I'd Like to Thank the Academy...

"I always felt that this ceremony was a moment of unity for the world, because art in any form has is and will always be our universal language."
--Oscar winner Penelope Cruz

Thank you academy for giving us a new format on the Oscars. I have to say having past Oscar winners come and speak on the actor and actresses brilliance, then present their award was so refreshing! Each time the nominee was announced it was a tearjerker, because you really feel like it was truly an honor to be nominated. The past winners tell how wonderfully the actor/actress portrayed the role, but also showed their gratitude for their entire career and contribution to cinema. I loved that feeling. Particularly for the more notable veterans, like Mickey Rourke (my choice for best actor), Kate Winslet, Marisa Tomei, Meryl Streep, Sean Penn among others you just really feel their emotions.
I can't say I've seen every movie that was nominated. But I'd like to say something about the ones I have seen. I feel I would be biased to say Mickey Rourke was robbed, seeming as I only saw one other nominee's performance-Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. But Mickey's performance was just so damn raw and understated and not at all cliched. I'm sure Sean Penn was AMAZING in the movie, as he always is, but I think I was just more drawn to Mickey's character who said so much in few words. Congrats to Sean though! I thought Brad Pitt was great in the movie, but I honestly think the movie and the story upstaged him. However, I couldn't thin of anyone better in that role. As for the other three nominees, I will unfortunately have to catch them on netflix, that's a promise.
Dear Penelope Cruz: I love your performances, including your Oscar-winning role in
Vicky Cristina Barcelona, but my heart went on (pardon the melodrama) for Taraji P. Henson's character in Button. She totally transformed into a beautiful actress. I felt she had a bit more depth in her role than Penelope did, whose performance left me salivating for more info on the character. I kinda wish her character was a lead, so that we could sink deeper into her soul.
Slumdog Millionaire!!! I feel odd calling this an underdog story, because ever since I've heard of this movie it's been the topdog at award shows. But it is one of those movies that is often neglected by the Oscars, and tonight it broke barriers. And shined a light on the beautiful country of Mumbai. I have to say I was a little partial to Benjamin Button myself, but I'm not mad at Slumdog's win.
Tearjerker moment: um...other than every time the nominee was presented by a previous winner, Heath Ledger's family accepting his award on his behalf as well as Dustin Lance Black's acceptance speech for writing the screenplay for Milk. So heartfelt and beautifully organic. I had just began to become a fan of Heath's with Dark Knight, and unfortunately his untimely death has left us wanting for what could have been an even more brilliant career.
I will continue to say this: I wish Kate Winslet was nominated for Revolutionary Road, but am so excited she won an Oscar. Finally! I guess I have to see The Reader now, huh? I'll make sure to add that to my Netflix queue. BUT I was hella partial to Angelina Jolie (in one of my favorite performances of hers--so gut wrenching). I also wish Dark Knight was nominated for best picture. It was so much more than a superhero movie. The screenplay was amazing.
Congratulations to ALL the winners! I have several movies to rent now.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

"They said I was gonna die soon but, maybe not."

I had to be dragged to see this movie. I don't normally watch a lot of period films, but my mom insisted we bond with a good movie over the holidays. She was talking about this movie for weeks before its release and I was trying to delay the inevitable as long as I could.
As I snuggled up in my chair at the theater, I prepared for a nice long nap. But I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, it's quite long. But I was never bored; I was intrigued. It followed a fictional story of a young boy who was born with an unknown disease--age--for which it was determined that he wouldn't live much longer. Abandoned by his father and picked up by a single woman played by Taraji P. Henson, the common thought was that he would live a life full of despair and utter agony due to his defect of being born an old man. What happens in turn is he lives, I mean TRULY lives. He does most things other people only dream of--he loves hard, he works hard doing something that makes him happy, he becomes vulnerable to a woman, he put his heart on the line. You follow him as he experiences life, as he grows younger and younger in every frame. You follow him as he embraces death of many people who walk into his life, which in turn helps him fear death less. You follow him as he experiences love for the first time. In essence, he does everything with the absence of fear, and manages to live a full life. You learn that often times it's not death we fear, but dying without having lived first. The acting is fantastic and, perhaps even more so, the scenery is so beautiful and the movie just looks like something you want to take part in. You leave the movie feeling so inspired, like you now have so many plans you want to accomplish and were afraid to do before. Best of all, you leave the theater wanting to LIVE.

My rating: A

Doubt

"You haven't the slightest proof of anything!
--"But I have my certainty!"

I had my doubts about seeing Doubt (cheesy pun, i know, but i meant well). I'm not a Catholic and I don't know much about Catholicism and thought most of the movie would fly right over my head. But ironically it didn't. Yes, it set in the Catholic church. But it was mostly about trusting your instincts, standing up for what you think is wrong and protecting yourself and your faith. Portrayed by a stellar cast (dame Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Viola Davis), the movies is about a possible act of indiscretion between the priest and one of the schoolboys that sends a rip right through the church. The headmaster, played to perfection by Streep, is informed by one of the teachers (Adams) that the priest may be having inappropriate relations with a schoolboy. The gossip sends her on a rampage to face the priest and demand his confession of what she thinks he might have done. But it's not really what she thinks, it's what she has convinced herself that she knows. She's using that clear certainty she's created to defame the priest they once all looked up to.
Viola Davis plays the boy's mother who harbors her own secrets, and Amy Adams is the schoolteacher.
It's not so much the movie that's so great. It's the screenplay that's amazing as well as the flawless performances. Don't miss it.

