Mystery in the Ozarks

I have completed my quest to watch all 10 Best Picture nominees for the Academy Awards by watching "Winter's Bone" on Demand today.

• Jennifer Lawrence was great.  I liked her toughness.  (This seems to be a theme for the actresses that I like this year).  She is going to be an interesting Mystique in "X-Men: First Class".
• Gangs in the Ozarks do not look at all like the gangs over here in So Cal.
• So only females can beat up other females.  Well, that's nice, I guess.  How about just NOT beating them up?  I guess that's not allowed in gangs.  Never mind.
• I kind of want to know if "Teardrop" is that guy's real name.  Like Sodapop.
• That little Ashlee is toooo cute.  I love the way she loves animals.  Except for that dead squirrel.  I think she wanted to be the one to do what her brother did not feel like doing.
• I hope that all service recruiters are as honest as the one that talked to Ree.
• I was worried that they were going to drown Ree in that water.
• More cutting off of limbs, but this was less painful.  Still....eeew.
• I really enjoyed the score, especially the songs that Meredith Sisco performed.
• "I'd be lost without the weight of you two on my back.  I'm not going anywhere."

Well done movie.  I realize that I've watched two movies with drugs as an underlying theme in one week.  That's depressing.  I think that I need to watch some really happy movie soon that has nothing to do with drugs or cutting off of body parts.  That should cheer me up.

Stuck

Yesterday, I went to the theater to see "127 Hours".  

• The story is set in the canyons of Utah, one of my favorite natural places in the world. Bryce Canyon is my particular favorite, because I remember visiting it as a teenager, and our good times there.  It's also just beautifully unique.  The movie wanted me to explore Utah more, but, you know, not by myself.  Gorgeous cinematography.
• James Franco did a great job.  I usually don't care one way or another if he's involved in a project, and then when I see it, he's outstanding.  This was another one of those times.
• Yay, Amber Tamblyn!  Love her, and she was way cute.
• "We squeeze."
• OK, I totally thought that the thunderstorm was for real, even after I realized that his getting loose was a vision.  He woke up, and I was, like, "Oh, he didn't get more water?!"
• "It needs to be chilled.  Like Sauvignon Blanc."
• My favorite part of the recordings he was making has got to be the talk show scene.
• I wasn't really understanding the image with the couch at the time it was happening.  I was thinking, "Are those dead people?"  Then I realized at the end that they were all *waiting* for him to get out of there.  
• The vision of the kid and its effect on Aron just floored me.  
• I was aware of the story beforehand, and was a little bit worried about the arm scene, so I made sure to bring a sweatshirt to cover my face if it got too gross for me.  I ended up watching that whole scene,  through tears, anyway.  I think I cried from the first moment of that scene until the end of the credits.  It totally helped that I knew that it had actually happened to Mr. Ralston.  I mean, the dude BROKE his OWN ARM so he could get through the arm with that dull tool!  Then the soundtrack playing when he tried to cut the nerve?  Oh, geez, I'm going to cry again.

OK, so that was crazy good.  I highly recommend it to just about anyone except those that faint at the sight of fake-blood-that-actually-happened-in-real-life.

One more to go!

Just OK

I wasn't able to catch "The Kids Are All Right" in the theaters, so I watched it on Demand this weekend.

• Ooh, I didn't know that Mia was in this movie!  She's such a great actress, and did a good job here, too.  
• I don't get why so many people think that Mark Ruffalo is sexy, but OK.  I think he's good-looking, but sexy?  Really?  Is it the motorcycle and the leather?
• "Well, HELLO!"
• Way too many gratuitous sex scenes.  I get it: their sex is wild.  I get it: they need to watch gay male porn because the female porn is less authentic.  I get it, OK?  Could you not fill the movie with more, oh, I don't know, something ELSE?  Did we *need* to see all of that? Aside from those of you out there that love Ms. Moore's and Mr. Ruffalo's naked bodies?
• I liked that scene wherein Nic and Paul are singing the Joni Mitchell song.  I'm not familiar with the repertoire, but I liked that.
• A note for those of you that are having affairs:  if your spouse is going to visit the house of your mistress/mister (?), perhaps one of you should thoroughly scour the place for evidence of your getting busy-ness before the spouse arrives.  
• The gardener's grinning was weird.
• I thought that the best part of this movie was Annette Benning's performance.  She had the range of he emotions, but did them subtly.  
• I was ready to turn off the movie if Laser had actually let his friend pee on the dog.
• Let me get this: two gay women who raised their children with their children knowing about the acceptance of homsexuality in the home, were concerned that their son wasn't telling them if he was gay?  Really?

OK, I am clearly not in the league with all of the people that praise this movie to the point of getting it nominated for Best Picture.  Unlike with the other movie that I purchased on Demand a couple of weeks ago, I did not keep this one for the entire rental time, and actually deleted it before the credits were over.

