Here Come Oscars 2010!

It's nearly that time again...Oscar Night is practically its own holiday here at Chez Loebrich South! As usual, we've been out and about in our Annual Oscar Push, although it has been a little hindered this year. The Winter Olympics always impede our Oscar film viewing because, rather than going out to the cinemas, we're staying home watching figure skating or hockey (or bobsled, or luge, or freestyle aerial skiing, or...). The Oscars also always fall during Pledge Drive, so my work schedule doesn't always allow us enough time to go to the movies. Then there is the historic change to 10 nominees for Best Picture this year, which was done in the hopes of allowing more "blockbusters" into the nominations to attract more viewers/ratings.

That said, it has been an very odd year for movies. Most of 2009 we were going out around 2 times a month to see movies with our friends, we actually saw quite a lot of movies overall. And most of those films were our standard fare, that is to say "popcorn flicks" rather than the more "cerebral" movies the Academy usually notices. Nonetheless, we were doing pretty well when the nominations came out, making it fairly easy to pick up several others. Movies On Demand from the cable company also helped out quite a bit, and was way cheaper than the cinemas!

We've only seen about half of the Best Picture nominees, but this is a pretty easy one to predict. In fact, I kind of wonder whether the 10 nominees plan is going to backfire on the Academy, solely because Cameron released Avatar this year. If you think anything else is going to win this category, you're nuts, it is an amazing cinematic achievement. That said, I'd rather see almost any of the other films win myself. I found Avatar to be beautiful, technically amazing, but plot poor and predictable with flat acting. I was not really taken with The Hurt Locker either. I already knew that war is hell, and that all the military personnel involved are brave and talented people who are being affected in more ways than we can understand. Inglourious Basterds was brilliant, and I love Quentin Tarantino, so you'll see me holding out hope for him here, even though I know it's pointless.

In another unusual development this year, Up is nominated for both Best Animated Feature and Best Picture. I don't think that has ever happened before. The Best Animated Feature category came about after Beauty and The Beast was nominated for Best Picture and didn't win. The uproar was such that the Academy decided there should be a separate category. Up is definitely the Best Animated Feature of the year, but I wonder what the ramifications would be if it were to win in both categories. Unlikely, and something I really don't think *should* happen, thus I'm rooting for it in the Animated category and against it in the Picture category.

When it comes to Best Director (my sentimental favorite category), you know I'm rooting for Tarantino. In this case, he's a good bet. I'm hearing a lot of "sympathy vote" buzz for him (also in the Original Screenplay category). Could go to Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker, but I wish it wouldn't. And James Cameron bugs the heck out of me, he's like Juggernaut or The Tick - nigh indestructible.

The acting categories are where we lost a lot of ground this year. I think that Jeff Bridges has a really good shot for Best Actor. Crazy Heart was awesome and he was spot-on perfect in it. All the buzz I'm hearing about Best Actress says Meryl Streep, and I love her in general, but I haven't seen Julie & Julia, although "biopics" are always a good way to get an Oscar - if you have a meaty enough character to sink your teeth into, you can do a really good dramatic turn. Everybody knows Mo'Nique is going to win the Supporting Actress category. I have not seen Push either, but I hear she's brilliant. When it comes to Supporting Actor, I've only seen two of the nominated roles. Matt Damon is pretty, but, amazingly, that's almost all he does in Invictus - be pretty, oh yeah, and play rugby rather well. The guy from Inglourious Basterds was really good.

Our standard category, the one in which we have usually already seen all the films when the nominations are announced, is Visual Effects. Yes, we had it done again this year. Guess what is going to win. Come on, you know this one!

Amazingly, the other categories we usually have locked up early on - Art Direction, Costume Design, and Cinematography - are ones in which we fell short this year. We also only saw 2 of the Animated Feature nominees, and none of the Foreign Film nominees. Like I said, we had rivals for our attention this time around.

Then, we got an unexpected bonus - the Oscar-nominated live-action and animated short films came to town on tour *before* Oscar Night! We squeezed those in around my Pledge Drive shifts last week and had a great time. We pretty much agreed on our favorites, too. If any of you regular readers have the opportunity to catch the Short Films, do it! There are some good ones in there. Our faves? Animated: Logorama. Live-Action: The New Tenants.

Tonight, we start getting ready for *next* year's Oscars - we're going to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D! Then, Sunday night we'll be settling in with our popcorn, M&M's, and bottle of Coppola wine to see who takes home the Golden Boys.

The Blind Side

Nominated for Best Actress and Best Picture, The Blind Side is based on the true story of football player Michael Oher. As a high school student, he is homeless and struggling. His father has been missing for most of his life, his mother is a drug addict, and Michael is left mostly to his own devices. A good-hearted neighbor manages to bring Michael to the attention of the football coach at a Christian school. Michael's athletic prowess is enough to get the coach to lobby for his admission. Once in school, Michael crosses paths with Lee Ann Tuhy, whose two children also attend the school. Lee Ann is inspired to take Michael in as she sees that he has nowhere else to go.

