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The nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:15:00 -0500

Remember when I was skeptical about the Best Picture category being expanded to 10 movies instead of 5? If The Blind Side being nominated for Best Picture doesn’t prove my point, only Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen can. Thank god they didn’t nominate that. If you didn’t get it yet, the nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards were announced today. I watched the announcement like I do every year and was excited as usual. But as I said before, 10 nominees devalues the category. And I was right. The motherf----- Blind Side?!

There weren’t any big surprises in the acting categories.

Best Leading Actor:

Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart (of course, not that he deserves it for this movie. I think he deserved it for The Big Lebowski in 1998.)

Morgan Freeman for Invictus (great, but not if it takes the slot from much worthier performances)

George Clooney for Up in the Air (YES! Of course he was going to be nominated but still.)

Colin Firth for A Single Man (Really? Julianne Moore owned that movie.)

Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker (great performance)

I would have picked: George Clooney for Up in the Air, Viggo Mortensen for The Road, Nicholas Cage for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Matt Damon for The Informant!, and Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker. Sam Rockwell deserves an honorary mention for Moon as does John Malkovich for Disgrace.

Best Leading Actress:

Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side (Glad to see they’re not going for higher ratings by nominating popular but shitty movies like I thought they would.)

Carrey Mulligan for An Education (At least if they’re nominating crap like The Blind Side they still honor great movies and great performances. Carey Mulligan deserves to win.)

Gabourey Sidibe for Precious (Very good performance but that movie belonged to Mo’Nique.)

Helen Mirren for The Last Station (Haven’t seen the movie so no comment.)

Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia (Gimme’ a break! Why does the Academy need to nominate Meryl Streep for everything. She’s a great actress and deserved an Oscar for Doubt but her performance in this movie was nothing extraordinary.)

I would have picked: Carey Mulligan for An Education, Cameron Diaz for The Box (it was a great performance), Zooey Deschanel for 500 Days of Summer, Gabby Sidibe for Precious, and Charlotte Gainsbourg for Antichrist.

Best Supporting Actor:

Stanley Tucci for The Lovely Bones (why not?)

Woody Harrelson for The Messenger (I thought the trend this year was to only nominate big movies.)

Matt Damon for Invictus (Does a Clint Eastwood movie have to be nominated just for the sake of being nominated. Maybe instead of nominating Morgan Freeman they could have nominated Damon for The Informant!, a performance he actually deserves recognition for.)

Christophe Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (I don’t care if he wins because the movie is popular. I just want him to win.)

Christopher Plummer for The Last Station (Again, I haven’t seen the movie so no comment.)

I would have picked: Christophe Waltz for Inglourious Basterds, Alfred Molina for An Education, Peter Capaldi for In the Loop, Kodi Smit-McPhee for The Road, and Woody Harrelson for The Messenger.

Best Supporting Actress:

Mo’Nique for Precious (Best performance of 2009.)

Maggie Gyllenhaal for Crazy Heart (Wtf? This is a surprise, but not a pleasant one. Julianne Moore deserves this spot.)

Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air (So happy)

Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air (I wish Mo’Nique, Anna Kendrick, and Vera Farmiga could all win.)

Penelope Cruz for Nine (Completely indifferent.)

I would have picked: Mo’Nique for Precious, Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air, Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air, Julianne Moore for A Single Man, and Imelda Staunton for Taking Woodstock.

And of course the Award everyone cares about…

Best Picture:

Up in the Air (obviously I’m happy. The best movie of 2009, one of the best movies of the decade, and maybe even my favorite movie ever made.)

The Hurt Locker (My second favorite movie of 2009.)

Precious (I’m not against it.)

Avatar (how this won Best Drama at the Golden Globes is beyond me. Hopefully the Academy will give the Oscar to the movie that deserves it instead of the movie with the highest gross.)

Inglourious Basterds (What balls to nominate this! Very happy about this.)

Those are the actual 5 Best Picture nominees (match it up with the nominees for Best Director) The next 5 (except for some) are needed to fill the slots and, well, bring in higher ratings:

An Education (Happy to see they don’t forget the actual great films, even if they aren’t big. Wish this movie, my fourth favorite of 2009, was in the top 5 instead of the filler inners.)

A Serious Man (Wow! Glad to see this movie nominated, even if it is as a filler.)

The Blind Side (WTF! This is for the higher ratings.)

District 9 (What did I say? Higher ratings! At least they chose this over Transformers.)

Up (Everyone realized that if there’s 10 nominees, Up will be one of them. I don’t care if this is a filler, I’m just glad it’s nominated. Maybe this means Fantastic Mr. Fox has a greater chance in the Best Animated Feature category. My sixth favorite movie of 2009.)

If you’re interested in the movies I would pick, just read my top 10 list of 2009. Now that there are 10 nominees, well, just read a top 10 list.

The real 5 Best Picture nominees are Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Up in the Air, Precious, and Inglourious Basterds. The way to find out is to see which directors were nominated because that usually correlates with the 5 nominees for Best Picture.

