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Showing posts from January, 2011

Review: The King's Speech.

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T-T-Today, Jr. King George VI (Colin Firth) has dealt with a stammer for the majority of his life. He's deemed unfit to give speeches, and most of all, unfit to be king. When his older brother steps down as king and thrusts George VI into the spotlight, his caring wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham-Carter) seeks a speech therapist to help him find his voice. Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) has the credentials they're looking for. His approach is somewhat foreign to the royals. He prefers to have the King in his own office and to call him "Bertie" (King George's first name is Albert) and for Bertie to call him Lionel. Soon, Bertie begins to depend on Lionel as he does the impossible: Helps the king lose his stammer. The performances are what stands out the most in this film. Firth gives one of the best performances of his career as King George VI and Rush is right behind him. Helena Bonham-Carter also gave a great performance, but her Oscar nomination slightly confuses

SAG Winners + My Thoughts

It was a pretty predictable night for the SAG awards. The King's Speech took home the top prize, which makes it a strong contender for Best Picture when it seems like The Social Network had it in the bag. I'd still love an Inception upset. I don't have a lot to say here, I guessed nearly every category correctly. One win I'm not too happy with is Betty White winning over Tina Fey. I think White has gotten overrated, fast. I'm ready for the ass-kissingfest to be over with. Congrats to Inception and True Blood for winning the stunt awards. Great movie, Great show. Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture WINNER The King's Speech Other Nominees: Black Swan The Fighter The Kids Are All Right The Social Network Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role WINNER Colin Firth for The King's Speech Other Nominees: Jeff Bridges for True Grit Robert Duvall for Get Low Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network James Franco for 127

DVD Review: Dogtooth

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The new words of the day are...  A father (Christos Stergioglou) keeps his family members isolated inside their estate. The three teenagers living there have never left. They have been convinced that murderous cats wait outside their gates to attack humans, that planes fall from the sky and can be caught in they're backyard, and that they can only leave when their "dogtooth" falls out. They are taught that "zombies" are little yellow flowers, that "phone" is salt, and that "sea" is a large chair. The father has been bring a woman named Christina home for his son to have sex with. She initiates a change in the oldest daughter, who begins to challenge the authority of the house. Dogtooth was a surprise nominee in the foreign language category at this year's Oscars. I had heard of the film months before and was waiting for it in my Netflix queue. All the attention this film is getting is deserved. It's dark, harrowing, at times hard t

DVD Review: Buried

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Who are you going to call? Paul (Ryan Reynolds) is an American contractor working in Iraq. His unit is ambushed, and he wakes up in a coffin, buried underground, with nothing but a cell phone, a pencil, and a lighter. Let's take a minute to think about how horrible this situation would be. Thought about it? Paul's reactions are pretty damn accurate to what I think I would do if I woke up in his predicament. The movie practically makes you feel his claustrophobia. Nothing has done that to me since The Descent. It's almost hard to judge a film who's only shot is of a man in a box. Literally, that's all we see. No flashbacks, no before's and after's, just Ryan Reynolds in a box, the ENTIRE time. It's fascinating to think that they could make a movie like that and actually keep it suspenseful and interesting. My only problem is that the movie starts on a low note and I felt it ended on one too. That's also something other people might love about it. It

Academy Award Nominations + My Thoughts

Oh Oscars, never have you epic failed so hard. Actually there's plenty of excellent, deserving nominees, there are just a few omissions that are hard to ignore. Here's the list of nominees, my thoughts, as always will be in green . 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 I have a love/hate relationship with the 10 Best Pic nominees. In a way, I think 10 makes it feel less special, but then again, more films get recognized that otherwise wouldn't. (hello, District 9) However, now that there are so many some films get thrown in seemingly just for the hell of it. I have a huge problem with animated films being nominated for Best Picture. I do. They have their own category. If I could modify this list, I would remove Toy Story 3 and Winter's Bone and swap them with Never Let Me Go and The Town. BEST ACTOR Javier Bardem,  Biutiful Jeff Bridges, 

BAFTA nominees

I dig the BAFTA awards, even though I never get to watch them. They always tend to include some people that the Academy overlooks. The biggest surprise of the nominations is the omission of Melissa Leo for the Fighter. She's already won the Golden Globe and the SAG, so her not being in there is a bit of a shock. On the other hand, Barbara Hershey finally getting some recognition for Black Swan is wonderful. I thought her performance was more powerful than Kunis' BEST FILM BLACK SWAN INCEPTION THE KING’S SPEECH THE SOCIAL NETWORK TRUE GRIT DIRECTOR 127 HOURS – Danny Boyle BLACK SWAN – Darren Aronofsky INCEPTION – Christopher Nolan THE KING’S SPEECH – Tom Hooper THE SOCIAL NETWORK – David Fincher LEADING ACTOR JAVIER BARDEM – Biutiful JEFF BRIDGES – True Grit JESSE EISENBERG – The Social Network COLIN FIRTH – The King’s Speech JAMES FRANCO – 127 Hours LEADING ACTRESS ANNETTE BENING – The Kids Are All Right JULIANNE MOORE – The Kids Are All Right NATALIE POR

Golden Globe Winners + My Thoughts

The Golden Globes felt pretty long this year. Reading everyone's tweets during the ceremony was actually a bit more interesting than the show itself. There were still a few nice surprises. (Joseph Gordon-Levitt introducing Inception) Here's a list of the winners, my thoughts will be in green . Best Motion Picture - Drama WINNER The Social Network Other Nominees: Black Swan The Fighter Inception The King's Speech The Social Network winning is no surprise. I was hoping for Inception to take the prize. I think some people might get the idea that I didn't like The Social Network and that's why I keep rooting against it. Not true. I loved The Social Network, loved it. I just flat  out liked Inception better for a number of reasons. The dialogue was better in TSN, but Inception was stronger in many other aspects. Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy WINNER The Kids Are All Right Other Nominees: Alice in Wonderland Burlesque Red The Tourist If The Kids