We complain about the Oscars every year, but usually there are at least couple of semi-remarkable moments to make the show memorable. This year, all we got was Kim Novak’s ruined face and a running gag about rich people actually ordering and eating pizza. And paying for it! Ha ha. This show. I don’t think I’ve missed one in 20 years. I don’t know why. I am […]
I’ll take ‘Nebraska’
We finally got around to seeing Nebraska. Of the four 2014 Oscar nominees I’ve now watched, this is my favorite. (The others are Dallas Buyer’s Club, Gravity and American Hustle.) My reasons for preferring it are strictly personal: the small-town West is a milieu I know pretty well. I grew up around these folks, and this sort of landscape. In my adult years, I’ve driven the same […]
My favorite Oscar contenders so far
So far I’ve seen six of the nine Oscar nominees for best picture. Still unviewed: Amour, Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook. Of the ones I’ve seen, four are superb. It’s tough to rank them in order of preference. In any case, I won’t be howling at my TV if any of these four should win. Here are my impressions so far: Argo. I still haven’t forgiven […]
The kid carries the picture
I seem to be in the minority on this, but I do not care for the Oscar-nominated Beasts of the Southern Wild. It might be, as some say, a “magical” celebration of childhood resilience, but it is also a celebration of ignorance, squalor and adult dissolution. Its precocious star, little Quvenzhane Wallis, carries the movie beyond the sum of its scenes, but at the end you’re left […]
We’ve seen this show before
Really, the only reason anybody watches the Oscars is so they can carp about it the next day, or text clever remarks during the show itself. I’m no different. I had my laptop out and was trying to run with the best of them, but I gave up after about an hour. There was just nothing ridiculous enough, or outrageous enough, or even interesting enough to inspire […]
If you only see one silent film this year …
Expanding on yesterday’s post, we did go and see The Artist. Two thumbs up. While it’s hard to judge whether the movie’s appeal derives more from the gimmick ( a silent film in black and white) or the story (the inevitable arc of celebrity in Hollywood), maybe it’s best not to overthink it. What I liked most was Jean Dujardin’s wide and infectious smile. I found myself […]
Limit the Oscar nominees to those I’ve seen
Of this year’s Oscar nominees, so far I’ve seen three: The Descendants, Moneyball and War Horse. Tonight, the wife and I may go see The Artist. Maybe we’ll get to some of the others too, but really: the nominees are no longer must-see cinema, are they? Were they ever? We just go for the same reason we suddenly tune in to a couple of NFL games during […]