Sunday, January 24, 2010

The Blind Side review

This movie was absolutely awful. Annoying, cliched, cheesy, over-long, racist, ect. It was okay in the beginning, but it got worse and worse. Sandra Bullock wasn't bad, but her accent was terrible. The problem is that her character spends most of the film being pushy and sassy and it's good in some moments, but it gets old after a while. She has some good moments, but they're too underwritten for her to really do something great. Why is she getting all this awards attention?!! No idea. But I'm still predicting that she will win though. If she does, she will most likely receive a low spot on my Best Actress ranking. Speaking of that, I bought the film Coquette yesterday and I was thrilled to have found it since it is hard to find. I also will check out a copy of Two Women (in Italian) at the Library and when I watch that, Butterfield 8, Roman Holiday, and The Three Faces Of Eve, I will be done with the 1960's and the 1950's. After that, I'll be taking a break from the Best Actress films and I might do a Best Actress analysis (like Fritz and Alex in Movieland do) for 1962. So, what do you think of The Blind Side if you have seen it? Did you like or dislike Sandra Bullock's performance?

Friday, January 22, 2010

SAG predictions

Best Ensemble Cast: An Education and Nine have no chance. Neither does Precious, I don't think. This is between The Hurt Locker and Inglorius Bastards. I could easily see Bastards winning, but I'll give an edge to The Hurt Locker. And I will see it soon by the way.


Best Actor: Jeff Bridges will take this. If he wins, then he's close to a sure thing at the Oscars. I think that this is his competition's last chance.

Best Actress: A race between Streep and Bullock. I could see Streep winning, but I have to say Bullock. Although I hope SIdibe can surprise.

Best Supporting Actor: A slam dunk for Christopher Waltz.

Best Supporting Actress: Monique. I can't see her losing this one.

So, what are your predictions? Do you agree or disagree?

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Best Actress 2008 ranking

I'm doing this as a response to Sage. She won't be pleased.

1. Kate Winslet in The Reader: When people say that she won for the wrong role, I somewhat agree (I would have preferred to see her win for Eternal Sunshine). But I feel that she deserved the Oscar for this performance. She is brilliant as Hannah, showing every layer of her character and is devastating to watch. Grade: Five Stars

2. Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married: This film was unfairly overlooked at the Oscars, except for Hathaway's performance. In my opinion, Hathaway is amazing in this. She makes sympathize with Kym (Which is extremely hard to do) and has great chemistry with Rosemarie Dewitt and Debra Winger. Any other year she would have gotten my vote (She would have if Winslet had been nominated for Revolutionary Road). Grade: Five stars.

3. Melissa Leo in Frozen River: Another film that was overlooked and wrongly so. Leo is so authentic and raw in this. Such a brilliant performance. I'm so glad that the Academy nominated her. Grade: Four and a half stars

4. Meryl Streep in Doubt: Not one of her best, but still quite good none the less. Many of her moments are very impressive. Grade: Three stars.

5. Angelina Jolie in Changeling: This was a mess of a movie and Jolie was no better. Too over the top and just mediocre. Grade: One star.

What do you think? What's your ranking?

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Golden Globe predictions

Best Motion Picture Drama: I think that The Hurt Locker will take this one. Up In The Air could win, since it needs it, but my guess is that The Hurt Locker will continue it's sweep, just like Slumdog did last year. BORING.

Best Director: This is Kathyrn Bigelow's to lose. I don't know why people are saying that James Cameron will win. I'm pretty sure about this.

Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama: I think this is between Jeff Bridges and Colin Firth. I give an edge to Bridges, but a win for Firth would help him.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama: A close one between Bullock and Mulligan. Since Mulligan is losing momentum, I'll say Bullock.

Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Christopher Waltz. Moving on..........

Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Monique will win, but who knows? Anna Kendrick could do it or maybe even Julianne.