Best Films of the Decade

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:17:00 -0500

It's December 31, 2009 and at midnight we're in a new decade. It's the perfect time to name the best films of the past 10 years. The was a hard list to compile but I've chosen 20 wonderful pieces of cinema that, for me, are the most memorable and personal films I've seen in these 10 years. The list will start from #20 and work its way down to #1, which is of course the best.

20. Sin City

19. Spirited Away

18. Moulin Rouge

17. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

16. Brokeback Mountain

15. Good Night, and Good Luck

14. Frost/Nixon

13. Thank You For Smoking

12. The Wrestler

11. Little Miss Sunshine

10. Atonement

9. Mystic River

8. Minority Report

7. Children of Men

6. Pan's Labyrinth

5. There Will Be Blood

4. Slumdog Millionaire

3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2. Up in the Air (this movie should be #1, but let's allow it to stand the test of time before making rash decisions)

1. The Departed

Honorable Mention: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

I really want to name Up in the Air the best movie of the decade but I think it should stand the test of time first, but I do think personally that this is the best movie of the past 10 years and not just because it's fresh and new. I don't want to name it the best of the decade just yet because I want to make sure my love for it will still be the same after a year or two, and if so then it really is the best movie of the decade. Right now I want to name it the greatest movie ever made. At the moment, I genuinely think that it is in fact the greatest movie ever made. But last year I thought the same of Slumdog Millionaire but I calmed down after a couple months and was sensible (still a great film, but not the greatest ever made). At the moment, I can't imagine loving any movie more than Up in the Air, but I thought the same last year with Slumdog Millionaire. So let's see how I feel about Up in the Air in a year when the best movie of 2010 is in theaters. If I'm still so madly in love with it and obsessed with it, I'll post a revised list of the best of the decade. For now, I will be sensible by naming The Departed the best movie of the decade. But just be aware that my rashness and spontaneity (the side of me that usually dictates my decisions) calls for me to be honest with myslef and name Up in the Air the best movie of the decade. In a year, we'll see if is really genuine love or just spontaneity.

Were there better movies in this decade that I'm forgetting to mention? Probably. But I'm very sure of the top 10 movies. #11-20 is debatable and I might be able to make a few tweaks, but these are the movies that meant the most to me in the past 10 years. Disagree? Dissapointed not to see Mullholland Drive? I think that may be the most overrated movie of the decade. I have some unconventional picks, like Slumdog Millionaire or Up in the Air, but I did, and not for the sake of being original. I really do love those films that much and for me they stand as some of the past 10 years.

Happy New Year!

Year in Review: the Best and Worst of 2009

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:03:00 -0500

It is December 30, 2009, with only two days left to go in the year, so I thought it'd be appropriate to finally name the best movies of 2009. First, let me say that 2009 was a particularly balanced year in movies. There were the astonishingly great ones and the absolutely terrible ones, with too many in between. Was it a weak year? No. Was it a strong year? No. But almost every movie on my list of the best of 2009 would have been here even if it was one of the best movie years. Some of these are practically ties. I’ll begin my list from #10 down to #1, with #1 of course being the best.

10. Moon- With this brilliant little science fiction movie, first time director Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie) rediscovers hard sci-fi. There are no big action sequences and no epic battles, just heartbreaking and nuanced storytelling with a tour de force from Sam Rockwell. A second viewing is required to recognize just how carefully crafted it is. This is a movie for people who love to think during a film, instead of just stuffing their faces with popcorn.

9. The Informant!- This modest and intelligent comedy was being marketed as a ridiculous farce with Matt Damon as a caricature. But Steven Soderbergh’s much more complex human drama pulls at your heart or at least mine, since no one seems to agree with me. I found it to be an examination of the human psyche and ego. Matt Damon shines here as a bizarre but never cartoonish whistleblower. Soderbergh also delivers some very good shots using my favorite “coffee stain” look to give the movie a dreamlike texture. One of the most entertaining and thought provoking movies of the year.

8. Inglourious Basterds- When Quentin Tarrantino’s jaw dropping World War II epic came out, I was mesmerized. After rewatching my favorite films of the year, I'm enamored. This is a deliciously twisted and insane movie from the likes of the master of audacity himself, Quentin Tarantino. Christoph Waltz delivers one of the most memorable performances of the year as a completely bizarre SS Colonel, but the movie also features memorable performances from Brad Pitt and Melanie Laurent. The scene at the beginning validates Waltz’s praise and he deserves an Oscar. There was a scene or two I found unnecessary initially, but after seeing the film again I realized how smoothly it all went.

7. The Road- The most heartbreaking and powerful film of 2009 has been criminally underrated by all critics. I was shocked when it didn’t receive a nomination for Best Drama at the Golden Globes and when Viggo Mortensen barely received any praise for his Oscar worthy performance. I can’t understand how people were not touched by this harrowing and raw film. The performances are unbelievably authentic and the images are hauntingly beautiful. Definitely the most powerful film of the year.