My rating: A

Changeling

"The boy they brought back is not my son."

Someone pass me the Kleenex, because I had to fight back the tears watching this movie. Angelina's performance was so heart wrenching. She plays single mother Christine Collins, whose son is abducted from their LA home in the late 1920s. She seeks police help to find her son. After her son is missing for five months, she receives a call from the police telling her her son has been found. Emotional and overjoyed, Collins runs down to the station, only to be met by a young boy who was not her son. Heartbroken, she tells the cops there's been a mistake, but they encourage her that the son is hers and that the emotional stress and the time frame has probably gotten her confused (this is of course as the press hounds the scene hovering to get the first glimpse of the mother whose son has finally come home). trying to save face and look good for the press, the LA police department convinced this young mother to take home a son who wasn't hers and shut the case down, hoping to come off as heroic act in the press.
As you can imagine, Collins goes on a one woman search to find her son and bring down the police department who forced her to take home a stray boy in order to close the case for good. After several visits and phone calls from the distraught mother, including a visit from the local evangelist who's teamed with several legal aides to come to Collin's side, the police sent her to a mental institution to get her out of their hair. Who she meets there will encourage her to go on the fight of her life--to bring down the LA police force, with the support of the local, and well connected, evangelist.
The film is shot very darkly, capturing the mood and the times. Angelina's performance was powerful and at times agonizing. I felt like I was truly watching the real-life Christine Collins, who despite devastation, humiliation and loss, never gave up on looking for her son.

My rating: A+

Slumdog Millionaire

"What can a slumdog possibly know?" --"The answers."

So as soon as I got another movie in the mail from Netflix, my roommate invited me to see Slumdog Millionaire with her this afternoon. I have to admit, i was a bit hesitant about it, but it was one of the few Oscar films I didn't see this year, so I said why not catch the $6.50 matinee? My hesitance comes mainly from all the commercials and trailers I see about the movie which basically tells me that some kid from Mumbai, India becomes a millionaire form a show and somehow brings him closer to his one and only. I just didn't want to be in for a let down. But I was told there is more to it than just that. I was going to be the judge of that.
So I went into the theater and braced myself. What I saw was a story about two brothers who weren't raised poor, parentless and alone in Mumbai, but one of them were destined to be with his beloved, and the other was not destined to be at all. They meet a young girl named Latika who the younger one, Jamal, falls in love with, but loses her through circumstances and politics in India. Jamal, goes on the Indian version of the game show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" in order to reach the love of his life he once lost, who once said "people who go on this show open up the door to another life."
So yes, the movie touches on young love, perseverance, triumph and loss. But what I really got from it was overcoming; overcoming what life has given you, and overcoming the odds against you.
Sidebar: Frieda Pinto (who plays Jamal's love interest) is soooo stunning in this movie. She's gorgeous! And the little boys who play the characters in the various stage sin their lives are just so endearing and adorable.
You really get an inside look at life in Mumbai, aside from all the tourist attractions. You see how people, young and old, are really living and you get a first hand look at how some people rise above their assumed destiny, and claim their own.

My rating: B+

Mulholland Falls

"We go where the case takes us."
--"Not if it takes you here you don't."

Okay so I try to keep the blog posts current by only discussing movies currently in theaters. But ever since I've become a member of Netflix, I've started catching up on all the older movies that I seemingly missed out on.
I meant to rent Mulholland Drive, but I ended up renting this instead. I liked it overall actually. I didn't love it, however. The 1996 flick takes place in the 50s and is about a group of cops, affectionately called the Hat Squad, whose latest case hits a little too close to home for one of their own. Nick Nolte plays the leader of the pack whose latest case involves his mistress being killed and left for dead in the middle of a desert. He tries for a while to conceal his relationship with the victim form his friends, but the further he delves into the case, the more emotional and erratic he becomes. His wife is played by Melanie Griffith, who I don't normally care to see in films, but she was very endearing in this role and I actually felt for her when she finally learns of her husband's infidelity.
The rat pack is rounded out by Chazz Palminteri (spelling?), Michael Madsen, Chris Penn and Daniel Baldwin.
There's also a surprise (at least to me) appearance by Andrew McCarthy, who plays the victim's best friend in the movie (loved him since Less Than Zero and Pretty In Pink).
I wasn't a fan of the ending. I think I was waiting for it to be something really big, and was disappointed when it didn't turn out that way. The cast is really good, the story is interesting but it was kind of a let down at the end.
I'm expecting another movie in the mail this week. Stay tuned.

My rating: C+

Revolutionary Road

"Plenty of people are onto the emptiness, but it takes real guts to see the hopelessness."

