The 84th Academy Awards

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN ;__;

I know I'm a little late on this, and you probably don't care anymore, but here were my picks (that I should have posted sooner!!) for tonights annual Academy Awards, and the winners for weach category. I fared far better than I did last year. I was quite embarrassed with my predictions. Anyway, let's get down to business. The nominees for [insert category] are...

[BEST PICTURE]
The Artist – Thomas Langmann – WINNER
The Descendants – Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – Scott Rudin
The Help Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan,
Hugo – Graham King and Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris – Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum
Moneyball – Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt
The Tree of Life – Nominees to be determined
War Horse – Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy

[DIRECTING]
The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius – WINNER
The Descendants – Alexander Payne
Hugo – Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
The Tree of Life – Terrence Malick

[BEST ACTOR]
Demián Bichir – A Better Life
George Clooney – The Descendants
Jean Dujardin – The Artist – WINNER
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt – Moneyball

[BEST ACTRESS]
Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis – The Help
Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady – WINNER
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn

[BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR]
Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Nick Nolte – Warrior
Christopher Plummer – Beginners – WINNER
Max von Sydow – Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

[BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS]
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”; – WINNER
Berenice Bejo, “The Artist”;
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”;
Janet McTeer (“Albert Nobbs”);
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids.”

[WRITING – ADAPTED SCREENPLAY]
The Descendants – Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash – WINNER
Hugo – Screenplay by John Logan
The Ides of March – Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
Moneyball – Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

[WRITING – ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY]
The Artist – Written by Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids – Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Margin Call – Written by J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris – Written by Woody Allen
A Separation – Written by Asghar Farhadi

[MUSIC – ORIGINAL SONG]
“Man or Muppet” from THE MUPPETS – Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie – WINNER
“Real in Rio” from RIO – Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett

[MUSIC – ORIGINAL SCORE]
The Adventures of Tintin – John Williams
The Artist – Ludovic Bource – WINNER
Hugo – Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Alberto Iglesias
War Horse – John Williams

[ANIMATED FEATURE FILM]
A Cat in Paris – Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
Chico & Rita – Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
Kung Fu Panda 2 – Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Puss in Boots – Chris Miller
Rango – Gore Verbinski – WINNER

[CINEMATOGRAPHY]
The Artist – Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo – Robert Richardson – WINNER
The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki
War Horse – Janusz Kaminski

[ART DIRECTION]
The Artist – Laurence Bennett (Production Design); Robert Gould (Set Decoration)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Stuart Craig (Production Design); Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
Hugo – Dante Ferretti (Production Design); Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration) – WINNER
War Horse – Rick Carter (Production Design); Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)

[COSTUME DESIGN]
Anonymous – Lisy Christl
The Artist – Mark Bridges – WINNER
Hugo – Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre – Michael O’Connor
W.E. – Arianne Phillips

[MAKEUP]
Albert Nobbs – Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
The Iron Lady – Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland – WINNER

[VISUAL EFFECTS]
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
Hugo – Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning – WINNER
Real Steel – Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Dan Glass, Brad Friedman, Douglas Trumbull and Michael Fink

[SOUND EDITING]
Drive – Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Ren Klyce
Hugo – Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty – WINNER
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
War Horse – Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

[SOUND MIXING]
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
Hugo – Tom Fleischman and John Midgley – WINNER
Moneyball – Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
War Horse – Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

[FILM EDITING]
The Artist – Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants – Kevin Tent
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall – WINNER
Hugo – Thelma Schoonmaker
Moneyball – Christopher Tellefsen

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM ]
Belgium, “Bullhead” – Michael R. Roskam, director
Canada, “Monsieur Lazhar” – Philippe Falardeau, director
Iran, “A Separation” – Asghar Farhadi, director – WINNER
Israel, “Footnote” – Joseph Cedar, director
Poland, “In Darkness” – Agnieszka Holland, director

[SHORT FILM – ANIMATED]
Dimanche/Sunday – Patrick Doyon
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore – William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg – WINNER
La Luna – Enrico Casarosa
A Morning Stroll – Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
Wild Life – Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

[SHORT FILM – LIVE ACTION]
Pentecost – Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
Raju – Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
The Shore – Terry George and Oorlagh George – WINNER
Time Freak – Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
Tuba Atlantic – Hallvar Witzø

[DOCUMENTARY SHORT]
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement – Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
God is the Bigger Elvis – Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
Incident in New Baghdad – James Spione
Saving Face – Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy – WINNER
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom – Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

[DOCUMENTARY FEATURE]Hell and Back Again – Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front – Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory – Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Pina – Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
Undefeated – TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas – WINNER

So 13 out of 24... That's pretty respectable in my book. It would have been higher, though nowhere near perfect, if I had gone with my second choice in some of the categories. 

