is. Someone call Social Services!

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In one funny scene, The Tramp doesn’t want to get out of his warm bed to eat breakfast. He decides to make use of the hole in his blanket by sticking his head through it and wearing it to the table. That’s right, folks – Charlie Chaplin invented The Snuggie! Who knew?! 😉

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The Kid is sweet & charming and has as much heart & comedy as the later Chaplin films I’ve seen. I highly recommend all three.

My Rating: 8.5/10

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IMDB Top 250 Challenge – Movie #10 – City Lights

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City Lights (1931) – IMDB Rank #41

Watched 15/2/13

So I finally watched my second Chaplin film, City Lights, for my IMDB Top 250 Movie Challenge. I watched Modern Times on 1/1/13 and LOVED it. It’s still my favorite movie I’ve seen in a long time but City Lights is a close second, I think. I don’t know – they’re very close. Not sure which one I prefer. Both are brilliant. Can’t decide!

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When I “reviewed” Modern Times, I didn’t say much about it as I didn’t feel I could as I have zero knowledge when it comes to silent films. I just know what I enjoy & what I don’t and I’m quite surprised that, so far, the Chaplin films are the ones I’ve enjoyed the most by far since starting my IMDB Top 250 thing. My hubby is quite annoyed as he’s been trying to get me to watch Chaplin for years. But even though his movies are widely considered to be brilliant, you still kind of don’t expect silent films to be THAT much fun, do you? Yeah yeah… I should have watched them years ago! But at least I’ve finally made a start. 🙂

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City Lights is fantastic. A sweet love story where The Tramp falls in love with a blind flower girl. It’s full of The Tramp’s usual funny & charming antics (usual in the three I’ve seen, at least! I’ve also now watched The Kid, which I’ll review next). The drunken times with the millionaire are very funny and I loved it when they went to the restaurant – the spaghetti gag was hilarious. I don’t know if it quite beats him accidentally getting high on cocaine in Modern Times, though. Lol! That was awesome. I wasn’t quite expecting that from a 1936 film…

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I think Modern Times is probably a slightly better film overall – I think the comedy is a bit better and the overall look is very very cool with the different types of machinery (how cool were those gears Chaplin goes through?). However, though it does have an ending I really liked, it certainly can’t compare to the ending of City Lights. LOVED IT. Too bad I’d already done my list of Top Ten Movie Endings before watching City Lights – I’m going to have to go back & add it because it’s amazing and I’m getting all happy just sitting here thinking about it.

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I highly recommend this film, to say the least. 🙂

My Rating: 9/10

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Yo Gabba Gabba

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I love Yo Gabba Gabba. Greatest kid’s show since Sesame Street! (Nothing beats Sesame Street, though. Sesame Street kicks ass).

Yo Gabba Gabba is so awesome because of the music. I’ve had the Chromeo song Nice N Clean stuck in my head today:

Awesome. Although, not quite as awesome as the ska song “Pick It Up”, which I can’t find on YouTube…

I wish Gabba was more widely available in the UK. They showed the first few seasons here but they actually dubbed all of them with English voices. I find that so amusing – it’s not like it’s in a foreign language! Odd. But, hey – I’m much more upset that the UK doesn’t show Sesame Street AT ALL! What kind of backwards country am I living in?! 🙂

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Hot Sexy Amber Heard

Okay – When looking at my stats I’ve noticed that people often seem to have come to my blog after doing a search for Amber Heard along with words such as hot and shower scene (this would be because I mentioned her shower scene in my review of The Ward). So… I figured I’d do an Amber Heard post again and see what happens! 😉 She really is hot and my current girl crush but I still love Ryan Gosling the most (he gets lots of hits too!). Here are two great pictures of them:
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My Top Animated Disney Films

A co-worker asked me yesterday to rank my favorite animated Disney films (not including any Pixar). Two of my favorite things – making lists & Disney! So I of course accepted the challenge & spent my lunch ranking them. 😉 In order from my favorite to least favorite (and subject to change according to my mood):