Ring Brothers

I had an hour to go before my next movie, so I went shopping at DSW.  I bought a pair of navy blue shoes, which made me happy,  This should surprise nobody.


The second film in yesterday's double feature was "The Fighter". 

• I was told that this wasn't so much of a boxing movie as it was a movie about family.  I wouldn't have minded watching a boxing movie anyway, since I have liked a few of them, but I wonder now if ANY boxing movie is just a boxing movie.  I think that they're pretty much all about overcoming adversity.  Oh, wait.  That's sports movies.  Well, boxing is a sport, so that works.
• Christian Bale is not handsome as a drug addict.  But he's still got those awesome lips, so I'm good with that.  He did an amazing job here, as usual.  I heart him, Method and all.
• Mark Wahlberg was great in this movie as well.  I don't think that he does the Method thing, so I'm hoping that the little paunch of a stomach they showed in the mirror after he got his cast taken off was not his actual stomach.  Perhaps Marky Mark had an abs double for that scene.
• There were a couple of shots of Wahlberg's profile wherein he really looked a lot like his brother, Donnie.  Like I thought that his profile was actually Donnie's.
• I wasn't supposed to like Melissa Leo's character, right?  Because I really didn't like her.  I wanted to slap the hell out of her.
• The scenes with the sisters made me giggle every time, mostly due to the hair.  OMG, the hair should have been noted as a supporting cast to the supporting cast!  Do they all travel together like that in the one car all of the time?!
• I think that Wahlberg probably felt really comfortable with that huge family.  I believe that he came from a family of 9 himself.  I have no clue about their hair, though.
• So THAT'S what a crack house looks like.
• I loved Amy Adams in this movie.  It's nice to see her play such a strong character, and she does it really well.
• Sugar Ray Leonard!  That's from when I used to watch boxing sometimes.  I kind of remember Eklund's name, but not Ward's.  
• Boxing/Family/Sports movies make me cry.

I was a bit of a wreck after that one, too.  But I bought 2 new pairs of boots at Aerosoles on clearance and was happy again.

Braided

I got off of work early yesterday, so I made a double feature of myself at  the Arclight in Pasadena.  Between and after the films, I got some shoes.  So it was a good day!


The first film for the day was "True Grit".  Ooh, I like the song on the website!  I don't remember it from the film, though.  I also wish I could stop it from playing so that I can listen to other stuff.  I never saw the John Wayne version, but it was on one of the movie channels when I got home.  I decided not to watch the original in the same day.  Perhaps I will at another time, so that I could compare the two.   

• Hailee Steinfeld was absolutely incredible.  I loved her performance, and wished that I could have as much moxie as her character when I was 14.
• "Are we trading again?"
• I did not really remember the trailers for the movie, so I had completely forgotten that Josh Brolin was in it.  When his character appeared on the screen, I still did not know the actor.  I did not know who it was until the credits.  Was it the black hair?  Whatevs.  He will always be a Goonie to me.
• My friends had told me about the credit for "Matt Damon's Abs Double", but I had forgotten about it when I watched the film, so I forgot to look for a scene in which we would spot his abs.  I do not remember one.  APPARENTLY, the abs double is Ethan Coen's son, Buster.
• So in the old days they did not use contractions?
• Jeff Bridges was awesome.  I loved Rooster's relationship with Mattie, and surprised myself at the end when I was weeping at the love that the old codger had developed for his new friend.  I think I wept from the moment that he sucked the venom out of the snake bite until the very end.  I did not expect that to happen to me, despite my notoriety of crying at everything.
• I loved Matt Damon's portrayal as the Texas Ranger, especially his pride in being a ranger.  Now that I think about it, it reminds me of Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear, and the way he announces himself as a Space Ranger.
• I do not like it when horses die.
• Am I the only one that now wants to go skeet shooting with discs of cornbread?
• I totally giggled at the guy with the bear fur.
• "You must pay for everything in this world, one way or another.  There is nothing free except the grace of God."

I really enjoyed this movie.  I think that I want to read the original story by Charles Portis.

Enunciate!

I had some extra free time the other day, so I celebrated by walking to the movie theater and watching "The King's Speech".

• Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth reciting Shakespeare...in a Weinstein film! Those of you that know my favorite movie must know why I grinned widely at those moments.  (Sigh.  I miss Joseph).
• I like seeing HBC as a non-scary person, although I was scared of her when I first saw her, because it's kind of a reflex for me.
• I enjoyed all of the jabs at Australia being a colony of Britain.
• So I'm staring at Guy Pearce, wondering if he's "that Guy guy" that I loved in "L.A. Confidential" and other stuff.  Why did I doubt myself when his cheekbones and jawline are so....HIM?
• Yay, Michael Gambon!  There really should have been some magic in this movie, seeing as he and HBC were in it.  Oh, but then she would have been scary.  Never mind.
• I think it's great that Lionel's last name is "Logue".  What a perfect name for a speech therapist.  To borrow from "Seinfeld"'s Kramer, "That's like an ice cream man named 'Cone'!"
• Through much of the movie, I thought to myself, "I miss London.  I want to live there."  and then Logue was dismissed into the pouring rain, and I stopped thinking that.
• "And up goes Her Royal Highness...and down goes Her Royal Highness."
• "Kinging":  I like that word.  I wish I could say I've been busy "Sherrying".  Wait.  That might sound like I've been drinking.  Oh, OK, I'll take it.
• I love the scene in which Logue encourages Bertie to curse.  This should surprise absolutely nobody.  "F...f...fornication?"
• I also loved the scene wherein Myrtle finds out exactly who her husband's client has been all this time.

Inspiring story, great acting, loved this movie.

Feathered

On Super Bowl Sunday, I went to see "Black Swan".

• I've never actually seen "Swan Lake", but I'm familiar with Tchaikovsky's piece.  Now I want to see the whole ballet.
• I was creeped out by the mother from the first moment she helped take off Nina's earrings.
• I was also kind of creeped out by the excess of pink and cute stuffed toys in Nina's room.  She needs some Gloomy Bear.  Ooh, that would have been cool:  show her room at the end, and maybe there's a Gloomy and a couple of Skelanimals in there.  
•  I had to search imdb.com to find out what movie it was in which I first saw Vincent Cassel:  "Elizabeth".  That's why I already didn't like him, because he was the French jerk in that movie.  
• It took her drunken outburst for me to recognize Winona Ryder.  Is that a good thing?
• Natalie Portman was outstanding in this movie.  The accolades for her are well-deserved.
• Mila Kunis was excellent, too.  Was she trying to sabotage Nina?  And why the heck was she taking off her underwear as soon as she joined Nina in the bathroom?  She didn't even go into the stall.  I thought she really had to go.  What was up with that craziness?
• Was I the only one that saw those wings coming from the first view of her scratched-up shoulder blade?
• I'm glad that I never became a ballet dancer.  I'd be the perfectionist type, and would probably have an eating disorder.
• I'm really glad I saw this movie in the daytime, because I would have been afraid to walk home by myself in the dark, risking a sighting of my evil twin.

Good movie, although I wouldn't recommend it for people who like mainstream movies, due to the psychosexual nature of it.  

Like

All rested from the cruise (yes, I know I have a LOT of writing to do!), this weekend I started my annual quest to watch all of the films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.  So expect a lot of movie reviews, since I had only seen two of them prior to the nomination announcement.


On Friday/Saturday, I saw "The Social Network" on demand from DirecTV.  I had never gotten around to seeing it in the theater as I had planned, and this was convenient for me.

• LOVED this movie.  Saw it three times, partly because I only had 24 hours to watch it and I was getting my money's worth, but mostly because I really, really liked it.
• I love Aaron Sorkin's machine-gun writing style, so this was right up my alley.  It made me miss The West Wing.  I've realized that I'm a sucker for a well-written screenplay.
• Jesse Eisenberg had quite the amazing dialog to recite.  He did it well, and acted perfectly well as the self-serving Mark Zuckerman.
• I also enjoyed Andrew Garfield's performance as the betrayed Eduardo.  Dude, I was pissed off right along with you, but I wouldn't have done that with the account.
• Ooh, Justin Timberlake, you sleazeball.  OK, the character Sean Parker, not actually you.  You're still awesome.
• I like the very simple piano score, with that underlying techno-sounding background.  Who knew that Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor could be that understated?
• Whoa!  You can download the screenplay on the site?!
• "The internet isn't written in pencil, Mark.  It's written in ink."
• I read a great comment by "buttercup" on the Entertainment Weekly site about what the film meant to the commenter, and I completely agree.  I wish that I was as eloquent as that person.  In essence, the movie is great at showing the irony of Zuckerman's story.  There he is, just wanting to make an emotional connection with a girl, and build up a status in his community, but lashes out at both.  Instead of making that connection for himself, he establishes a company that has prompted millions of people to connect with those they love/like/want to know, just by providing them with the features that he always wanted.  Relationship status?  Likes/dislikes?  Sharing pictures?  Wow.  What an incredible vision the FB folks have.  Yet is the personal connection, the emotion there?  It's what you make of it.
• No, the entire story is not exactly true-to-life, but I like the way that it was written and portrayed in the film.  I'm fine with allowing for Dramatic License.
• And the Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth.  Congratulations, young billionaires.

Don't see this film based on whether or not you like Facebook, because it's not about FB.  See it based on whether or not you'd like to see a well-written, well-acted story about relationships vs. business.  I hope this is shown on HBO soon, so I can catch more of that amazing script.  Oh, wait.  I can just read it online!