(no subject)
I have been on a movie kick of late.
Way back when, when I was still in college, my friend M and I used to make a concerted effort to see EVERY SINGLE Academy Award nominee (at least in the major categories -- Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Actresses and Supporting Actor and Actress). We sometimes missed a few, but we usually came in reasonably close. In the last few years, I've slacked off a bit, but it turns out that -- through a combination of luck and circumstance -- I've managed to catch quite a few of the "big" movies that have been out of late.
However -- and this is a big however -- there is usually a spate of dumb romcoms to balance out all the Important Statements and Doom and Gloom in a typical would-be Oscar movie. I mean, by this time last year, I'd managed to see a bunch of the Oscar contenders, but also Enchanted and P.S. I Love You and several other really dumb movies. This year it looks like the only contenders are a really offensive movie about a stupid wedding and Paul Blart: Mall Cop, which is -- frankly -- looking better and better.
I've seen some truly fantastic movies in the last few weeks. Tonight miss_begonia and I watched The Savages, which was a contender from last year, and fantastic. Also, depressing as hell. ericaplease brought over the truly lovely The Fall, which had breathtaking cinematography and bonus Lee Pace but was also -- you guessed it -- not an upper.
maudgonne and I were lucky enough to see The Wrestler on its opening night (and how funny is it that the picture at the top of the IMDB page is of BMcK at the premiere?), and it blew me away. Seriously, if Mickey Rourke doesn't get an Oscar nom I'll eat my hat, but it also sort of made me want to kill myself.
Gran Torino? Quite moving and way better than I expected (my dad picked the movie). Also, incredibly sad. Milk? So, so good, and made better by the fact that we saw it at the Castro. Not exactly a happy ending, though. Slumdog Millionaire? Everyone should see it. It's fantastic. But not the feel-good Bollywood musical of the year. Cadillac Records? Actually, this one wasn't so bad. Any movie featuring the music of Chess Records can't be a total downer, but when the film that features institutionalized racism and bonus heroin addiction is the "happy" movie, strange things are afoot at the Circle K, my friends.
So, since I appear to be "in for a [depressing] penny, in for a pound," mood, what artistically deserving, yet utterly soul-deadening cinematic accomplishment should I take in next?
Poll Dead Dogs and Englishmen: It Must Be Oscar Season
Way back when, when I was still in college, my friend M and I used to make a concerted effort to see EVERY SINGLE Academy Award nominee (at least in the major categories -- Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Actresses and Supporting Actor and Actress). We sometimes missed a few, but we usually came in reasonably close. In the last few years, I've slacked off a bit, but it turns out that -- through a combination of luck and circumstance -- I've managed to catch quite a few of the "big" movies that have been out of late.
However -- and this is a big however -- there is usually a spate of dumb romcoms to balance out all the Important Statements and Doom and Gloom in a typical would-be Oscar movie. I mean, by this time last year, I'd managed to see a bunch of the Oscar contenders, but also Enchanted and P.S. I Love You and several other really dumb movies. This year it looks like the only contenders are a really offensive movie about a stupid wedding and Paul Blart: Mall Cop, which is -- frankly -- looking better and better.
I've seen some truly fantastic movies in the last few weeks. Tonight miss_begonia and I watched The Savages, which was a contender from last year, and fantastic. Also, depressing as hell. ericaplease brought over the truly lovely The Fall, which had breathtaking cinematography and bonus Lee Pace but was also -- you guessed it -- not an upper.
maudgonne and I were lucky enough to see The Wrestler on its opening night (and how funny is it that the picture at the top of the IMDB page is of BMcK at the premiere?), and it blew me away. Seriously, if Mickey Rourke doesn't get an Oscar nom I'll eat my hat, but it also sort of made me want to kill myself.
Gran Torino? Quite moving and way better than I expected (my dad picked the movie). Also, incredibly sad. Milk? So, so good, and made better by the fact that we saw it at the Castro. Not exactly a happy ending, though. Slumdog Millionaire? Everyone should see it. It's fantastic. But not the feel-good Bollywood musical of the year. Cadillac Records? Actually, this one wasn't so bad. Any movie featuring the music of Chess Records can't be a total downer, but when the film that features institutionalized racism and bonus heroin addiction is the "happy" movie, strange things are afoot at the Circle K, my friends.
So, since I appear to be "in for a [depressing] penny, in for a pound," mood, what artistically deserving, yet utterly soul-deadening cinematic accomplishment should I take in next?
Poll Dead Dogs and Englishmen: It Must Be Oscar Season