6. Up- Perhaps Pixar’s best film, and when considering the pantheon of superior animated features from them, that’s really saying something. But shockingly, Up isn’t the best animated movie of the year. This is a gorgeous and visually stunning movie that, despite its fantastical premise, is one of the most authentic films of 2009. The montage at the beginning of the film chronicling the life of the main character and his beloved wife is simply one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in a movie. It has no dialogue and is only set to the lovely score from Michael Giaccino. Most romantic comedies can’t even get us to care about the characters for the entire movie, but Up does it with no dialogue in only a few minutes. What an achievement.

5. Fantastic Mr. Fox- In a year when Pixar has made their best film yet, it was still not better than Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. This is a beautiful film, but not in the same way as Up. This movie achieves its beauty because of its rough-hewn and retro simplicity. It perfectly captures the hipster/artsy/vintage charm. Done through the tedious process of stop-motion, every frame of Fantastic Mr. Fox bares the labor of love. This is a particularly funny and dark animated film that not only stands as the best animated film of 2009, but one of the best family films ever made.

4. An Education- Carrey Mulligan deserves an Oscar for her witty and memorable performance as Jenny, a schoolgirl in 1960’s London who begins an affair with a much older man. Though Mulligan is terrific, Alfred Molina, Peter Sarsgard, and Rosamund Pike all turn in fantastic work. For a while I was pretty sure An Education would stand as my favorite film of the year, but November and December delivered films that surpassed this one. Still, my love is unshaken for this perfect mixture of observant comedy and melancholy, thanks to a great script from Nick Hornby and vibrant direction from Lone Sherfig.

3. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans- The most bizarre and insane movie of the year and it’s genius. My first exposure to the work of Werner Herzog left an impression and I am eager to start watching his films. Nicholas Cage is mesmerizing as a corrupt and sadistic cop. On paper, you would never believe a man could be so cruel, but watching Cage is a true experience. He never goes too far even in a scene where it seems no one could pull it off convincingly. No clichés to be found here. This is unpredictable and brilliant and entertaining all the way.

2. The Hurt Locker- Kathryn Bigelow's tense and unbearably suspenseful war epic is not only the best film yet about the war in Iraq (not that there's much competition), but one of the greatest war films ever made. It is authentic and intelligent, showcasing the paranoia involved with going to war and the sense that you can lose everything in a second. There are some amazing and nerve racking action set pieces. No sentimentality. No clichés. Nothing but raw and poweful storytelling, aided by jaw-dropping filmmaking and powerful performances. Kathryn Bigelow deserves to stand up there on Oscar night to accept the Academy Award for Best Director. I was hesitant to name it the best movie of the summer when it came out, but after rewatching it, I have no doubt that is just that. If The Deer Hunter is the definitive war film about Vietnam, The Hurt Locker is that to the war in Iraq. This is the perfect action film.

1. Up in the Air- For anyone who reads my blog and reviews, this should come as no surprise. Up in the Air is the best movie of 2009, one of the best movies of the decade, and one of my favorite movies ever. It is perfect in every way. This is a movie of and for its time. Years from now when people want to experience what it was like to live in 2009, Up in the Air will be their time capsule. The acting, the soundtrack, the characters, the direction, and the screenplay…all perfect and developed and brilliant. I admit I may love this movie so much because I understand it so much on a personal level. No one can comprehend my insane love for it, but not everyone can understand the movie the way I can. I sensed the character and his emotions even when the audience isn’t supposed to. This is the movie of 2009 that I hold dear to my heart and obsess over for months. Nothing beats Up in the Air for me on a personal level. It is perfect, and I can’t imagine there being a better movie, maybe because a better movie just doesn’t exist.

Making this list was a tedious process because most of these came down to coin flips. How could I chose between Up and Fantastic Mr. Fox? Almost impossible. Up in the Air is solidly #1 and nothing comes close and the top 5 films were all easy to chose between but #6-10 were very difficult to pick and there were so many other great movies I wanted to include (Star Trek, Adventureland, (500) Days of Summer, Watchmen, I Love You, Man) but this is the list, and what a year it’s been. Sure it wasn’t great but this list, especially the top 5, qualify as superior motion pictures no matter what year they came out in. You'll notice some differences from my list of the best of the summer (Star Trek and Moon were tied for #1, Watchmen was #2, but Star Trek and Watchmen aren't even on this list), but after seeing them on DVD and seeing all the other great films this year, I couldn't find space for them and realized they weren't as good as I originally percieved. I hate when movies I love have to slip out, even if it means a better one comes in, and I hate when my opinion weakens about a movie. I want to honor all the great movies of any year. And yes, even though The Road is the most powerful movie of the year, I still think #6-1 are better. Being the most powerful movie of the year doesn't qualify it to be better than, oh say, an animated movie like Up.

I’ve been spoiled with movies so great as Up in the Air and The Hurt Locker, so if seeing the next ten terrible ones is the price I had to pay for seeing Up in the Air, it was worth it. Nevertheless, there are still the ten worst movies of the year. The format of this list is just like the one for the best movies of 2009, but that’s the only similarity.

