OSCARS 2011

The 83^rd Academy Awards Oscar nominations were announced this past Tuesday. To my suprise, this is one of the only times where I have almost completely agreed with the nominations. While I still feel some people got somewhat robbed, there is not one nomination in which I disagree with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Here are my thoughts on the main categories:

Best Picture:

127 Hours

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

The King’s Speech

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter’s Bone

Since the Academy decided to expand the nominations from 5 to 10 films in 2010, it has given the change for more films to be nominated. However, the expansion has made Best Picture the category with the most predictable nominations. I feel this decision was unnecessary since whether there are 5 or 100 nominations, there will still be only one winner.

Will Win: The Social Network: While there have only been a few times when the Golden Globe winner for Best Picture has gone on to win the Oscar, The Social Network may be one of those exceptions since it has won almost every Critic Choice award this awards season.

Biggest suprise: No Nomination for The Town. The only thing more shocking about this Best Picture omission is the fact that the film only racked up one nomination. Ben Affleck deserved at least a directing or writing nomination for his successful comeback..

Best Actor

Javier Bardem, Biutiful

Jeff Bridges, True Grit

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

James Franco, 127 Hours

This is by far the most competitive category this year. There were so many talented performances from actors that could fill any of these slots.

Will win: Colin Firth perfectly portrayed “Bertie” and his stutter.

Biggest surprise: Javier Bardem: He was shut out by both the Golden Globes and SAGs.

Biggest snub: While I cannot argue that any person in this category does not deserve to be in it, I personally would have love to see either Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter) or Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine) in the category.

Best Actress

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Will win: Natalie Portman

Throughout the whole awards season, the main question has been, Natalie or Annette? The competition heats up since both received Golden Globes. Who comes out on top? I pick Natalie Portman who was able to perfectly transform into both the white and black swan.

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale, The Fighter

John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone

Jeremy Renner, The Town

Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Will Win: Christian Bale

The most shocking thing for me in this category is that this is Christian Bale’s first Oscar nomination. He is one of the most talented method actors, which he accomplishes again in his role in The Fighter, where he is almost unrecognizable at first.

Biggest Surprise: No nomination for Andrew Garfield (The Social Network)

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams, The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech

Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Will Win: Melissa Leo

The main competition Leo has is her co-star Amy Adams. Hopefully, being from the same movie it will not split the vote and hurt either’s chance for winning.

Biggest Surprise: While True Grit did campaign for Steinfeld to be in the supporting category, she should be in the best actress category mainly because she is in as many scenes as Best Actor nominee Jeff Bridges.

Best Animated Film :

Toy Story 3

I’m not even going to list the other movies in this category. Toy Story has to and will win.  If for some odd reason it doesn’t, I better see pigs flying around in the sky.

For a complete list of the 2011 Oscar Nominations, check out the Academy’s website. Be sure to watch The 83^rd Academy Awards, hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway, on Feb. 27 to see who wins.

 

 

Social Media Has The Power to Predict Box Office Outcomes

Well it’s official, social media has taken over the world. However, this is no movie plot where a superhero can stop it from taking over. Movies are just the lastest victim of websites like Facebook and Twitter, which are becoming major factors in whether a film is a box office hit or flop.

Due to the fast word of mouth on twitter, many can tweet their own movie critiques within seconds of seeing it. People may see these tweets and make a decision on whether to see the movie, ultimately boosting or bombing ticket sales.

The response on twitter of a movie on its opening day can make or break a movie. “If your movie is good, and has fantastic word of mouth, your formulas are obsolete,” said Dick Cook, chairman of Walt Disney Studios. “If your movie is bad, it’s instantaneous. You know it on Friday.”

For example, “Bruno”, film that has Sacha Baron Cohen playing a European male model, open last summer and did very well its opening day. According to an article from NBC New York, “Bruno” suffered a nearly 40 percent drop off from Friday to Saturday which had led some – including Time magazine – to blame negative Twittering for at least part of the steep decline.

Unlike “Bruno”, Twitter can also create a positive buzz for films. When the relatively cheap Sci-fi movie “District 9” was released last August, tweets such as “go see District 9 tonight or this weekend. you’re welcome,” resulted in a steady opening weekend at the box office and a huge hit.