Wow....that's what I was left saying after I watched the final credits roll up the screen at the end of this movie. Between Kate Winslet acting like a certified, yet somehow sane, nut and Leonard DiCaprio seamlessly playing the helpless husband racked with his own guilt, I felt totally satisfied about spending my well earned $12.50 on this movie, twice (yes, twice).
Now I must admit I think I've seen, like, one Kate Winslet movie ever before this, and I just recently started getting on the DiCaprio bandwagon after watching both The Departed and Blood Diamond in the same year (after that I was hooked on DiCaprio). But after watching Revolutionary Road, I was all aboard team Winslet. She was so captivating in this role, so emotional and raw and riveting all at once. This is one of those movies that you just have to see for yourself and derive your own meaning behind it. It just touched on so many different issues like love, the sanctity of marriage, forgiveness, rage, entrapment, loneliness and helplessness.
A young married couple try to live the normal suburban life like so many of their friends have and find out that, with that, comes its challenges, its heartbreak and its own imprisonment and solitude.
I ADORED this movie. I felt like the second time I saw it, I picked up even more from it. Watch it, it'll be the best $12.50 you've spent in a long while. Then come back and let me know what you picked up from it. Ciao

My rating: A+

Taken

"If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."

I just need to say one thing before I get started: Forget what you might have heard about Liam Neeson; he kick can kick some serious ass!!!
Lol, at least in his newest movie Taken. His daughter gets abducted while on vacation in Paris which in turn sends him on a one man tirade to find her abductee and kill him (as he so eloquently puts it in every commercial you see of the film). The movie is suspenseful, alarming and an edge-of-your-seat thriller. I loved every second of it.
Okay I must say, however, Maggie Grace (most known for her role on the TV show Lost) does NOT play the most believable 17 year old. In real life she's 25-years-old and clearly cannot remember how a 17 year old acts. She's constantly running like a five year old runs when he/she gets the latest power ranger doll. She's over excited and just a little bit dumb acting in the movie. But I guess that's how she was when she was 17. who knows? It was little bit of a stretch and just a little bit awkward. Also, (and I hate to say this, but...) Famke Janssen plays the idiot bitchy ex-wife and mother to Maggie Grace quite well. Not sure where she founds her inspiration from...but I digress.
The movie was awesome and definitely a must see. Catch it now in theaters.

My rating: B

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

"We don't want Tiffany's. We want a Mom and Pop operation."

I LOVED this movie! I don't normally follow movies that are shown out of sequence but this one was fantastically done. I enjoyed it all the way through the last second. It was suspenseful, and quite entertaining.
The movie was about a heist that goes terribly awry when two brothers, portrayed perfectly by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke, who scheme to rob their parents' jewelry store with even worse circumstances than you may think. Heads up: the nudity in it comes by surprise, at least it did to me. But I enjoyed it. Not sure why it seems like every movie I watch lately Marisa Tomei is half naked in it, but I guess that's something for the fellas....and some women out there. Run to your nearest blockbuster and pick up this movie.

My rating: A-

He's Just Not That Into You

"If a guy treats you like he doesn't give a sh*t, it's because he doesn't give a sh*t."

I HATE romantic comedies. But i LOVED the book "He's Just Not That Into You." It's more of a self-help book where the authors responds to different people's relationship crises. But the movie has of course more of a plot, with the "all star" cast including Jennifer Aniston and Drew Barrymore. I liked the movie. I thought it was entertaining and it addressed all the normal relationships troubles people face each day. Ginnifer Goodwin was hilarious as the hopeless romantic who puts her heart on the line each and every time in the name of love, only to get it squashed. But she keeps trying until the right one comes along.
There's about seven different plot lines but it's very entertaining how they address relationship woes. I liked it...that is until the ending. That's when I remembered why I don't like romantic comedies. The unreal ism kicks it, and it was like an ulcer attacked my stomach. The last 15 minutes, the movie went to the unreal, the plots just fit together a little too neatly. Two of the plot lines I thought were very realistic, but the other like 3 or 4 I didn't care for. They just worked out too conveniently. Call me a cynic, but I just think that's crazy. I guess I'll stick to my suspense and drama movies. They make me feel better about myself.

My rating: B-

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

"You're still searching for me in every woman."

So over the weekend I saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona and liked it. It was VERY quirky, but funny at the same time. Scarlett Johanssen was her usual flighty self, and I totally saw myself in Rebecca Hall's practical cynical character, Vicky. Javier Bardem was sexy as all hell and had the ultimate gangsta swag when he rolled up to Vicky and Cristina in a restaurant in Barcelna (they're on a two month vacation) and point blank asking if they woudl spend the weekend with him. Cristina of course agrees almost immediately and Vicky is skeptical. But of course they end up spending the weekend with him but is forewarned that his ex wife tried to kill him (or maybe he tried to kill her), but they go anyway. That spins off into a quirky tale that follows Cristina moving in with Javier's character and his slightly deranged ex wife (Penelope Cruz), who pummels through their romance with a steel blade.

Penelope's performance is a little sterotypoical, but fantastic at the same time, leaving me to wonder who's going to take the Oscar. Not sure who will be take home the bets supproting actress oscar, but my money is on Taraji.

My rating: B+