10. Monsters vs. Aliens- 2009 has been a particularly magical year for animation, with Pixar releasing its best feature yet and an even better animated movie still came out, along with small animated films (Sita Sings the Blues and Mary and Max). Both Fantastic Mr. Fox and Up made my list of the best of 2009, and I guess for those two I had to sit through Monsters vs. Aliens, the worst animated movie of the year. This is a clichéd, generic, boring, and stupid exercise in mindless animation. The voice acting is uniformly bad, with Reese Witherspoon’s initially high voice being tweaked to inaudible squeakiness. And it was in 3D, so DreamWorks got to rip you off for the price of a regular ticket and the 3D glasses. Bravo. They made one of the worst movies of the year but got a nice check.

9. The Ugly Truth- A formulaic and particularly sexist romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl (and she said Knocked Up was sexist?!) and Gerard Butler in two strained and witless performances. It seems 2009 was a year when generally tired genres were reinvented, like animated films and romantic comedies and sci-fi. For animated there was Up, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Sita Sita Sings the Blues, and Mary and Max. For sci-fi there was Star Trek, Moon, and District 9 to an extent. For romantic comedies (500) Days of Summer, Adventureland, and Away We Go. But one has to still stick with the old trend. For animated there is of course Monsters vs. Aliens, for sci-fi there is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and for romantic comedies there is The Ugly Truth.

8. The Unborn- I guess it’s appropriate for one of the first movies of the year to be one of the worst movies of the year. The Unborn was one of the first movies I saw in 2009 and it was terrible. It features laughable set pieces intended to be scary, tired clichés like a face popping out in a mirror, and an awful script. Instead of being scared by this movie, I found myself laughing through it.

7. Fast and Furious- Loaded with clichés. The lame premise and the ludicrous action is all on display here. The performances are so bad it’s almost hard to believe that Michelle Rodriguez is capable of giving a decent performance. This is a movie made for the ignorant dumbass who will say, “hey man, at least the girls were hot.”

6. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen- Of course! From Fast and Furious to Transformers. How appropriate. Every single adolescent boy is orgasmic at the sight of Megan Fox and looks at you like you’re crazy if you say the movie is horrible. You should hear the replies I get. “Dude, Megan Fox is sooooooooo hot.” Michael Bay injects this dopey piece of shit with sexism, racism, and of course tons of explosion for the adolescent boy to cum in his pants. If Megan Fox didn’t do it, those explosions sure will.

5. X-Men Origins: Wolverine- As bad as it was, everyone forgets about X-Men Origins: Wolverine in favor of naming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen the worst movie of the summer. C’mon people, at least we all realized that the Michael Bay boom fest would be a piece of crap. We actually had expectations for this one. Wolverine conveniently stops aging when he looks like Hugh Jackman and makes the worst badass face possible. The ending is predictable and the story is clichéd. Notice a trend. Almost every movie on this list clichéd.

4. Bride Wars- The first movie I saw of 2009, and for a while I was pretty sure it would be the worst. But no. If you can believe it, there were actually worst movies to come out in 2009. This cartoonish and loud screwball comedy never rings true and features some of the most despicable characters of the year.

3. Old Dogs- I was pretty sure after the summer, the absolutely shitty ones were done with. Nope. Hollywood saved Old Dogs for the end of the year. Lucky for Friday the 13th, my hatred for Old Dogs is still fresh in my mind. Terrible acting from the kids, stupid slapstick, underdeveloped relationships…must I continue? The story is unbelievably sitcomish and cartoonish. After seeing it, I wanted to name it the worst movie of 2009. I put it into perspective and if you can believe it, it wasn’t that bad. But pretty close.

2. Powder Blue- No one saw it. Good for them. Powder Blue was the first movie of 2009 that beat Bride Wars as the worst of the year. But another came along. Still, this is the worst drama of the year, with two-dimensional characters and a terrible performance from Jessica Biel. It seemed like it was trying to be Crash, but there we actually cared about the characters. Here, everything is embarrassingly contrived and predictable. Contrivance was the only consistent thing throughout Powder Blue.

1. All About Steve- The worst of the worst of 2009. All About Steve beat out every movie this year for this spot. This is the loudest and creepiest movie of the year with an overwhelmingly annoying and creepy performance from Sandra Bullock. I hated this character and rooted against her instead of for her. Tornados? Three-legged babies? Deaf kids falling into mine shafts? Wtf? Everyone is over-the-top in this cartoon about a stalker meant to be seen as a plucky heroine in the worst movie of 2009.

Now for the smaller things…

Performance of the year: It comes down to Mo’Nique and Viggo Mortensen but I think I will go with Mo’Nique for her heart wrenching performance in Precious. The reasoning behind this is simple: Though both gave complex and memorable performances, Mo’Nique was dealt a tougher task. She had to be a horrible human being while still being convincing and not taking it overboard. She did this flawlessly. She was chilling and terrible, but at the same time painfully human.

Best Score: Tough one. There is Marvin Hamlisch’s for The Informant!, Hans Zimmer’s for Sherlock Holmes, among others, but I think the best is Carter Burwell’s score for Where the Wild Things Are, mostly because it is the most memorable out of all of these.