At this very moment, one of the top trending topics on Twitter is the new movie “Iron Man 2,” which opened in theatres everywhere today. We will have to see how this buzz affects its overall box office gross, which is expected to do extremely well.

The movie business is just another aspect of that social media is taking over. That said, it should be very interesting how studios will change their future movie campaigning in order to prevent tweets of moviegoers from making or breaking their film’s success.

Review: Death at A Funeral

It is probably morally wrong to laugh at a funeral, but you cannot help but do so in “Death at A Funeral.”  The film revolves around Aaron (Chris Rock) trying to arrange a funeral for his father reuniting his whole dysfunctional family.  Throughout the funeral, Aaron has to deal with his grieving mother, his unhelpful brother (Martin Lawrence), his cousin’s drugged-up boyfriend, and a man using blackmail of his father to collect $30,000.

If this film sounds familiar, it is because it is a remake of the British comedy made just about three years ago.  I never saw the original but others I know said it was the exact same story line with no new twists.  Even Peter Dinklage reprises his role as a stranger who plays the apparent gay lover of the deceased man.

While it has a great cast including Rock, Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan, Danny Glover, Zoe Saldana, and Luke Wilson, I was a little disappointed with the acting in this movie and expected more. There are some funny moments but the plot weakened as the movie continued.  However, James Marsden is the best part of the movie whose scenes truly steal the show. He plays Oscar, a boyfriend of one of the relatives, who is accidentally given hallucination drugs that are mistaken for valium. His funny physical performance has the audience cracking up in every one of his scenes.

Although I thought it was pretty funny, my advice is to save your money and wait until it comes out on DVD. If you truly cannot wait that long to see it, I suggest watching the 2007 version since it is basically the exact same thing.

May Movie Mania

The school year is coming to the end meaning one thing: summer is almost here. While the season technically doesn’t start until June, Hollywood’s summer begins the first week of May.  That is when all the big blockbusters start hitting theatres. Once again, it looks like it will be the summer of sequels, big comedies, and action-packed films. Here is a list of all the movies coming out in May.

May 7^th:

“Iron Man 2”

Stars: Robert Downey Jr. Mickey Rourke, Gwyneth Paltrow

Summary: Tony Stark is back in this anticipated sequel to the 2007 hit. Now that everyone knows about his double-life, Stark has to try to keep his invention from being taken from the military and must fight against new enemies.

“Babies”

Summary: Thomas Balmes directs this documentary that follows the lives of four babies living on different continents for one year.

May 14^th:

“Robin Hood”

Stars: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett

Summary:  Ridley Scott directs this new version of the classic tale where Robin Hood and his gang steal from the rich and gives to the poor to fix the sheriff’s injustices.

“Letters to Juliet”

Stars: Amanda Seyfried, Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Redgrave

Summary: To answer one of the many “Letter to Juliet” from the Verona Courtyard, a young wman goes on an adventure to find the lovers who are in the letter.

“Just Wright”

Stars: Queen Latifah, Michael Landes, Paula Patton

Summary: A physical therapist falls in love with a professional basketball player who she is helping recover from a serious injury.

May 21^st:

“Shrek Forever After”

Stars: Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy

Summary: The fourth movie of the series has Shrek calls on Rumpelstiltskin to help him feel like himself again. After being tricked by Rumpelstilskin, Shrek must get back to the Far and Away he once knew and win back his love Fiona.

“MacGruber”

Stars: Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Val Kilmer, Ryan Phillippe

Summary: This regular Saturday Night Live Skit has been turned into a movie where MacGruber must take down his enemy who is trying to destroy Washington D.C.

May 27^th :

“Sex and The City 2”

Stars: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon

Summary: The girls are back and are headed for a vacation in Morocco in order to escape the on-going stress of love, work, and life.

“Prince of Persia”

Stars: Jake Gyllenhal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley

Summary: A scoundrel prince teams up with a princess to try to stop a dark force from taking a sword that allows the holder to rule the world. This Disney movie is set in medieval Persia.

“Survival of The Dead”

Stars: Alan Van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Kathleen Munroe

Summary: Two warring families fight each other when deciding the fate of the zombies located on Plum Island.