1. Sleeping Beauty

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2. Beauty And The Beast

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3. One Hundred And One Dalmatians

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4. Bambi

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5. Cinderella

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6. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs

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7. The Aristocats

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8. The Jungle Book

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9. The Lion King

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10. Dumbo

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11. The Princess And The Frog
12. Tangled
13. Pinocchio
14. Lady & The Tramp
15. The Rescuers
16. The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr Toad
17. The Fox And The Hound
18. Aladdin
19. The Little Mermaid
20. Peter Pan
21. Alice In Wonderland
22. Wreck-It Ralph
23. Mulan
24. Robin Hood
25. Pocahontas
26. Bolt
27. Tarzan
28. Brother Bear
29. Lilo & Stitch
30. The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
31. The Emperor’s New Groove
32. Chicken Little

Not seen or seen so long ago that I can’t accurately rank without seeing them again 😉

Fantasia (seriously. it’s been years.)
Saludos Amigos
The Three Caballeros
Make Mine Music
Fun and Fancy Free
Melody Time
The Sword in the Stone
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Black Cauldron
The Great Mouse Detective
Oliver & Company
The Rescuers Down Under
Hercules
Fantasia 2000
Dinosaur
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Treasure Planet
Home on the Range
Meet the Robinsons
Winnie the Pooh

Brief Encounter (1945) Review

Brief Encounter (1945)

Directed by David Lean

Based on Still Life 1936 play by Noël Coward

Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond, Everley Gregg, Margaret Barton

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
Brief Encounter is about British suburban life on the eve of World War 2, centering on Laura, a married woman with children, whose conventional life becomes increasingly complicated because of a chance meeting at a railway station with a married stranger, Alec. They fall in love, bringing about unexpected consequences.

My Opinion:

Oh the sexual tension!!!

Figured I should watch a romantic movie for Valentine’s Day. As I’m finding current movies less & less romantic (unless they’re Pixar!), I’ve decided to explore older movies a bit more. So I went with Brief Encounter, a story about a married man & a married woman who meet & fall in love & have to decide how they’re going to deal with that since they’re married and have kids & all that malarkey. Okay – I have to be careful how I review this as the hubby likes to have a little peek at my blog sometimes…

I really liked this movie. Two things I actually really liked were that a) they were middle-aged and b) they were quite plain looking. Nowadays everyone has to be young & beautiful, especially in romantic love stories. It made them seem very real and I was able to believe the love story more because of it. And, yeah – just because you’re middle-aged and have kids doesn’t mean that you lose all interest in romance & aren’t capable of having a passionate love affair.

Holy crap, though – talk about repressed British people. My god how things have changed in the UK since 1945. The poor woman in this constantly looked like she was painfully constipated because she couldn’t handle the stress of being in love with someone other than her husband. She even kept getting all faint. Nowadays in the UK they’d have a quickie in the bathroom on the train and that would be that. But I certainly don’t want to see that movie. I know plenty of people would rather see that more modern version of Brief Encounter but I’ll take it as it is, with all that great sexual tension & frustration. I think I’d much rather live in that time when people were “proper” and polite. But then I remind myself that I’d have to be a good housewife then and actually learn how to cook & sew & all that bullshit. So, maybe I’ll stick to living in 2013 (with some good old-fashioned black & white movie romance thrown in here & there).

My Rating: 8/10

Warm Bodies

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When I first heard there was going to be a zombie love story movie I was like “Whaaaaat….??” I LOVE zombie movies. Is that weird for a girl?! Forget wussy sexy vampires and all that – give me a good zombie movie! It started years ago when I watched Night of the Living Dead and then Dawn of the Dead, which I now consider one of my all-time favorite movies. So, anyway – even being a big-time zombie fan I did think the idea of a zombie love story sounded ridiculous. I like the comedy ones, such as Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead, but… Love story? Puh-lease!