Best Original Song: It comes down to “Help Yourself” from Up in the Air and “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart (the guy who actually wrote and performed the song "The Weary Kind" is named Ryan Bingham, which is the name of the main character in Up in the Air). Sure, Up in the Air is my favorite movie of the year, but “Help Yourself” isn’t the best original movie song of the year because of that. It’s offbeat and memorable, as is “The Weary Kind.” But there is something special about “Help Yourself.” And yes, it belongs to my favorite movie of the year.

Best Action Sequence: I might be Avatar’s harshest critic, but I give credit where credit is due. The epic finale of the movie was breathtakingly exciting, especially in real IMAX 3D.

Most Disappointing Film: I want to say District 9 (it was actually a good movie, I just think it got conventional in the final act) but without a doubt it’s Avatar. So much money was put into making such a predictable and corny movie with mediocre special effects. I don’t get what all the hype is about. The Na’vi look extremely computerized, unlike the aliens in District 9, which was made on a modest budget of $30 million. Avatar wasn’t bad, but it comes down to everything you imagined it to be and everything it turned out not to be. Groundbreaking? Not even close.

Most Overrated Movie of the Year: Avatar again. Everyone is talking about this movie and calling it a groundbreaking and innovative achievement. I’ve argued again and again that the special effects look too computerized and the story is overwhelmingly corny. They communicate with trees and dragon with their ponytails! The movie had its strengths, but nothing to merit such high praise.

Most Underrated Movie of the Year: How anyone can not be moved by The Road is beyond me. This is a heartbreaking and powerful movie that received mediocre reviews.

WTF?! Movie: The Coen Brothers have made some weird ass films but nothing beats A A Serious Man. I still don’t know what it was about and my theory as to the craziness in the movie is probably not even correct (I’ll return to that when the movie has been out for a while).

Best Compilation Soundtrack: Up in the Air without a doubt. You can accuse me of favoritism but there are so many songs on this terrific soundtrack that you just want to listen to over and over again. “Angel in the Snow” by Elliot Smith, “Genova” and “The Snow Before Us” by Charles Atlas, and of course “Help Yourself” by Sad Brad Smith. And sure, it’s my favorite movie of the year.

2009 was also a year of healthcare debates, growing anger towards Fox News (thank god), the Yankees, Tiger Woods (who gives a shit?), Octomom, Michael Jackson’s death, balloon hoax boy, Avatar, and iPhones. And of course Up in the Air (I wish). In a few days, we’ll be in 2010, and we’ll be here next year reviewing it. There’s a sense of melancholy, breeziness, happiness, liberation, and closure associated with something like this. You look back, reflect, and give your opinion. It’s sort of a way of saying goodbye to 2009 and living in the now while looking back at the past. See you next year.

My meandering blog entry about "Up in the Air"

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:17:00 -0500

I am insanely and madly in love with Up in the Air. It is the best movie of 2009 and one of my favorite films ever. I noticed a trend on Rotten Tomatoes that may indicate that Up in the Air may in fact win the Best Picture Oscar. It seems most of the Best Picture winners have an average rating of over 8.0. Before, I thought Precious was the front runner for Best Picture, but the hype has slowed down and its average rating is 7.9. Its edge over Up in the Air is the approval percentage, which is currently 91 percent. Up in the Air has an average rating of 8.1, with an approval percentage of 89 percent. However, the approval percentage for Up in the Air constantly dances between 89 and 91, and it still has a hugher average rating. Just a couple days ago (yes, I check) it was 91, now its 89, with more people seeing it and a backlash forming. In a few days, it will most likely be back in the 90’s range.

I can’t stop thinking and talking about Up in the Air. All my readers see is my raving review. They haven’t been with me for the past month since I saw it, listening to me yap on and on abut it. I was insanely excited for it for months. This just seemed like my type of movie. The protagonist seemed like me, in the way he acts and feels (I’m not self-obsessed so don’t get the wrong idea when I say I’m like Ryan Bingham). I just tend to relate to protagonists like this, like Nick Naylor (another Jason Reitman character). They’re smooth-talking cynics who see the world in a peculiar way and have outlooks that make perfect sense to me. I can identify with them. I can picture myself in those shoes, as a Jason Reitman character. I’m not saying I’m some hot shit but, you know, I have too much self-esteem (like Nick Naylor and Ryan Bingham). I can, in a self-assured tone, talk like these characters and defend them. In my head, Jason Reitman sat down and wrote me and I’m headed for some job that requires moral flexibility (I imagine my life as a movie like Up in the Air. See, too much self-esteem). What I’ve noticed is that no critic or audience member understands Ryan. Roger Ebert wrote in his review that, “ George Clooney plays Bingham as one of those people you meet but never get to know. They go through all the forms, and know all the right moves, and you're “friends,” but — who's in there?” That’s the thing. I do know who’s in there. I understand him perfectly and I identify with him. I assume the same is in me, if I can so easily picture myself in those shoes, making those decisions, and understanding him when he’s not meant to be understood (that, or I just have too much self-esteem). I don’t understand him as a person around him, but as him. I suppose that’s why Jason Reitman’s films (excluding Juno) mean so much to me, especially on such a personal level.

