Oscar Nominations 2013

It's Oscar time, everybody! Normally, I don't really follow the Oscars - this has been due to a mixture of being busy (college, internships, etc) and thus not making it to the movies a lot and the fact that I rarely care for awards shows in general.

However, looking upon the list of nominees this year, I thought I'd give my two cents since I've broken some sort of personal record and seen like 8 movies in theaters this year. (And yes, spare me the glaring looks...I'm well aware that for someone so in to pop culture I don't seem to get out much.)

The Best Picture category is not a surprise in the least to me, despite the fact I've never heard of Amour. Beasts of the Southern Wild, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, and Silver Linings Playbook are all films I've been wanting to see but, other than knowing they've been getting rave reviews, I don't have a whole lot to say about.

Lincoln has swept the categories this year and I feel no other film is deserving of as many nominations as this picture, which details the struggle of passing the 13th Amendment during the beginning (and, spoilers, end) of President Lincoln's second term in the White House.  The film, I think, accomplished the rare blend of being in-depth, poignant, and significantly aware and delicate with the historical events while at the same time making it possible for a viewer unfamiliar with said events to follow along with ease. The film therefore was a historical biopic that was also immensely entertaining (unless, of course, you are the 900 year old woman in the row behind us who fell asleep and was snoring in the middle of the movie).

My major disappointment was that Moonrise Kingdom was only nominated in one category, albeit a major category (in my humble opinion); best original screenplay. I think it has a lot of contention this year but I feel like its major threat is Zero Dark Thirty. The film detailing the events behind Osama bin Laden's compound raid is another one I'd like to see at my earliest convenience, but truth be told as a Parks and Recreation fan I have a hard time with Chris Pratt being anyone other than Andy Dwyer, or, perhaps only slightly more appropriately, Bert Macklin.

I feel as though Brave will probably win Best Animated Feature but, not having seen ParaNorman, I think Wreck-It Ralph is much more deserving of the award. Brave was beautifully done and very entertaining to watch, but oddly enough for a category where Pixar usually sweeps Ralph felt like the more Pixar-ish film of the nominees. And yes, I say that knowing that at this point its basically semantics seeing as Disney-Pixar is practically one in the same now...which isn't a bad thing. What it comes down to is individual teams working on pictures - the writers and directors are really bringing the film to life and everything else is level playing field. By those merits, Ralph came out stronger and felt like a return to form on the whole innovative-but-still-emotionally-touching front. So that's what I mean when I say the non-Pixar Disney film felt more like Pixar than the Pixar film, I guess. And if Paperman doesn't take Best Animated Short I will flip tables. No lie.

Am I a bit disappointed that the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey didn't get more nominations, especially with Howard Shore's beautiful soundtrack? Yes. Am I surprised? Not really. A lot of people couldn't get past the different tone of the film and found fault with the pacing. I understand those complaints, but the film was beautiful and faithful enough to have deserved at least Best Adapted Screenplay. It did take a nomination in Best Visual Effects, so I can be happy with that...albeit Snow White and the Huntsman also took a nomination there, so...

On the other hand, it shares a category with its only true contender, Marvel's the Avengers. I know, I know, Summer Blockbusters have no place on Oscar lists, but I cannot express how much I love this movie. I'm a complete Marvel fangirl to begin with, but Joss Whedon (my geeky overlord) deserved a spot for Best Adapted Screenplay or Best Direction. Because he's Joss-Friggin-Whedon and he deserves ALL the awards, and the Avengers was definitely a labor of love for him. If loving your work was criteria for awards, though, I'm sure the ceremony would run several hours longer.

I'm not sure how I feel about Adele's song from Skyfall being nominated for Best Original Song. I mean, I understand the politics behind it - she's Adele and the music industry it-girl, and it's a James Bond movie so duh, but the song wasn't good enough to win this category...so, for the sake of bluntness, I hope it doesn't. Then again, I'm just not a big James Bond song person. They all sound so cheesy and horrible to me. Except the Wings' "Live and Let Die". I love that song...and that probably says a lot about me.

