Tag Archives: Academy Awards

Matinee

Posted on May 15, 2013 | Leave a comment

One of the many advantages of a) working from home and b) having HBO is being able to watch Oscar-nominated documentaries during lunch.

Today’s featured selection:  The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossoms.

tsumani and cherry blossom posterI’ll admit that I had not heard of this film before I saw it listed on HBO OnDemand.  If perchance you haven’t either, I strongly encourage you to invest the short 40 minutes required.

Director Lucy Walker chronicles the tsunami that devastated Japan on March 11, 2011.  Survivors share their stories of loss, and work together to rebuild their communities — already making progress a mere month after the storm hit.

And what are the ‘cherry blossoms’ in the title, you ask? I’ll let you watch the film and find out. 

It is a vital part of their history and culture, and one reason a tsunami could never break the Japanese people.

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Posted in Movies, Travel, Entertainment, Life, Commentary, Weather, Love, History, Academy Awards, Oscars

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Sheep schtick

Posted on April 20, 2013 | Leave a comment

It has been 22 years since The Silence of the Lambs won the Oscar for Best Picture.

Feeling old?

silenceThen come to New York City and see Silence: The Musical, the way funny parody of that award-winning horror story now playing on Broadway.

Clarisse is there…Dr. Lector, too.  And the wannabe transgender, his little dog and the senator’s daughter, ‘putting the lotion in the basket.’

But the lambs?

Well, they aren’t so silent in this version. They sing.  They dance.  They move set pieces.

Cast-of-Silence-The-Musical-650x433They even ‘clomp’ out a musical number using their little lamb hooves.  I had a major flashback to doing something similar during  a show at Martin City Melodrama & Vaudeville Company in Kansas City…

Just off-Broadway.

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Posted in Academy Awards, Broadway, Comedy, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Movies

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Acting normal

Posted on February 25, 2013 | 3 Comments

Jennifer Lawrence and Anne Hathaway — you’re Oscar winners!

jennifer and anneNo wonder you’re smiling.

But whereas the world loves Jennifer, most folks find Anne just…so annoying.

What gives?

Both are talented actresses.  Both gave Oscar-worthy performances this year — Jennifer in Silver Linings Playbook and Anne in Les Miserables. And both are attractive and smart.

But of the two, only Jennifer appears comfortable enough to stop acting…to be herself on the awards show stage.  So her speeches — and even her trip up the Oscar stairs — appear to be authentic expressions of emotion.

Not badly acted attempts at sincerity.

So stop it, Anne…or we’re taking all the shiny trophies back.

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Posted in Academy Awards, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Movies

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The five dollar bet

Posted on February 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

Friends ask if I’ve seen the movie Lincoln. I haven’t.

It feels like homework.

But on this President’s Day holiday, I will celebrate the greatest president in our nation’s history by going to see Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated film.

lincoln movie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A big thank you to AMC Theatres for having a $5 movie special in honor of the holiday.

(That might have tipped the scales a bit in the movie’s favor.)

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Posted in Academy Awards, Entertainment, History, Holiday, Humor, Life, Movies, Politics, President's Day

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No zombies for the zombies

Posted on January 11, 2013 | Leave a comment

The 2013 Oscar nominations for Best Director had just been announced — the words were still hanging in the air in a cartoon word balloon — when Steven Spielberg announced his plans to suspend production on Robopocalypse.

Surprised?  Not me.
Robopocalypse-Movie-570x805I’ll bet Anne Hathaway, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and slated to star in the long awaited sci-fi extravaganza, seconded the notion.

No doubt she and Spielberg — both frontrunners for their work in Les Miserables and Lincoln respectively — remember what happened to Eddie Murphy a few years back.

He was considered a sure thing for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in the movie Dreamgirls…and then Norbert happened.

And the Academy said, “No way, no how.”

The nominations this year have shown what a old group of fuddy duddies the Oscar voters can be.  (No Best Director nod for Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow — are you serious??)

Steven Spielberg is just playing it safe.

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Posted in Academy Awards, Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Movies, Oscars

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Motion pictures

Posted on January 1, 2013 | Leave a comment

Happy New Year!

Now that 2012 is in the rearview mirror, websites are talking ‘best of.’ My favorite conversation encountered today was

Best Movie Poster

Obviously there are lots of posters to choose from over the course of a year. (Thank goodness these websites posted images to jog my memory.)

But for me, my favorite poster lined up with what I think is the front runner for the Oscar:

argo poster

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Check back in a week or so and see if I’ve changed my mind.)

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Posted in Academy Awards, Commentary, Design, Entertainment, Humor, Movies

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No drama

Posted on February 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

Thank goodness for Facebook and Twitter.

I read them during the Oscars last night, which were boring and predictable.