Well, I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by Warm Bodies! I suppose it helped that I went into it with fairly low expectations. I do like a lot of the young adult fiction these days but I didn’t know about this book so I’ve not read it and I went to the movie really knowing nothing about it.

I liked that this movie had a sense of humor about the whole zombie thing and had some funny moments. It wasn’t taking itself too seriously, which actually meant that you could sort of buy into the whole crazy idea of a zombie romance and the even crazier ending a bit more than if it had tried to be all serious & dramatic (like Twilight. Gag!).

The movie is kind of a strange mix of trying to be a little bit indie/quirky and trying to be a little bit mainstream (think somewhere in the middle of The Perks of Being a Wallflower & Twilight). If I’d made the film I think I would have gone much more “indie” with it but I think the way they’ve done it did work. It’s still not mainstream enough to get the entire Twilight crowd going to it, though (thank god!). To be honest, I’m not entirely sure who WILL go to this… It’s an odd one and the people at the cinema were an odd assortment – there were mothers with children way too young for it (8ish – WTF? I know it’s a 12A in the UK but this movie is too old for them!) through to one quite old couple in front of me. It’s not going to get all the young adult girls who want a dramatic love story with a pretty boy but, being a 12A, it’s certainly not going to get hardcore horror movie fans going to it either. I’m surprised it has quite a healthy IMDB rating of 7.4 at the moment, to be honest. Although I really enjoyed it I have to say this is one movie that people are gonna like or they’re gonna REALLY hate. I’ve told my co-workers that I really liked it but know I shouldn’t have because I KNOW that every single one of them would hate it. But they all suck when it comes to movies anyway, which is why I blog to people who are proper movie fans instead of talking to the people I work with about movies! 😉

In conclusion…. Hmmm… Not sure where to go with this now. Would I recommend this movie? No, not to EVERYONE. It’s not for everyone and it’s one of those rare ones where I can’t really predict who would like it and who wouldn’t (if I know a person well enough, I’m usually very good at recommending movies they’d like). Honestly, I have NO idea who will like this and who will hate it. If you go to it, go to it with an open mind and knowing that the premise is ridiculous and just have a bit of fun with it. Remember that it’s a 12A romance if you’re a horror movie fan and expecting lots of gore and remember that it’s a zombie movie if you’re thinking you’re going to get some lovely girly romance.

Oh yeah – the romance! Did I believe that a girl could actually fall in love with a zombie? Er… No. It’s a rotting zombie, FFS! Gross! Lol! But I did actually find the relationship in the movie very sweet and FAR less annoying than the one between Bella and vampire-boy. It was good that it was told from the zombie’s point of view so you could understand how he’s feeling and I have to admit that I really liked the WAY he gains his feelings (I won’t give that away but I liked that it felt like an original idea – there aren’t many original ideas in the tons of zombie movies these days. If you don’t like your zombie lore messed with, though, you might want to skip this one!). I was fine with them breaking a lot of zombie rules as I think you really HAVE to if you’re going to turn it into a romance. I didn’t go to it for the romance side of things to be honest, though – I went for the zombies! And I enjoyed it.

My Rating: 7/10 (but don’t get mad if you see it & hate it because I’ve warned you that it’s not for everyone!) 🙂

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IMDB Top 250 Challenge – Movie #9 – Sleuth

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Sleuth (1972) – IMDB Rank #206

Watched 5/2/13

This movie was on TV recently so I was able to watch it as part of my IMDB challenge. Cool. Hoping to manage to watch a lot this way!

I knew nothing whatsoever about this movie. To be completely honest, I haven’t seen many Michael Caine movies, especially older ones. I think the only one I’d even seen before moving to the UK was Dirty Rotten Scoundrels! Anyway – I’m starting to like him more & more. I should really try to watch some of his older stuff. (Yes, I did watch The Italian Job soon after coming to the UK, at least).