I just remembered that I started the previous paragraph with a different thought. Let’s get back to that. “I was insanely excited for it for months.” Yes, I was. And yes, because it seemed like my type of movie and for everything I just wrote. So when Up in the Air was released in Manhattan on December 4, 2009, I couldn’t wait that long see it until it was in wide release. I was so excited that I was practically orgasmic the week before it came out in limited release. I saw it in its very first weekend, and it was a great experience that I haven’t stopped thinking about since I saw it on December 5, 2009. I still devote most of my day to daydreaming about Up in the Air and replaying it in my head. I can’t wait to see it again. I’m saving up money and skipping school I can get it on DVD the day it comes out. That’s how much I love this movie. I can’t even begin to get over it. The moronic backlash is whatever. I don’t care. I love Up in the Air. There is no way any movie can ever substitute it. It is solidly the best movie of 2009. No other movie comes close. I’m trying to keep myself from naming it the best movie of the decade. I’m trying to convince myself that I’m so in love with it because it just came out, but the closer I get to posting my list of the best of decade, Up in the Air keeps climbing its way to number 1. Last year, I probably would have said Slumdog Millionaire is the best movie of the decade. Now, I’m just as obsessed with Up in the Air. The usual symptoms are there, and this happens every year around this time. I downloaded a lot of songs from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack to my iPod and listened to them non-stop. Now the same is happening with Up in the Air. I replayed Slumdog Millionaire over and over in my head, and now it’s happening with Up in the Air. However, I could never relate to Jamal Malik in the way I can relate to Ryan Bingham. With my lists of the best of 2009 and the decade coming out in a week, Up in the Air will stand as the movie. I’m not so sure about my list of the best of the decade, but there is no way it won’t be number 1 for the best of 2009, and there is no way that it won’t be on my list for the best of the decade as something. Maybe not number 1, but definitely in the top 5 (or maybe number 1).

If I haven’t conveyed how much I love Up in the Air by now, I’m not sure I can. When a movie is so dear and personal to me, only I can understand how much I love it. And sometimes I can’t even explain it to myself. I just get that feeling. This blog is more for me than for you. It’s sort of my way to rationalize and sort out my feeling for the movie. You may not understand what I’m saying, but try to sort of sense it. I envision my life as a Jason Reitman movie in the vein of Up in the Air, so perhaps I hold myself in great respects. After all, is any regular person as smooth talking and suave as Ryan Bingham? I like to think that I am. But we view ourselves from a perch that glamorizes us. You don’t see me from where I see myself. From where I sit, this is a poetic and philosophical blog entry to the tune of a song from Up in the Air. From where you sit, it might just be the confessions of a pretentious and lame 15-year-old. I personally think I’m hot shit :). Yes, I did just type a smiley face. I’m likely to type many more blog entries about this movie, and yes, they’ll all most likely be about the same thing. I’m trying though. Right now as I’m typing this, I’m listening to “Help Yourself” from Up in the Air (told you I’m obsessed) and trying to figure out a proper way to conclude this blog entry. I don’t know how. I can guarantee you that I will see this movie many more times in theaters, even when I should probably be watching as many new movies as possible before the new year. I don’t care though. Seeing Up in the Air again is worth missing A Single Man and Crazy Heart. I’ll still see those two, but for the past few weeks, every time I’ve went to the movies (Brothers, Invictus, Avatar etc.) all I’ve thought about is Up in the Air. That does not mean I wasn’t paying attention to the movie at hand, but Up in the Air just means more to me and is better in every way. I saw Avatar at a theater where Up in the Air is playing, and all I wanted to do was go to the auditorium playing it and watch that, even if it meant I missed out on Avatar. But I forced myself to sit in my seat because first of all, I paid to see it in real IMAX 3D. And also because I have to be professional, even if I’m 15. My gooey personal feelings are meant for my blog, which you are boring yourself with right now.

I started writing this blog entry about Rotten Tomatoes and its trends. Then I got carried away into far different territory. Now I will force myself to stop typing this meandering blog entry, even if I don’t have a satisfying conclusion.

Snowstorm might affect "Avatar" at the box office...and my chances of seeing it

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:49:00 -0500

About a week ago I preordered tickets to Avatar in IMAX 3D. I could’ve seen it on opening day and gone to one of the so-called IMAX screens, but I chose to go the only real IMAX screen in Manhattan. The only showing that wasn’t sold out was 10:30 am on Sunday morning (that showing is actually sold out now too. I checked today just to satisfy my curiosity). Friday and Saturday were all sold out. So my review of Avatar was going to have to be posted on opening weekend instead of opening day. Oh well. Maybe seeing it on a Friday or Saturday night would’ve heightened the experience, but you know what else heightens the experience? A REAL IMAX SCREEN. Now I can view and review the movie the way James Cameron intended it to be seen. The so-called IMAX screen on Sheepshead Bay is just a slightly bigger theater screen, not a dome like on Broadway. So, it’s worth the wait. But I might not even be able to see it tomorrow.

Many of you have heard of the giant snowstorm heading for the East Coast (I’m actually staring at the snow right now) and walking to the subway, and then walking to the theater, might be a very difficult task. The N line might be delayed, and even if it isn’t, how am I supposed to walk all those blocks in 13 inches of snow. I might get lucky and the snow won’t be that severe and the roads will be cleaned and the subway tracks will be cleared, but I’m just explaining why my Avatar review might not come this weekend. I’m hoping I can go. I’ve been excited for a couple weeks now, but I’m not sure if it will be doable.

