Oscars Wrap-Up

Well last night was the Oscars.  I watched about 20 minutes of it before I had to go to work but every now and then I checked Twitter to find out who won.  From what I saw of the show I thought Neil Patrick Harris did well as host.  The opening musical number he did with Anna Kendrick and Jack Black I thought was fun, and his occasional zingers I thought were pretty funny.  Looking through the Internet you'll find the opposite opinion but then again no matter who is hosting the lovely wonderful people of the Internet will not like them.

I correctly picked 18 of the 24 categories, which is one better than I did last year.  Surprisingly every movie that was nominated for Best Picture ended up winning at least one Oscar, with three in particular picking up even more than that.  Let's go over who won what.

'BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) (R)

OSCARS WON:  Best Picture, Best Director  - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Best Original Screenplay - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu & Nicolas Giacobone & Alexander Dinelaris Jr. & Armando Bo, Best Cinematography

'Birdman' came in to the ceremony tied with 'Grand Budapest Hotel' for the most nominations (9) and left the ceremony tied also with 'Grand Budapest Hotel' for the most wins (4).  In my personal opinion there were PLENTY of other movies that were better than 'Birdman', but the awards season momentum had swung in it's favor.  Kinda like how back in 2011 'The Social Network' was the early favorite but 'The King's Speech' ended up getting the late awards season momentum and won Best Picture.  Not gonna lie...it does bother me that 'Birdman' won, but I'll get over it.

ALSO NOMINATED FOR:  Best Actor - Michael Keaton, Best Supporting Actor - Edward Norton, Best Supporting Actress - Emma Stone, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing

'THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL' (R)

OSCARS WON:  Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Costume Design

Wes Anderson's latest quirky, colorful movie swept a fair amount of the technical awards which I'll admit it truly does deserve.  Yep...that's about all I got for this movie.

ALSO NOMINATED FOR:  Best Picture, Best Director - Wes Anderson, Best Original Screenplay - Wes Anderson, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing

'WHIPLASH' (R)

OSCARS WON:  Best Supporting Actor - J.K. Simmons, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing

Well...it's always good to see your favorite movie of the year get awarded.  J.K. Simmons' win for Best Supporting Actor has pretty much been a lock for quite some time, but a win for Sound Mixing as well as an upset win for Editing?  Sweet!  Looks like this movie was the Academy's tempo after all.

ALSO NOMINATED FOR:  Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay - Damien Chazelle

'AMERICAN SNIPER' (R)

OSCAR WON:  Best Sound Editing

War movies and musicals tend to win the Oscar for Best Sound Editing.  Going by that logic, I ended up correctly picking this right.  This still is a pretty good movie...it's a shame that the baby doll didn't get properly awarded.

ALSO NOMINATED FOR:  Best Picture, Best Actor - Bradley Cooper, Best Adapted Screenplay - Jason Hall, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing

'BOYHOOD' (R)

OSCAR WON:  Best Supporting Actress - Patricia Arquette

...without going into a huge rant let's just say I strongly believe that 'Boyhood' should NOT have ended the night with only one Oscar win...

ALSO NOMINATED FOR:  Best Picture, Best Director - Richard Linklater, Best Original Screenplay - Richard Linklater, Best Supporting Actor - Ethan Hawke, Best Film Editing

'THE IMITATION GAME' (PG-13)

OSCAR WON:  Best Adapted Screenplay - Graham Moore

The only thing I really have to say is that I heard Moore gave one of the best acceptance speeches of the night.

ALSO NOMINATED FOR:  Best Picture, Best Director - Morten Tyldum, Best Actor - Benedict Cumberbatch, Best Supporting Actress - Keira Knightley, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Production Design

'SELMA' (PG-13)

OSCAR WON:  Best Original Song - "Glory"

After having finally seen 'Selma', did I feel like it had been snubbed in a lot of categories?  No.  Honestly for several of the categories (particularly Best Actor) it was just a year packed with great performances that MANY other actors were "snubbed" as well that many had thought would have been shoe-ins.

I actually liked 'Selma', and my review of it should be posted sometime this week.  My main problem, though, is with this song.  To me a gospel/rap song that contains a reference to Ferguson, Missouri has absolutely NO REASON to belong in a movie about MLK. 

ALSO NOMINATED FOR:  Best Picture

'THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING' (PG-13)

OSCAR WON:  Best Actor - Eddie Redmayne

Undergo a physical transformation and you too will win an Oscar!  Ugh....I really didn't like this movie.  I'm more mad at this movie winning an Oscar than I am about 'Birdman' winning Best Picture.