Other than that, I do believe Skyfall earned the rest of its nominations. This was definitely the most engaging of the James Bond films of my lifetime and the cinematography played a large role in it. The film was brilliantly shot, and I guess the sound editing and mixing were good, too...I can't really say I pay attention to a film and say "wow! that sound editing is GENIUS!" but I wouldn't be too surprised if it was. I'm sure there's some politics involved where the sound categories can be seen as ones that have to be recognized (or the sound engineers union would pitch a fit), but hey, a nomination is a nomination.

So, as always, I may add to this list of observations at a later time, but right now Return of the King is on tv and, you know, priorities. What were your favorite movies of the year? What are your thoughts about the nominations? Let us know in the comments, on twitter, or on facebook!

2012 in Review: Films

All in all, I thought 2012 was a pretty great year for films. I enjoyed all twenty-one films I saw in the theater, and at least three of the films are likely to be in my all time favorites list. Below is my annual list of my five favorite films, plus a few other notable "awards". As usual, note that this is a list of my favorites, not necessarily the five films I think are technically best.

#5 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Sure, the pacing is slow. Yeah, it's questionable why this is being stretched to multiple movies. And yeah, it's not as great as the Lord of The Rings trilogy. You know what? It was a joy to be back in middle earth, and there were plenty of great moments amongst all of the trekking. As mentioned in my review, this movie gets extra points for all of the hiking and camping.

#4 Lincoln

Without a doubt, the best part of Steven Spielberg's film about the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment by the U.S. House of Representatives are the performances. I was expecting it to be full of historical goodness, and David Strathairn, Tommy Lee Jones, and Daniel Day-Lewis didn't disappoint. What I didn't expect was how funny parts of it would be, most of which is due to James Spader. If only more historical films were this much fun.

#3 Wreck-It Ralph

I have to say I was not sold on this one after watching the trailer for the film. Sure, the support group scene with all of the recognizable villains was fun, but it seemed very played out. How wrong I was, as this much more than its concept of "video game villain gets tired of being bad". I loved how energetic the film was, while never losing heart or a sense of fun. Besides, it's a blast looking for all of the video game references.

#2 The Avengers

This could have been a total mess. Bringing together multiple superheroes is a risky gamble in any situation, but putting together ones as beloved as Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, and Captain America added a special layer of potential disappointment. Fortunately, Marvel made the inspired choice of Joss Whedon. He was able balance all of the oversized characters, while keeping the story moving and fun. The Avengers showed that comic book movies don't have to be "gritty" to be good, and it can be fun to root for the good guys.

#1 Moonrise Kingdom

Growing up can be hard even for the kids who fit in. For those who don't fit in, it can be almost Sisyphean. And even when you do finally become an adult, it doesn't mean things get any better. Sometimes, the only way to deal with it is find somebody to run away from all the crap with you. Still, it helps to have people looking out for you. This was my favorite Wes Anderson film since The Royal Tenenbaums, and yeah, part of that is because of the hiking.

Needs a 2nd Viewing: The Master

I wasn't able to put this any place on my list, as I'm not entirely sure what I think of it. I enjoyed Joaquin Phoenix's performance, and Philip Seymour Hoffman was great as an L. Ron Hubbard surrogate. P.T. Anderson is one of my favorite directors, and the movie is very well shot. It's just...I don't know, it didn't reach me as much as some of the other movies on this list. I think it might take me another shot before I can be quite sure where I stand on this.

Biggest Surprise: The Campaign

The trailers for this film made it look like total pug crap. And yea, the stuff that looked stupid in the trailers was stupid, but it was just a fraction of the film. The rest of the film was a fairly funny, sometimes poignant exploration of a modern Congressional campaign. I suppose I should have had more faith in Zach Galifianakis.

