Posts Tagged ‘ oscars ’

it’s oscar night

brandokelly

i love going to the movies.  it’s one of my favorite past times.  i feel like i’m doing a disservice by not spending more time dissecting the films that i spend countless hours watching.  i should note that i’m not an expert, so there is probably no reason to read what i’ve written except for debate purposes.  I did take a film class in college, so i’ve got that going for me which is nice.

2014 was a great year for movies.  i saw most of the important ones (birdman, the grand budapest hotel, whiplash, american sniper, the theory of everything, the imitation game, boyhood) and missed a few (selma, wild, foxcatcher, still alice, two days, one night).  here are my quick thoughts on tonight’s academy awards:

best picture: birdman deserves it and should win it.  boyhood is a cool concept and beautifully executed, but birdman is unique and like nothing i can remember watching.  whiplash was my favorite movie of the year, but has no chance.

best actor: i’m pulling for michael keaton, but eddie redmayne completely transformed himself to play stephen hawking.  voters love that stuff.  i bet redmaybe beats keaton by a noisehair.

best actress: julian moore has it locked up from what I hear, but at least we’ll get to see marion cotillard sitting in the audience.  she is such a babe.

best supporting actor: jk simmons as the a-hole band teacher was far and away my favorite performance of the year.  if he doesn’t win this award, i might start turning cars over in my street.  sorry ahead of time, neighbors.

best director: i would love to see wes anderson win this award, but birdman’s alejandro gonzalez inniritu will take this one home.  maybe wes will take home best original screenplay this year.  fingers crossed.

you’ve probably stopped reading by now, so i’ll stop there.  how about the picture on this post?  the greatest actor of all time (brando) and the biggest babe of all time (grace kelly).  niiiiice.  enjoy the awards.

my top 5 favorite movies of the last year

the academy awards are tonight.  obviously, daniel day lewis has the best actor award locked up.  i think jessica chastain could pull the upset for best actress, but i’d like to see jennifer lawrence win if only to hear her acceptance speech.  most experts are picking argo to take home best picture, but since the academy is mostly made up of old codgers with a penchant for chaos, who knows what the hell will happen.  with that said, here are my top 5 favorite movies of 2012:

moonrise

#5 moonrise kingdom: if you’re not a wes anderson fan, then you definitely hated this movie.  i loved every minute of it.  i saw it three times in the theater, and it was better every time.  (yeah, i’m that guy – no apologies.)

django

#4 django unchained: quentin tarantino never disappoints (except for jackie brown, but i’ve forgiven him since then).  it’s a bummer leonardo dicaprio wasn’t nominated for his role in django.  he was unreal as a d-bag southern plantation owner.   Continue reading

band of outsiders for the academy awards

i just caught this story over at selectism.  band of outsiders sent a list of select nominees (alexander payne, woody allen, george clooney, brad pitt, jonah hill, and gary oldman) a gift package containing a fortune cookie and a clip-on bow tie.  the inside reads “he who wears band of outsiders bow tie wins important award.”  i wonder if any of these gentlemen will take a chance with it.  what a great idea from band of outsiders.  to see some well-dressed nominees from previous oscars click here.

out today: drive on blu-ray

upon second and third viewing, drive was my favorite movie of 2011 in front of midnight in paris and 50/50.  it’s a damn shame the academy didn’t give it any love when they announced the oscar nominations last week.  one film blogger said it was too much of a homage film to stand out amongst the other nominees.  huh?  i’m no film expert, but isn’t the artist a homage to silent movies?  moving right along…drive is out today on blu-ray.  if you haven’t seen it, you’re in for a real treat.  i’m not going to give anything away, but the movie is not what you expect.  ryan gosling is perfectly cast as the no-named driver.  dude is a total badass.  if you’re interested in learning more about the style in drive, see my previous post here.  great flick.