ALSO NOMINATED FOR:  Best Picture, Best Actress - Felicity Jones, Best Adapted Screenplay - Anthony McCarten, Best Original Score

'STILL ALICE' (PG-13)

OSCAR WON:  Best Actress - Julianne Moore

I haven't seen this movie...nor apparently has most of the country.  Apparently it's about a college professor played by Moore who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease.  Which brings me to my next point:  Play a person with a physical or mental disease and you too can win an Oscar!

'IDA' (PG-13)

OSCAR WON:  Best Foreign Language Film

Apparently this is the first movie from Poland to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.  'Ida' follows a young woman who is on the verge of taking her vows to be a Catholic nun when she embarks on a journey and discovers a dark family secret.

ALSO NOMINATED FOR:  Best Cinematography

'CITIZENFOUR' (R)

OSCAR WON:  Best Documentary Feature

I haven't seen this, but I suppose whether you'd like this documentary or not will all depend on how you view Edward Snowden:  As a whistleblowing hero, or as a traitor.

'BIG HERO 6' (PG)

OSCAR WON:  Best Animated Feature

...didn't expect this movie to win.  But I am glad that it beat the likes of 'How To Train Your Dragon 2'.  But had 'The LEGO Movie' been rightfully nominated and NOT snubbed it would've been no competition.

'INTERSTELLAR' (PG-13)

OSCAR WON:  Best Visual Effects

Glad to see this movie win something.  And indeed the visual effects for this movie were great.

ALSO NOMINATED FOR:  Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Production Design



OTHER WINNERS:
BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT:  'Crisis Hotline:  Veterans Press 1'
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM:  'The Phone Call'
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM:  'Feast'

Updates and Oscar Picks

I have plenty of catching up to do as far as reviews go and with how many movies I've watched recently I'm digging myself into a deeper and deeper hole.  By the end of the week I hope to be fully caught up with reviews, other updates, and whatever else I decide to post up.  But first...let's talk about tonight's Oscar telecast.

Yep it's that time of year again for the Oscars.  I'll be busy tonight so I won't be able to watch it so I won't really be able to comment on the show itself when I do my Oscars wrap-up post tomorrow.  No point in recording it either since I'll already know who the winners are when I get home later tonight.  Anyway, here are my Oscar picks for tonight along with some comments for a few of the picks.

BEST PICTURE:  *Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
BEST DIRECTOR:  **Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
BEST ACTOR:  ***Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
BEST ACTRESS:  ****Julianne Moore, Still Alice
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:  J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:  *****Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:  Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:  The Imitation Game
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:  ******How To Train Your Dragon 2
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:  Leviathan  
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:  Citizenfour
BEST DOCUMENTARY - SHORT SUBJECT:  White Earth
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM:  Boogaloo and Graham
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM:  Feast
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:  The Theory of Everything
BEST ORIGINAL SONG:  *******"Glory", Selma
BEST SOUND EDITING:  American Sniper
BEST SOUND MIXING:  Whiplash
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:  The Grand Budapest Hotel
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:  Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING:  The Grand Budapest Hotel
BEST COSTUME DESIGN:  The Grand Budapest Hotel
BEST FILM EDITING:  Boyhood
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:  Interstellar

*'Boyhood' deserves to win, but the awards lately have been swinging in favor of 'Birdman'.  Kinda like back in 2011 with 'The Social Network' initially winning awards and being the frontrunner until momentum swung in favor of 'The King's Speech'.  Heck, if I end up getting this pick wrong and 'Boyhood' ends up winning I'd be thrilled.
**(see above), plus Inarritu won the DGA award this year and only six times has the winner of the DGA award NOT went on to win Best Director. 
***The fact that Eddie Redmayne is winning awards for this boring movie makes me angry.  I would much much much rather see ANY of the other nominees win.  Heck, I didn't even like 'Birdman' or 'Foxcatcher' all that much but I'd still prefer Keaton or Carell to win over Eddie Redmayne.  Similar to how I felt last year seeing Matthew McConaughey win all kinds of awards for 'Dallas Buyers Club'.
****Haven't seen this movie, but Julianne Moore has been the frontrunner for quite some time now.  Rosamund Pike deserves it for 'Gone Girl', but that kind of an upset isn't gonna happen. 
*****I liked 'Boyhood', but I didn't really care for Patricia Arquette's performance in that movie all that much.  Out of the three performances in this category I've seen the only one I actually liked was Keira Knightley in 'The Imitation Game'.
******Still mad that 'The LEGO Movie' wasn't nominated.  And I thought 'How To Train Your Dragon 2' was boring...but it won the Golden Globe so it'll be my pick for Best Animated Feature
*******...in my humble, honest opinion....'Glory' isn't a good song....yet it's been winning awards left and right.  I'd love to see "Everything Is Awesome" win, but let's face it:  That's not gonna happen.