Best Motion Picture Musical/Comedy: 500 Days Of Summer and Nine are the frontrunners and I'l give the edge to Summer. I've only seen those two out of the five and frankly, I didn't like either of them,but I'd say that Summer is a little bit better then Nine is.

Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical/Comedy: I don't really care about this category, so I'll go out on a limb and say Matt Damon will win.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical/Comedy: Meryl Streep is taking this one for Julie And Julia. Unless she cancels herself out, but who will win if she does?

So, what do you think? What are your predictions?

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Anna Kendrick in Up In The Air


Anna Kendrick plays Natalie Keener, a young woman who is intelligent, but is arrogant and inexperienced. When she meets George Clooney's character, they don't like each other at first. He feels that she is trying to sabotage his business and that she is a know-it-all brat and she thinks that he is rude and isolated. But they develop a friendship and learn from one another by the movie's end. Kendrick plays Natalie perfectly. She captures her arrogance, insecurity, determination, guilt, and sadness extremely well and is very funny on top of that. She has great chemistry with George Clooney and both she and Vera Farminga play each other off extremely well in one important scene. She also adds a lot to the film and leads it to it's conclusion. I couldn't imagine anyone else playing this role or playing it as well as she did. Now, I know that not everyone agrees (Sage, Andrew), but I think that Kendrick delivered a great, terrific performance in Up In The Air that certainly deserves a nomination. In a year without Monique in it, she could have easily gotten my vote. What do you think?

Friday, January 15, 2010

BFCA results

I didn't see the whole show, but there weren't any surprises except for Best Actress. I wasn't really surprised that there was a tie and that Meryl Streep won, but Sandra Bullock also winning was a big shocker! When her name was announced, they cut to Carey Mulligan and she looked like she was about to cry! Well, she has good reason too. I personally thought she had this one in the bag since she's been sweeping the critics awards and I thought it might mark the end of her winning streak, but this puts a dent in her chances. I mean, a tie and she doesn't even win in a tie? Plus, this confirms a suspicion I was having a few weeks ago. It looks like it could be Sandra Bullock's year. Her buzz has been growing and if she wins the Golden Globe on sunday, she'll be the biggest threat against Meryl Streep. Other then that, pretty predictable. The Hurt Locker, Jeff Bridges, Christopher Waltz, Monique, Kathyrn Bigelow, and Up In The Air and Inglorius Bastards win the screenplay awards. So, what do you think? What did you think of Bullock's win?

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Best Supporting Actress 1997

1. Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights: Moore is simply riveting in this performance. She is heartbreaking,sad, warm,beautiful. Could be her best work along with Far From Heaven.

2. Joan Cusack in In & Out: A brilliant comic performance. Cusack adds so much to the film and to her character. Even better then her work in Working Girl.

3. Gloria Stuart in Titanic: Stuart helps keep Titanic afloat (No pun intended) with her beautiful performance. Sadly and unjustly underrated.

4. Minnie Driver in Good Will Hunting: Driver tries,but she can't elevate her role beyond a bland love interest. Surprisingly annoying and two-dimensional as well.

5. Kim Basinger in L.A Confidential: Um,how the hell did she win? She adds nothing special to her character or film and you can't take anything note-worthy away from her performance except her stunning beauty.

So,what do you think? Do you disagree with my thoughts?

Friday, January 1, 2010

Places In The Heart review

Wow, I didn't really like this film. It's a simple story which we've seen a million times and it felt like a lifetime movie. Sally Field was good, but I was underwhelmed by her . She has some great moments, but, like Fritz said in his review of her performance, the script limits her character so her performance felt incomplete to me. She was a lot better in Norma Rae which is also a much stronger film.I don't really get John Malkovich and Lindsay Crouse's nominations. They were good, but Oscar-worthy? And the ending. Oh my god, the ending. It made absolutely no sense to me. I won't give it away, but seriously. The last scene makes no sense what so ever. I have no idea why this was nominated for Best Picture and won Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay. My grade for the film: C minus. What do you think of this movie? Do you like Field's performance?