Easy A award for film I Wanted to See in Theater, but Didn't Get A Chance: Django Unchained and Looper (tie)

Unfortunately I wasn't able to see all of the films I wanted to this year. I may yet get out to the theater to see Tarantino's latest film, but for Looper I'll have to wait until it's out on DVD.

Honorable Mentions: Flight, This is 40, The Dark Knight Rises, Skyfall, Argo, Brave

Best Expected Performances: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln) and Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)

Best Unexpected Performance: James Spader (Lincoln)

Best Performance with an Intentional or Unintentional Bad Wig: Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)

A.V. Club Posts Best Films of 2012 List

The A.V. Club has posted their Best Films of 2012 list. Considering all of the movie posts I've made on this blog, it's no surprise this is one of my favorite things to read every December. I've only seen three of the movies on their compiled list, although a couple (like Django Unchained and Zero Dark Thirty) have yet to be released, at least anywhere I'd go to see movies. I'm surprised and a bit disappointed The Avengers, Cloud Atlas, and Wreck-It Ralph didn't get more support, but there were a lot of films competing for the top of the lists. This seemed like it was a pretty good year for films.

As for my "favorites of 2012" list, you'll have to wait a bit for that. I can't say yet when it will be out, just that it will be out sometime between Christmas and New Year's Day.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Wreck-It Ralph and Paperman

It's that time again, as the holiday movie season ramps up for this year. From now until February (when some of the more "arty" films will show up in this area), I'll be sharing some of my thoughts on the movies I've watched. I'll start with one of my favorites of the year.

I was going to write a long glowing review of Wreck-It Ralph, one of my favorite films of the year. Instead, I'd like to point you to my sister's great post about the film. I'll just add a few of my own comments here, then get to talking about the magnificent short Paperman.

One of my favorite parts of the film were how the characters interacted and related to each other. Not just how Ralph, Felix, Vanellope, and Sgt. Calhoun interacted, but also how they interacted with minor characters. A favorite example is the relationship between Ralph and Gene, who is the mayor of Niceland. Although the rest of the Nicelanders clearly don't like Ralph, the relationship between these two is even more strained, which hints at a history. I think (although I'm not certain) that Gene is the guy Ralph throws at the beginning of the level, which would clearly create additional animosity between the two. The fact that this much work is done of such a minor relationship in the game shows how much work went into making this a great film.

Another thing I liked was how they didn't pull punches in the film. Need a heartbreaking betrayal of Vanellope by Ralph? Consider it done, in disturbing fashion. Put both Vanellope and Ralph in jeopardy of dieing? Consider them imperiled. Kill the villian in a way both creative and kind of disturbing? Consider him fried. I'm a bring proponent of the idea that the great movies that children can watch should be a little scary, perhaps even a little disturbing. After all, aren't there scary parts in the Wizard of Oz or Pinocchio?

Between the characters, the acting, the animation, the loving irreverent reverence towards video games, and even the well-done music, Wreck-It Ralph is a real triumph for Walt Disney Animation. But frankly, even if the movie had been mediocre the trip to the theater would have been wasted, because Paperman was an absolute gem of a short.

From it's first frame I was in love with Paperman. Its deft combination of traditional and computer animation was well-done, and I'm a sucker for that (mostly) black & white style. Although I'm a big fan of the written word, I also love it when such a rich story can be told with actions and images, and nary a word is spoken. From the fact that all the workers in the one office save for our protagonist look alike, to one of the paper airplanes pulling a Randy Johnson on a bird flying by, to the love interest's red lipstick adding color to the scenes, it was a true joy.

If you have seen these films, please feel free to comment below. If not, go as soon as you can to your nearest theater. I didn't see the 3D version, watching the regular version both times I've seen it. Unlike most films, I could see 3D working well for Wreck-It Ralph.

Coming Soon: Skyfall, Flight, and Lincoln