Getting Back In The Swing of Things

Well...I'm a little bit behind in posting on this blog.  Reviews, updates, random other stuff...you name it, I just haven't gotten around to writing it up.  Sure I still got the football picks on time but those take WAY less time to do as opposed to a review or most other things I've posted on here.  Now we're only a few days away from the halfway point in February and I have yet to do a single post for any movie I've seen so far in 2015.  No posts regarding what to expect from this blog in 2015, no updates, no review of 2014 in general, etc.  Mainly a lot of stuff I had intended on doing and at least starting to do last month, but clearly have not got around to doing.  Kinda like late work in school with it being manageable at first until it keeps piling on and on until one of two things happens: 

1) - You put your foot down, say "Enough Is Enough!" and start chipping away at everything you want to do.
or
2) - You become so overwhelmed that you just give up.  On the inside you still want to go on, but your outside demeanor suggests otherwise. 

Well I don't want to give up on this just yet so I'm sticking with Option #1.  So today I'll be catching up on some reviews.  Tomorrow expect a few more reviews and more in terms of updates, random thoughts about various topics, and what to expect from this blog in 2015.

'American Sniper' (R) ***
The latest from Clint Eastwood follows the life of Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), from his tours of duty becoming the most lethal sniper in American military history to his home life with his wife (Sienna Miller) and the challenges he faced at home and abroad.  Nominated for 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Bradley Cooper), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing.  It has it's issues (the war scenes are way way better than the at home scenes between him and his wife and the use of a doll for one particular scene) but for the most part this was really good, and often quite intense with an incredible performance by Bradley Cooper.  The Best Picture nomination is a bit surprising, but this still worth checking out.  
 
'Foxcatcher' (R) **
Based on the true story of Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum), an Olympic wrestler whose relationship with sponsor John du Pont (Steve Carell) and brother Dave Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) would lead to unlikely circumstances.  The latest from Bennett Miller, director of 'Moneyball' and 'Capote'.  Nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Director (Bennett Miller), Best Actor (Steve Carell), Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.  The story itself is very interesting and tragic, but the movie on which it's based on is incredibly slow, too quiet, and lacks any sort of tension for MOST of it's over two hour running time.  It certainly is nice to see Steve Carell in a rather serious, dark, disturbed role though.   

'The Imitation Game' (PG-13) **1/2
While being questioned after being arrested on charges of indecency, mathematician Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) recounts being recruited during World War II to help crack the Nazi enigma code along with several other fellow mathematicians.  Nominated for 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Morten Tyldum), Best Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch), Best Supporting Actress (Keira Knightley), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score and Best Production Design.  It's a bit slow at first and it get's predictable at certain points, but Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley (who plays a member of Turing's team and his ex fiance) are consistently good and they make the movie worth seeing. 

49 Options for Super Bowl XLIX

Don't like the New England Patriots?  Don't like the Seattle Seahawks?  Wish both teams would just lose?  Well here I have a list of 49 options for those who do not like either team.  Some can be done during the game, others would require turning the game off.