For more information on these movies, you can go to: http://www.imdb.com/nowplaying/2010/05/

3D is Hollywood’s Latest Fad

3D movies have exploded in theatres everywhere in 2010. This recent fad can be attributed to the huge success of “Avatar”, now the highest grossing movie of all time. Now, studios are spending millions of extra dollars convert their upcoming films in order to make a larger profit. There have already been three movies this year in 3D, “Alice in Wonderland”, “How to Train Your Dragon”, and “Clash of The Titans”, and more are due out later this year. All three of these movies have done well in the box office so far, each grossing over $60 million in their opening weekend. The real question that is whether or not seeing movies in 3D is really worth it.

Like millions of other people, I saw “Avatar” in 3D and absolutely loved it. The 3D illusions made it seem like I was actually in the world of Pandora.  Even though 3D worked so well for Avatar, not all movies should be in this format.  First off, it now costs about $5 more to see it in 3D than the traditional format.  The illusions and special effects also seem to draw the audience’s attention away from the actual story and details of the movie. The glasses also start to annoy me within the first few minutes of a film.

I am not willing most of the time to spend the extra money to see a movie in 3D because the story line, not the special effects, are suppose to be the most important part of a film. However, Hollywood will continue making 3D movies as long as viewers are still willing to pay for the more expensive ticket. Who knows, if tickets continue to sell, all movies may eventually be in 3D sometime in the future.

The Top Time Travel Movies of All Time

There has been a lot of critique about the new movie “Hot Tub Time Machine” because of its ridiculous plot and self-explanatory title. It is about a group of guys who travel back to 1986 in a hot tub.  While this seems like a very odd storyline for a movie, time travel has always been a popular theme within movies. There are over 150 movies that have some type of time traveling in their plots. Because of this, I have made a list of my favorite time traveling movies.

1. “Back to The Future” (1985) – “Wait a minute, Doc.Ah… Are you telling me that you built a time machine… out of a DeLorean?” When someone thinks time travel movie, this ‘80’s film is usually the first to come to anyone’s mind. There is no way you cannot love Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly and his adventure back to 1955 with the help of the time machine invented by Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd). While there, he must make sure the younger versions of his parents meet in order to get him back to 1985.
2. “The Terminator”(1984) -This film is the best sci-fi action film of all time.  Before Arnold Schwarzenegger was the California Governator, he was The Terminator. He is sent from 2029 back to the 20^th century to kill Sarah Connor and her unborn son. This is meant to stop John Connor from ever living to stop him from helping the humans fight against the machines.
3. “It’s A Wonderful Life”(1946)- This classic Oscar nominated Christmas movie is about a depressed man named George Bailey (James Stewart). On Christmas Eve, He is shown flashbacks of his life by his guardian angel about how all the people in his life would have been if he had never existed. This trip makes George realize that he truly does have a wonderful life, which makes this film one of the most inspirational and heartwarming of all time.
4. “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989)- Two slackers of the future band Wyld Stallyns, played by Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, need to do well on a history presentation in order to not fail out of school. They get their hands on a phone booth time machine and gather up historical people and to help with their presentation. The mix of history lessons and “surfer dude” dialogue makes this film most excellent.
5. “13 Going on 30”(2004)- This romantic comedy revolves around Jenna Rink, a 13-year-old girl who makes a birthday wish and wakes up as her future-self. Throughout the film, she tries to figure out what has happened in the past 17 years that has led to the woman she has become in 2004. Jennifer Garner does an amazing job playing a naïve and fun-loving teen girl trapped inside an adult woman’s body.

Now there are plenty of more time travel movies out there, I just haven’t seen all of them to make a more accurate list. If there are any other ones that you really like or should be on this list, let me know.

Turner Classic Movies Revisits American Cinema’s Past

For the past 16 years, Turner Classic Movies has made it possible to relive all the film industry’s glorious moments by playing movies iconic to American culture. Every February, this channel puts on the program “31 Days of Oscar”.  During this marathon, over 360 movies are shown that haveeither been an Oscar winner or nominee. The host of the marathon is Robert Osborne, who gives a detailed description and fun facts about the film and the actors in each one before and after the movie. “31 Days of Oscar” eventually leads up to the Academy Awards.