There’s one thing that I got a little obsessed with soon after coming to the UK and that was a show I’d not heard of called Tales Of The Unexpected.

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So… I’m very sorry to compare the two but I’m afraid that Sleuth REALLY felt like a long episode of Tales Of The Unexpected to me (albeit with way better acting). Sorry! But it really does have that sort of look & feel & story. I’m not necessarily saying that’s a bad thing, however – I loved finding out that England had a show that was a lot like my beloved Twilight Zone & Alfred Hitchcock TV shows that I’d grown up on.

I do think this movie is overrated & is 100% that way because of the actors who are in it (Michael Caine & Laurence Olivier). No, I’m not saying it’s “bad” but I really doubt it’s the 206th best movie of all time. It was quite a fun movie and the two of them were great together and who doesn’t like a bit of witty banter and mind games? All that was great. And of course it kept you guessing as to who was lying, who was telling the truth, and what was going to ultimately happen. It was all very good but I just feel like this sort of thing has been done so many times. (Don’t make me think of some examples – I’m too tired…) 😉 Anything done by Alfred Hitchcock for one, I suppose…

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Aw, I feel like I’m trashing this movie! I’m not, really. Just think it’s not quite up there with some of the absolute classics in the IMDB Top 250 and of course I’m going to be comparing it in my mind to others on the list as it’s IN the list. I did really enjoy it and especially loved its 70s-ishness (I love the 70s!). And Olivier’s toys and automatons were freaking COOL and creepy. I want some! (but not in my house while I’m trying to sleep because I’d have nightmares)

My Rating: 7/10

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Forgot to add that I got all excited when the line “jumped up pantry boy” was said in this movie and I was like “That’s in a Smiths song!” 😉

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“A jumped-up pantry boy
who never knew his place
he said “return the ring”
he knows so much about these things
he knows so much about these things”

This Charming Man – one of their good songs. Because you have to admit that some are annoying!

My Top Five Movies About Love

What the heck – since Valentine’s Day is coming up.

1. Up

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I posted about this recently – I’ve never found any love story in a movie as believable as this one.

2. WALL-E

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What can I say? Pixar is perfect. Not only do I find animated romance more believable than live-action romance, I also find animated ROBOT romance more believable. 😉 Has anyone ever loved anyone as much as WALL-E loves Eve? I don’t think so.

3. Before Sunrise & Before Sunset

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Look! Humans! What can I say? These two were so perfect together & had such great chemistry. I found this romance very real. It’s a very “me” kind of romance.

4. (500) Days Of Summer

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“What?”, you say. Well, it’s real. Very real. Who can’t relate to this movie? Joseph Gordon-Levitt is so fantastic in this. You truly believe he loves her and you can actually feel his pain. Who doesn’t love a bit of unrequited love in movies?!

5. Cinema Paradiso

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Is this cheating? 😉 Sorry but I can totally relate to “love of cinema”.

Honorable mentions to these dudes:

Lloyd Dobler

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Perfect boyfriend or what?! The movie isn’t in my list, however, as that bitch SO didn’t appreciate him & his awesome “boom box over the head playing Peter Gabriel” thing. He shouldn’t have gotten on that plane with her. She’s not in love with you, Lloyd! Bring your boom box and cool Clash t-shirts over to MY house. 🙂

Ryan Gosling

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Hey girl. Gotta mention Ryan Gosling. You know, just in general. For being so freaking sexy cool all the time. I absolutely refuse to be all girly & put that totally contrived Notebook movie in my list. However, being in love with The Gosling, I can’t exactly pretend I don’t secretly love the whole kissing in the rain scene… 😉 Okay okay – I kind of like the movie! I admit it! But I only think it really works while it’s showing them as a young couple – I didn’t buy into the old couple at all. Damn you, Ryan Gosling, for making me go all girly!

Jake Ryan

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Last but certainly not least. I’ll always remember my first (movie) love. 😉