1. Root for the Budweiser Clydesdales
2. Deflate a football for every point the Patriots score.
3. Take a shot of whiskey for every time the commentators make a reference to "Spygate" and/or "Deflate-gate"...though for your liver's sake this might not be a good idea.
4. Blame everything on Obama.
5. Root for the refs to completely sabotage the game with bad calls.
6. Do a "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" for every celebrity the TV cameras see during the actual game.
7. Constantly complain about how Tom Brady is married to a supermodel and you're not...
8. ...then suddenly remember that his supermodel wife played one of the villains in the 2004 movie 'Taxi'.  Anyone else other than me remember that movie?  Man was it not funny.  Exhibit A of why Mrs. Brady does not have much of an acting career...or the current host of "The Tonight Show" for that matter.
9. Take enough drugs to where it feels like you're actually watching real life seahawks and real life patriots fighting each other and you're in the midst of it all.
10. Along those lines, with enough drugs you might as well start attempting to plug a seashell into your TV to try and watch movies instead.  Gary Busey couldn't do it in that commercial, but why should that stop you?
11. Root for the commentators.
12. Play games on your phone, tablet, laptop, etc. while the game is on.
13. Put on a pair of 3D glasses and constantly complain about how the 3D sucks.
14. Just don't watch the game at all.  Don't even acknowledge it exists.
15. Root for the commercials.
16. Add your own commentary for the game.  The less you know about football the better it will be!
17. Eat some skittles every time Marshawn Lynch is handed the ball, and finish the bag whenever he scores a touchdown.
18. Start calling your own penalties during the game.  They don't even have to be football related. 
19. Start up a conversation debating the meaning of life and why we're here at this exact moment in time.
20. Root for Katy Perry and Lenny Kravitz.
21. Close your eyes and pretend it's all a bad dream.  But then you might want to wake up...The Matrix has you.
22. Start a blog.  Blog about anything you want!  Knowledge about a certain subject is not required.  I hear it does wonders for stress levels...
23. Have the game as background noise while you read a book.  Seriously, people should read more.
24. Draw caricatures of Tom Brady with his Ugg boots.
25. With the "If you can't beat them, join them" mentality, root for the Patriots OR the Seahawks.
26. Think 'What would Jesus do?'
27. Blame Canada.
28. Do impressions of any of the players, coaches, commentators, cheerleaders, mascots, or anyone else you see on TV.
29. Start counting down to when they eventually play an 'Avengers:  Age of Ultron' trailer.
30. With the "Enemy of my enemy is my friend" mentality, root for the Patriots OR the Seahawks.
31. Do embarrassing touchdown dances, no matter who scores a touchdown.
32. Shout "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!" every time a field goal is good.
33. Place bets with friends that SOMETHING will go wrong during the game, whether it be technical difficulties, accidental swearing, obscene gestures, or wardrobe malfunctions. 
34. Why watch it?  Listen to it on a radio while you're shoveling snow.
35. Hope for another blackout during the Super Bowl.
36. Start a swear jar and have people put money in it.  There's bound to be some fans that will get $#%&!#$ off at some point.
37. Yell "Cheater" at the TV whenever you see Bill Belichick.
38. Yell "Yeah", "Thank you for asking" or "I'm only here so I won't get fined" whenever Marshawn Lynch is on TV.
39. Pull up YouTube on your phone and watch any commercials featuring better QBs than Russell Wilson and Tom Brady.
40. Randomly pick one team and root for them while watching the game.  Doesn't even have to be NFL.  So if you really want to root for the Lakers in the Super Bowl, go for it.
41. Instead of watching the game, you can watch paint dry.  Still will be more expressive than Bill Belichick.
42. Go build a snowman.  Because winter, that's why. 
43. Eat so much food that by the time the game starts you'll already be in a food coma.  Heck, you might even dream up a better Super Bowl than the one that will be on TV.
44. Start learning a new language.
45. Point blank, just drink heavily.
46. Pretend you're at a Comedy Central Roast and start making fun of anyone you see on TV. 
47. Turn off the game and turn on any game console with a football game.  Randomly select two teams, and pretend that's the Super Bowl.
48. Sing the entire soundtrack to "Frozen" obnoxiously loud.  Not a good singer?  No problem!
49. Make up your own countdown of things you'd rather be doing instead of watching the Super Bowl this year.

Super Bowl XLIX Pick 'Em

...does it really need to be THESE two teams in the Super Bowl?  Really neither should be here.  The Packers blew a 16 point lead against the Seahawks and the Ravens blew TWO 14 point leads against the Patriots in the Divisional Round.  At least Deflategate has made things interesting with it's numerous conspiracy theories and contradicting stories.

Now...would I rather see the Patriots reclaim glory that has eluded them for a decade and hear about the resurrection of the Patriots dynasty from ESPN or see the Seahawks repeat and constantly hear about the 12th man, the Legion of Boom, odd soundbites from Marshawn Lynch....all from bandwagon fans.  Hmm....you know what?  I think this will be close but the Seahawks will indeed manage to pull it off. 

Patriots VS. SEAHAWKS

Championship round:  0-2, 0%.....#ouch
Playoffs Total:  6-4, 60%
Regular Season:  162-93-1, 63.28%
OVERALL TOTAL:  168-97-1, 63.16%