I love watching this program because they play all the old movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age. About 90% of the movies shown were made between the 1930’s and 1960’s.  For example, within the past few days, TCM has played the films Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Singin’ in The Rain, An American in Paris, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Most of the films shown contain famously referenced quotes and scenes, such as Sunset Boulevard’s “ I’m ready for my close-up” or On the Waterfront’s “I could have been a contender…” speech. While we have all heard of them, others like myself may have never actually had a chance to see the full film where these iconic quotes originate. “31 Days of Oscar” also allows viewers to see the movies that Hollywood icons like Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando, Ava Gardner, Judy Garland, Carey Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Gene Kelly, Grace Kelly, and John Wayne made throughout their successful careers. Another plus for watching these films on TCM is that they are uninterrupted and uncut. Some of the movies are also still uncolorized, which creates the illusion that you are watching the film back in its original time period.

While there are only a few more weeks until this marathon ends, there are still plenty of amazing movies still left in the line-up.  You can find out which movies and when they will be playing by going to TCM’s full schedule at http://www.tcm.com/schedule/.

“Dear John”: Okay Movie, Better Book

It is said that the book is never as good as the movie. Based on my experience of always reading the book before I see a film, I am usually disappointed in the adaption to the book. Nicholas Spark’s “Dear John” was no different. While it was still a decent movie, I still came out of the theatre somewhat disappointed due to “Dear John” not staying completely true to the original novel.

“Dear John” stars Channing Tatum as army sergeant John Tyree. While on leave from Germany, John meets Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried), a college girl that is building houses for charity on her spring break. They fall in love during the two weeks they spend together, but then John must go back to Germany.  Savannah and John send each other letters in order to keep their love alive even though the distance between them, as well as John’s decision to reenlist in the army after the 9/11 attacks, tries to tear them apart.

Yes, it is true that everyone else I went with to see the movie enjoyed it and cried throughout it. However, the differences that occurred between the film and book overshadowed my ability to appreciate the greatness of the movie by itself. For example, the film either created new story lines or John’s father, portrayed by Peter Jenkins, is described in the novel as a very shy man who only talks to John about his coin collection. While Peter Jenkins did an amazing job with making this character alive, the film makes him seen like he has something wrong with him. Another difference is the character Alan, who is Savannah’s family friend Tom’s son in the movie and his brother’s son in the film. These small differences result in the film taking a completely different turn than was present in the novel.

While I will not argue with the fact that the book is better, “Dear John” was still satisfactory in that it had the two main components necessary for a good chick flick, an interesting love story and tear-jerking moments. My recommendation is that if you have not read the book before, you should go see it. If you did read it, the movie can still be possibly enjoyable as long as you view them as two completely different stories.

“When in Rome”: Your Typical Romantic Comedy

I am sick of all romantic comedies being exactly the same. Almost every one continues to use identical romantic clichés, and there is rarely ever any originality within their plots. Disney’s “When in Rome”, starring Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel, was no exception to this fact. I could predict exactly what happened in the movie just by watching the trailer. However, “When in Rome” was still entertaining and one of the better romantic comedies I have seen recently.

In the film, Bell stars as Beth, a workaholic who is unlucky in love. She flies to Rome in order to attend her little sister’s wedding, where she meets Nick (Duhamel), a former football star who is now a sports journalist.  At the end of the night, Beth’s hope of finding love is crushed, so she drunkenly goes into Rome’s Fountain of Love and picks up some of the coins in it.  As a result, the owners of the coins, including a model (Dax Shepard), a sausage king (Danny DeVito), an artist (Will Arnett) and a magician (Jon Heder), are put under a curse that causes them to fall in love with Beth. This leads f the men to stalk all over New York City. Nick is also trying to get to know Beth but keeps being interrupted by the others.

One of the reasons this movie was so enjoyable was because it focused more on the comedy side, and the actual love story was only a minor part of the movie. Rather than just having a bunch of funny one-liners, the film’s use of gags and quirky characters that resulted most of the theatre audience, including myself, to laugh throughout the whole film. In particular, the actors playing Beth’s pursuers each created hilarious characters and made their supporting roles stand out.

While it contains the same features present in most other romantic comedies, “When in Rome” was still hilarious and worth watching. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good laugh or a great date movie.

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