In fact, there are a few articles on the web (one is on MSN I believe) explaining that Avatar’s box office gross may be hurt by the snow storm. Sucks to be James Cameron. The guy spent $300 million, or whatever the budget was (the reported figures range from $250 million to over $300 million), and because of a stinkin’ snow storm his movie might do averagely at the box office.

If I do actually see Avatar tomorrow, my review should be up by the afternoon. If it isn’t, you can assume that I couldn’t go because of the snow.

If I don’t see it tomorrow, I have no idea when I will. There are so many movies to see over the next couple of weeks and the holidays are coming up. This snowstorm just made the next two weeks of my life even more hectic.

"For Your Consideration" madness

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:49:00 -0500

Oscar season has officially begun…and so have the "For Your Consideration” ads. Every year big studios push movies that have been garnering buzz. I always look forward to seeing the ads in Variety and on the web. This year, I’m just pissed off. Thanks to the ridiculous announcement that the Academy will be expanding the Best Picture category to 10 slots instead of 5, every studio is rounding up their junk and touting it as Oscar bait. If you don’t believe the severity, Paramount Pictures has launched an Awards campaign for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. WHAT THE FUCK! I refuse the write “WTF” when one of the worst movies of the year is actually being pushed as an Oscar contender. I clicked on the link and they’re not pushing it for technical achievements, but for Best Picture and Best Director.

If you look through my blog entries, one should be titled “WTF Sid Ganis?!?!” In it, I wrote, sarcastically of course, that if they want higher ratings they might as well nominate Transformers. Well apparently the assholes at Paramount were inspired to give it a try. If they want an Awards darling, maybe they shouldn’t have postponed Shutter Island. Besides, they have Up in the Air and The Lovely Bones. Why roll out Transformers? Some people may actually be angered, but I’m happy they’re pushing Star Trek for the Oscars.

It’s not just Paramount, even though their campaign is by far the most ridiculous. Warner Brothers is actually touting It’s Complicated, that terrible looking Meryl Streep romantic comedy, and The Hangover. I like The Hangover, but Oscars? Get real.

Universal is actually campaigning for Funny People and Bruno to get Best Picture nominations, among other categories. These are good movies but not Awards-caliber.

On the other hand, there have been some tasteful and creative campaigns for Where the Wild Things Are, Invictus, Up in the Air, The Informant!, Precious, and A Serious Man. I want to see campaigns for The Road and An Education or do you mean to tell me that Paramount has enough confidence in Transformers but the Weinsteins and Sony Pictures Classics don’t believe that their two masterpieces have potential.

This season is hectic, with great movies coming out every weekend and only a month left in 2009, but some of these campaigns are just ridiculous. If the Academy does what they do every year, which is honoring quality motion pictures, then next year studios will realize that ten slots doesn’t mean looking through the crappiest crap. If the Academy makes this year’s Oscars into a cheap ceremony only interested in attracting younger viewers, then they might as well nominate New Moon (oops, hope I didn’t jinx anything). If they begin to take these campaigns for Transformers seriously, they will lose their target group. Film critics and film fanatics, people who count on the Academy to recognize superior cinema, will write off this tradition. I will too. The Oscars is my favorite day of the year. It actually means something to me and has a special place in my heart. I will never watch another Oscars ceremony if ten slots means Transformers has a place next to the decades of superb films nominated for Best Picture.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:46:00 -0500

So it’s Thanksgiving Weekend and everything’s great! For those who think I have no life because I posted two reviews today, ummm…I don’t know, go give thanks and screw yourselves. I saw The Private Lives of Pippa Lee a while back, so all I had to do was post my review which was saved on my computer. And then yes people, today on Thanksgiving Day I left my family for a couple hours and went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox. I should feel like a total asshole right now, but the showing was at 10:05 am. Who stuffs a turkey that early? I got back around noon and my family was just starting to cook.

My plans for this weekend…ummmm, good times. I’m at my house in Brooklyn so since I am in New York, time to stack up on those limited released. This weekend I would have done so anyway because of The Road, but it’s a four day weekend so I have more free time. Today I saw Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was great by the way, and tomorrow I am seeing Bad Lieutenant while my grandparents see An Education at the same theater in Manhattan. As much as I would love to see An Education again, I really want to try to see movies I haven’t yet seen. Plus, I really want to see Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant. But I think the centerpiece of my weekend, despite of course eating a lot of turkey with the greatest stuffing ever, is seeing The Road with a couple of my friends at the Landmark on Saturday night.

So I enjoy going to the movies a lot. Sue me. All weekend I’m with my family and I’m seeing movies. To me, there’s nothing better. And so far, I’ve seen a great one. Let’s see if Friday and Saturday promise great films as well.

This weekend I’m sure you’ll rush to theaters see crap like Old Dogs and the slightly less crappy New Moon. People! Listen to me, see Fantastic Mr. Fox, see An Education if you live in the city, see Precious. And as for Precious, it’s now playing wide so you have no excuse not to see a great film. I personally can’t wait to see The Road on Saturday.

