There is nothing I love more than watching a movie and discovering a hidden gem.
You know — that actor or actress who’s the friend of the lead who looks kinda familiar but you can’t figure out where you’ve seen ’em before.
But I can.
It’s one of my favorite pastimes. Ask my friends. I’m actually pretty annoying about it. So I cannot believe that I totally missed this one.
After seeing Anna Kendrick play Jessica in three “Twilight” movies and nab a much-deserved Oscar nomination for her work in “Up in the Air,” it was only this week during publicity for her upcoming stint in “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” — opening in theaters today — that I realized that I had seen her years ago in a little movie musical called “Camp.”
I think I hear my friends laughing at me….
If you haven’t seen it, “Camp” is about a summer camp for theater geeks. Anna plays Fritzi, a wallflower who attaches herself to the camp diva…or so it appears. At the end of the film, when all the campers are performing at the big gala for the parents, Fritzi sabotages the diva and steps in to sing her big number, “Ladies Who Lunch,” blowing off the roof in an incredible performance.
Of course, I didn’t know it was Anna then…just that there was this HUGE voice coming out of a teeny tiny little girl.
And that little girl was Anna Kendrick.
Well, knock me over with a vampire.
Director’s cut
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.
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
Tagged Academy Awards, Best Picture Oscar, celebrities, celebrity vehicle, Charlize Theron, comedy, commentary, Diablo Cody, entertainment, George Clooney, golden girl, Humor, Jason Reitman, Juno movie, life, movie director, Movies, one-horse town, Oscar nomination, Oscars, Patton Oswalt, standup comedian, teen speak, Thank You for Not Smoking movie, Up in the Air movie, Young Adult movie, youth lit