No disrespect to Billy Crystal intended; it’s not his fault frontrunners won every single gosh-darn award.

I mean, would it have killed Academy voters to give, say,  Brad Pitt the Best Actor Oscar? Or maybe Jonah Hill Best Supporting Actor?  Just for the drama of it all?

(I’m a Moneyball fan. So sue me.)

But instead we sat through the same people winning the same awards and giving very much the same speeches they have given at all the other award shows that have beaten the Oscars to the punch.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

So if you didn’t suffer through the full broadcast like me, you may have missed perhaps the most heartfelt moment of the night — Meryl Streep’s acceptance speech for Best Actress in The Iron Lady.

Her win wasn’t unexpected, but her perspective and sincerity were refreshing…especially at almost three and a half hours in.

Enjoy.

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Posted in Academy Awards, Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Movies, Television

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Knee jerk

Posted on January 24, 2012 | 2 Comments

I was in a meeting this morning when the nominations for this year’s Academy Awards were announced.

It’s like having to work on Christmas Day.

Since I missed the entertainment editors’ reactions immediately following the event, I feel compelled to add my own.  As always, it’s a mixed bag of relief and regret.

(Feel free to add your own.)

I’M SO HAPPY TO SEE…

  • All the Oscar love for Moneyball (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing).  It’s one of the year’s best.  Understated.  Over-delivers.
  • Bridesmaids’ recognition come in the two categories where it is deserved — Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay.  It was a funny comedy, but I think we all got a bit overly excited about just how good it was.
  • The head-to-head competition between Brad Pitt and George Clooney, both in the Best Actor category and in other categories where their films are nominated together.  No two friends enjoy going at each other so much or do it as well.  Bodes well for the ceremony itself.

I’M SAD TO SEE…

  • Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was not given a Best Picture nod.  If you’re going to nominate 10 films, why not the most successful franchise in motion picture history — and its most critically acclaimed final installment?  Nods for Art Direction, Makeup and Visual Effects don’t seem near enough.
  • Michael Fassbender was robbed of the Best Actor nomination for Shame. I should also complain about Ryan Gosling’s omission from the list, but Fassbender alone is a crime.  A crime.
  • And, on the flip side, should a movie have to have a certain life in the theatre to earn a Best Picture nod?  The Tree of Life was barely there.  Try to see it now.  Try to remember it if you did.

Okay.  That’s all I have right now.

What do you think?

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Posted in Academy Awards, Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Movies, Oscars

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Star baby

Posted on January 16, 2012 | 1 Comment

Like many of you, I loved watching the Golden Globes last night, and look forward to the many award shows yet to come.

SAG Awards.  BAFTAs.  Independent Spirit Awards.  And of course, the almighty Oscars.

But a part of the process I don’t enjoy that much is the red carpet coverage.  Sure, it’s fun to see the array of fashion do’s and don’ts, but the inane interviews make even the most beautiful gowns painful to behold.

I read a book last night instead.  (You can see the dresses during the ceremony, right?)

Perhaps if I had a red carpet history like Tyler Sercombe, I’d feel differently.

At the ripe ol’ age of one, Tyler has already been photographed with more than 130 celebrities, including Meryl Streep, George Clooney, and Johnny Depp.

Her mom Donna started taking her to premieres when she was a month old. They have been to about 60 so far.

Yep.  I’d put my book down for that.

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Posted in Academy Awards, Celebrities, Children, Entertainment, Fashion, Humor, Life, Movies, Oscars, Television, TV

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Director’s cut

Posted on December 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

I love Jason Reitman.

Or, more specifically, the movies he directs.

He first caught my attention in 2005 with Thank You for Not Smoking.  Then along came Juno, its oh-so-unique voice the brainchild of writer Diablo Cody.  And in 2009, Reitman brought us the brilliant George Clooney vehicle Up in the Air, my choice for Best Picture Oscar.

Sadly, the Academy was more impressed by tales of the war abroad than at home.  Whatever.

Reitman and Cody have teamed up once again to bring us Young Adult, starring Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt.

This film has none of Juno’s quirky teen speak; Theron’s character is way past that. This golden girl blew out of her one-horse town years ago and is living large in the big city, a successful writer of youth literature.

Or that’s what it looks like from back home.  Her reality — and the lives of the people she left behind –  are very different than they appear on the surface.

I love this film.  I love the performances that Reitman pulled out of his actors.  I love that he didn’t feel the need to ‘nicen up’ Theron’s character as she continues her path of destruction.

And I especially love the possibility that Oswalt — Patton Oswalt, the chubby standup comedian — might get an Oscar nomination.

Jason Reitman did that.

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Posted in Academy Awards, Celebrities, Comedy, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Movies

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