As for Black Friday, not my thing. I don't see the appeal in behaving like an animal and tackling housewives for a microwave.

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!

I was wrong and I admit it

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:36:00 -0500

I have seen Precious and I admit I was horrendously wrong. It’s a terrific movie. Not a masterpiece, but very good. If you’re someone like me who saw the trailer and felt like puking, trust me, Precious is nothing like the trailer. The surplus amount of tragedies in her life (being pregnant from her own father twice!) tie in naturally instead of feeling awkward and like they’re only there to exaggerate. See Precious as soon as you can.

Enough already

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:17:00 -0500

Several weeks ago when I reviewed the sleeper hit Paranormal Activity, the movie was huge. Now, in the beginning of November, it’s starting to become popular out of proportion. I saw the movie in the middle of October, when it had just been released wide and had done wonders at the box office. Now, the viral phenomenon is just becoming annoying. There is an article involving Paranormal Activity on MSN at least once a week. One of them involved people searching for an obituary for Micah Sloat, one of the protagonists of PA. I understand that every so often a movie comes along that instantly embeds itself in pop culture, only to eventually fade away and become annoying (Borat in 2006 for example), but the brilliant marketing campaign that made PA so unique is now becoming redundant.

The first I ever heard of PA was when I saw a poster for it on Apple Trailers. I wasn’t interested enough to click on the link but I did notice it. Then, I started hearing about the movie being sold out at midnight screenings and doing great in New York and Los Angeles during its limited release. Very soon, the first TV ads started appearing, using that ingenious marketing campaign. I thought it was very original and clever that people could actually go online and click a “Demand It” button. Yes, for a while PA was intriguing. After not just weeks, but already over a month of hype, I’m starting to get tired of just hearing the title. Just this past week The Fourth Kind was released (I have not seen it so no comment) and I saw headers online reading, “Is it the next Paranormal?"

All the reviews of The Fourth Kind make some kind of reference to PA. By the time the film is released on DVD, people will most likely get tired of hearing about it too.

This leads me to my next annoyance. As I have stated in my review and in this blog entry several times, the marketing campaign is pure genius. Now it’s becoming overkill. There’s an article on Fandango saying that people who submit there names on the movie’s website might get there name included on the DVD release. WTF! Don’t you think they might be overdoing just a bit? Instead of pushing the movie in people’s faces, let them discover it. It’s impossible to go on Rotten Tomatoes without seeing an article mentioning PA. Every chance they get, Paramount finds a new way to push the “little scream fest that could.” It’s already insanely profitable! It’s probably the best investment in movie history! $15,000 dollars returns $100 million! Give it a rest!

And the movie isn’t even that great. I wouldn’t mind if An Education, a movie exponentially better than PA, finally started getting some mainstream attention.

I don’t know about you, but I am personally growing tired of Paranormal Activity being the topic of every conversation.

Critics are now obsessed with "Precious." Yuck!

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:42:00 -0500

So a little movie called Precious (stuck with a clunky subtitle) is coming out this weekend and has everybody raving. I personally think the movie looks like a total piece of shit. It seems exploitative, sappy, self-pitiful, and melodramatic. I don’t want to see a movie that exploits its characters. For Christ Sake! The main character is illiterate, horrendously overweight, pregnant with her second child from her own effin’ father, abused by her mother, and…oh I don’t know what’s the next worst thing. Lee Daniels had to make this the most tragic girl in the history of movies too get sympathy but it just seems like crap. She couldn’t just be pregnant? She had to be pregnant from her own dad?

To be fair, I won’t denounce Precious offhand. As you might’ve guessed by now, I’m not too enthusiastic about this movie and I haven’t even seen it. So this is the deal. I live in New York on the weekends and New Jersey during the week. Movies in limited release always open in New York, but I’m definitely not going to waste a Saturday in Manhattan seeing Precious. Since producers Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are strongly pushing this film for Oscar consideration, the movie will definitely open wide in the next few weeks. So, if Precious opens in one of the theaters next to my house in New Jersey or in a theater not too far from my house in New York, I’ll see the damn movie. If Precious will only be playing in Manhattan, I’d rather go see something in limited release that I’m actually excited for. New Jersey will likely be playing it at the Lowes in Edison and if so, I’ll see it. I’m not going to go out o my way to see this.

Who knows? It might be a great movie, but I highly doubt that. It’s just another sappy movie about poor black people who blame whites for everything. Sorry if I’m not rushing to the subway to see it in Union Square.

This is my stand on Precious. In the meantime, I’m focused on seeing the wide releases, hopefully catching some limited releases on the weekends in New York, and passing Math class. Highschool is a bitch so I have a ton of work to do but I still make sure I see at least two movies a week. Is Precious really worth it? If all I have to do is bug someone for a ride to Edison, then no problem. If on the weekend I have to get a ride to Park Slope and meet my friend to go to Union Square, no way. I’d rather go to the Landmark on Houston St. and ponder the meaning of A Serious Man.