What did you think of tonight's ceremony? I had so much second-hand embarrassment from Billy Crystal's hosting. I thought they should have had the Muppets host the entire show... they missed a huge opportunity there. Did your picks win? Do you think there were any upsets tonight? In my opinion, I don't think there were any controversial winners tonight. Leave a comment below!

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Journey 2

I'm going to keep this review short and sweet, as I don't think a review for this movie really needs to go  too deep to say what works for this movie and what doesn't...

In Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) receives a distress call from his grandfather (Michael Caine), who is believed to be missing on an island that isn't supposed to exist, and sets out with his step father, Hank (Dwayne Johnson) to help find him with the help of a helicopter pilot (Luis Guzmán) and his daughter (Vanessa Hudgens).

What I like most about the Journey movies is that they aren't direct adaptions of the Jules Verne books they draw inspiration from. In the Journey universe, it turns out that books are really a recollection of true events, and our Vernian family of explorers set out to discover where these lands of adventure and treasure may be. I will admit that I found myself getting caught up in some of the action, like when the characters are being chased by a giant lizard or being chased by a behemoth electric eel underwater. I also enjoyed some of the quick witted banter between step dad and grandpa.  For the most part, the 3D is well done. I think you would be missing out if you didn't see it with the extra dimension.

However, they do rely on a few 3D gags, such as berries "jumping" out at you. I'm not a fan of these cheap 3D thrills. I prefer when films utilize 3D to add perspective and depth to the screen. I also wish the Island was a little less cartoony. The writing also lacked substance. It was very cheesy and the characters were often quick to change opinions, but what can you expect from this kind of movie? Not much, so I can't really complain. All logic and sense of reality seem to be left outside of the theater.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is intended for a child audience, but I think they keep it exciting enough to keep most adults from wishing they were somewhere else. If you end up being dragged to this movie, it isn't the worst thing in the world. It is pretty good for what it is.

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Chronicle

Chronicle is probably the first movie of 2012 that I've been highly anticipating. The first time I saw the trailer last year, I was instantly drawn in and eagerly awaiting the release. I love the genre, and the movie actually looked like it would be good; However, I know better than to let myself be fooled by a good trailer. With the recent success of superhero and "found footage" movies over the last decade, we've seen a rush of movies try to find an audience, some more successful than others. Chronicle takes the two genres and combines them in an interesting way to make it feel real, creating a surprising and refreshing movie experience.

In Chronicle, three teenagers discover they have telekinetic-like superpowers after happening upon a strange crystal in the woods. Instead of following the "with great power, comes great responsibility" mantra most origin movies adopt, Chronicle takes a more realistic approach. Tell me which of you wouldn't play pranks, play catch in the sky, or just have fun if given superpowers. As the teens grow closer through their new found powers, the painful emotions of one get the better of him and things start spinning helplessly out of control. Thankfully, he's been catching it all on his camera.

My favorite part of the movie is when the kids learn how to fly. There is a carefree scene where they soar through the clouds and are throwing a football, only to be interrupted by a 747. It's adrenaline rushing and exciting. It is a low budget movie, so some of the special effects are cheesy, like when they are throwing a baseball at each other, but when the scope of the movie becomes larger, the effects become less distracting and more impressive thanks to the "handheld" camera approach the movie takes. Thankfully, Andrew learns to control the camera with his mind so it's not all shaky camera action like you would expect. The movie also takes some liberty by using other camera's for perspective, like when Matt's video-blogging crush films them, or in the climax where Andrew surrounds himself with the cameras and cellphones of onlookers. The only thing I was disappointed with was the lack of an explanation of where the crystal came from or what happened to them when they found it in the form of an end-credits scene. It would have added some nice backstory to a plot point that felt more like an element of convenience than anything else. Why was the crystal there? Where did it come from? How did the cave collapse? Why were there military police surrounding the area when the kids went back to look at it? 

At the end of the day, I was pleasantly surprised with Chronicle, as I hope you would be too. Chronicle tries to do something different in a genre that is typically overdone, and I feel like it succeeds. Although cliched, it's fresh and emotionally deep. It could have been a disaster, and thankfully, it is far from one. 