A bond forms between this large black youth and the Southern white family who has taken him in. Eventually, the Tuhys become his legal guardians and work to help him improve his grades and get into college. Oh yeah, he also plays football...very well.

This is a very good movie. Yes, it's predictable. Yes, it's got a "movie of the week" feel to it. But it is also a feel-good story with some good performances and a great ending.

Moms, I think the vote is split here. My mom loves football, but there is the issue of Michael being a virtual orphan until he is adopted away from his birth-mother (who, admittedly, is not able to care for him). Both our moms don't like violent or scary movies, and there are two definitely scary scenes (car crash, fight in the projects). But overall, I think this could be a really good moms movie, primarily for its messages of overcoming adversity, finding that family is where your heart is, and becoming who you're supposed to be.

Coraline

Nominated for Best Animated Feature, and adapted from the book by Neil Gaiman, Coraline is the story of a young girl who has just moved to a new town with her parents. As they ignore her to complete work on their project (they're writers producing a gardening catalog), Coraline discovers the passage to a secret world behind a hidden door in the house. Each night she travels to this parallel world peopled with parents who love and play with her, neighbors who are friendly and adoring, and lots of fun things to do. Until she discovers the darker side of this world.

I wanted to see this when it came out, but it got passed over for other options. The animation is similar in style to The Nightmare Before Christmas; the look and story have a very similar feel as well. I enjoyed the movie, it was cute and clever, although fairly predictable in the end. If you like animated features in this style, it's probably worth a rental. It's not as creepy as you would have thought from the commercials, either. But, Moms, sorry, but I don't think this one is right for you either.

The Hurt Locker

Nominated for: Best Actor, Best Director, Best Picture, Cinematography, Editing, Original Score, Original Screenplay, Sound Mixing, and Sound Editing, The Hurt Locker is the story of elite soldiers serving in the Iraq war. SFC William James is a munitions expert and adrenalin junkie, who dives recklessly into his job of diffusing bombs and returns for a repeat tour because it's what he loves to do. Sgt JT Sanborn is the unit's trainer, he does everything by the book and James' fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants attitude bothers him immensely. Spc Owen Eldridge is overwhelmed, worried that even a minor mistake on his part might injure his comrades. The title of the movie is Army slang for being injured in an explosion.

There's a lot of buzz around this film. I've talked to people who really loved it, thought it was one of the best films they've seen this year. I didn't think it was all that and a bag of chips. What I got out of it was, "yes, war is hell," "yes, this war is insane and scary," "yes, some people get off on that sort of thing and can get in way over their heads," but that was about it. I don't know, though, I don't really like war movies much to begin with, so maybe I am subconsciously biased.

Either way, Moms, heck no, you do not want to see this film!

Inglourious Basterds

Creative spelling notwithstanding, Inglourious Basterds is the fictional story of a group of Jewish-American soldiers who make it their personal mission to kill or otherwise inconvenience the Nazis. At the same time, a young Jewish woman who owns a movie theater in Paris has an unusual opportunity dropped in her lap and seizes upon it as her own way to get back at the people who murdered her family. When the two projects unexpectedly coincide, and come up against a third plot against the Reich, noir hilarity ensues.

I did not want to see this movie when it came out. First, because the unusually spelled title really bugged me (darned English degree!). Second, because the TV commercials made it look like a total slapstick romp, which is really not our style of film. Well, I should not have doubted. Quentin Tarantino has been one of my favorite directors for years, and he has not lost his touch. Like most of his movies, Basterds is graphic and disturbing at times, and deals with some dark subject matter in an offbeat kind of way. It is also full of the quirky amusing moments and fabulous characters Tarantino is known for. In addition, the pacing is brilliant.

Moms, no way, sorry. Less squeamish folks, absolutely, this is up there in the ranks of Tarantino films, as good as Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill. Good stuff.

Happy Birthday, Bruce!

Today my beloved husband is 42. Happy birthday, darling, I love you more and more each day!

Invictus

Based on the book Playing the Enemy, Invictus is the true story of how Nelson Mandela united his nation behind their rugby team and led them to the World Cup. An unusual political move, Mandela used the team to galvanize a previously divided country, and in so doing moved the hearts and minds of many who had formerly opposed him.

I am not a great historian, and even though this is a major event for a major political figure in my lifetime, I did not know the story going into this film. I think that was a good thing, because it meant I didn't know how it would end. Now, I probably could have guessed as the plot is pretty predictable and has a "movie of the week" feel to it, but I didn't.

So, it's predictable, but it's well-acted (of course it is, Morgan Freeman is just too darned good, and Matt Damon's no slouch, even though he doesn't really do much in this film) and very enjoyable. It's easy to get swept up in the emotion of the film, and that's partly the point. Add the fact that you get to watch some blood-pumping rugby games, and you've got a nice evening at the theater.

Come Oscar time, expect at least one acting nod, although I can't guarantee a win. Moms, nope, probably not, considering the heavy shadow of Apartheid which hangs over the film (purposefully); everybody else, check it out.