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One for the Money

I was invited to go see a midnight screening of One for the Money by a friend for free, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I wanted to see it anyway, but not having to dish out $12 for a ticket was icing on the cake and probably is affecting my opinion on the movie because I actually enjoyed it. 

That said, One for the Money, an adaption of Janet Evanovich's book of the same name, stars Katherine Heigl (Life as We Know It) as an inexperienced bail-bondsman and Jason O'Mara (Terra Nova) as the wanted cop from her romantic past she is chasing. It is a light and enjoyable movie, though often cliche'd at times, that combines a decent amount of comedy and crime-solving. 

The highlights of the movie weren't actually the story or the stars, which for me weren't unbearable, but the wacky side-characters that Heigl interacts with. Debbie Reynolds shines as Plum's eccentric grandmother, especially during a scene at the family dinner table where she plays with her granddaughter's gun. Sherri Shepard and Ryan Michelle Bathe are fantastic as Lula and Jackie, respectively, a pair of criminal informant prostitutes. They definitely stole the show for me. I only wish the movie featured them more. 

One for the Money is definitely not a critic's movie, so if you are looking for a potential award winner, look elsewhere. I know my tastes can be questionable at times, but this movie is definitely a guilty pleasure, and nothing more than that. If you can get past Heigl's weak attempt at a Jersey accent ("Why you messin' with my tasty cakes!"), this movie can be worth checking out -- but only if you know what to expect.

(more like a 2.5/5 but i'm feeling generous.)

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The Devil Inside

Well... I don't have much to say about this movie. I initially had high expectations for the film. For starters, it actually looked creepy. The trailer editors did their job well, evidenced by the fact that the movie brought in $34.5 million dollars opening weekend, becoming the third highest premiere ever for the month. I wasn't entirely disappointed by the movie (despite it's stinker of an ending), but it never lived up to it's potential. We are way overdue for a hit paranormal horror movie. I don't know if The Devil Inside could have ever been it, but it definitely missed an opportunity.

The Devil Inside is the documentary-style telling of a daughter, Isabella Rossi, seeking the truth behind the night her mother, Maria Rossi, murdered three people. Her investigation leads her to Rome where her mother has been institutionalized for the last twenty years. Isabella takes matters into her own hands and recruits two rogue priests to determine whether or not her mother is mentally ill, or demonically possessed. They were never prepared for what they found.

The documentary style of the film unfortunately drags the film. The scares are few and far between, most of which can be found wonderfully edited in the trailer. While some of the clicking noises and screams were chill-inducing, they weren't exactly frightening. Honestly, the only scare I got from the movie was when a large dog unexpectedly jumps up and barks while the characters are walking down the street. The entire theater jolted and we all laughed about it afterwards, and that is the kind of scare I enjoy - the kind you don't expect, the kind that the entire theater bonds over. At least I knew what I was getting into, so I wasn't completely let down.

Bottom-line: Just watch the trailer and save your $10, or catch it at home when it eventually shows up on Netfilx or Redbox. 

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Colombiana

I'm sorry I haven't been around much! I don't have a job right now, so I haven't exactly had the money to pay for tickets or many opportunities to see them for free. Anyway, I went out last night with some friends to see Colombiana for my best friend's birthday, and I actually enjoyed it! I mean, from the trailer, I wasn't expecting to not enjoy it. How can a revenge movie that combines a bad-ass chick (Zoe Soldana) and lots of action not be good? #guyproblems

The film is definitely a guilty pleasure as the acting isn't top-notch and the dialogue and story borders on cheap and cliche. It definitely is a Luc Besson film, as the highly contrasted and stylized filming with non-stop and graceful action might imply. I really enjoyed the opening exploration of young Catelaya and the origin of her motive for killing all of these people, and the subsequent action scene that involves the young Catelaya as the mobsters chase her through the streets of Bogota. Beyond that, the film offers little in the way of character development, but definitely makes up for it in the action and eye-candy department.

If you want a revenge-fueled movie that offers more depth, look elsewhere - like Hanna from earlier this year, which is more of a character study than an explosion-centric film. However, if you want something mindless, sexy, and fun, Colombiana might be the movie for you. If you know what to expect, you won't be disappointed. I sure wasn't.

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