Archive | March, 2006

Everyone’s a Winner!

6 Mar

Some quick Oscar reactions:

* I got 16 out of 24 correct. Not bad. Of course, I was happy to get Best Song wrong.

* Crash winning Best Picture was an upset, sure, and I was shocked. I figured Brokeback had it all pretty much sown up. (Didn’t everyone?) I mean, It’s not like Crash is a bad movie or anything (hello, Shakespeare in Love), but even given how Lions Gate was aggressively marketing that movie in the last few months, I never thought it would pull out a win.

* Best Acceptance Speech: George Clooney, by a mile. That guy is just the most well-spoken, most intelligent, most underrated guy in all of Hollywood (despite his three, some would say four, nominations). Damn, was I impressed. No wonder I’m such a huge fan.

* Three 6 Mafia won. That was too funny (and totally cool). But what was up with the “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” production number? Truly bizarre stuff. Whole lotta “witches” jumpin’ ship? Where … in Salem? And those dancers? Huh? How come Dolly Parton didn’t have any backup entertainment?

* Brokeback Mountain, Crash, Memoirs of a Geisha AND King Kong all won three awards. That’s a pretty even distribution. No one film dominated.

* Jennifer Garner. Yes, I saw her trip. I even chuckled. Poor Jennifer. But it was still good to see her back in action.

* I turned quickly to the TV Guide Channel’s preshow to hear this comment from Dolly Parton to Joan Rivers: “Are yours all real? There’s not a real thing about me except my heart.” She then added, “You’ve known me since I was a B-cup.” That was when I quickly turned back to the E! preshow. Joan Rivers makes Guiliana DePandi seem so much more tolerable.

* Kudos to David Letterman for taking part in the opening montage.

* Bravo to Jon Stewart. Thought he did a really good, really different and unconventional, job. At times it was almost like he was too hip for the room, but I laughed the whole way through. And kudos to him for not overdoing the Brokeback jokes.

* Best dressed: A tie between Hillary Swank and Jessica Alba. Second place: Sandra Bullock.

* What was up with Jennifer Lopez’s makeup? Otherwise, she looked great too.

* Can we call a moratorium on all penguins talk from here on out? I mean, really — did the producers and directors of that film have to bring up those stuffed animals when they won? And on a similar topic, does this mean we can all move on from Brokeback and all the Brokeback jokes now that the Oscars are over and it didn’t win Best Picture and now it’s yesterday’s news?

* Really liked the M. Night Shyamalan AmEx commercial. Weird stuff, but it’s pretty cool compared to other ads out there.

* In general, this was the best Oscars in years. It hardly ever dragged, and it was thoroughly entertaining. I mean, really — no one expects the show to actually be over in three hours. And even if you took out two or three of the montages, you’d only be cutting out about 5 or 7 minutes.

* So to borrow and expand upon Jon Stewart’s thought, let me get this straight: Three 6 Mafia are Oscar winners, and Eminem is also an Oscar winner from a couple years back, but people like Robert Altman (not including his honorary one), Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorcese, and Paul Giamatti are not? Hmmmmmm. It’s always interesting to put things in perspective like that.

* No kidding, I’m a bit bummed the Oscars are over. As much as the Oscars are overexposed and overhyped, as a movie fan, it’s one of my favorite times of the year, and now it’s a bit of a let-down. When do the summer movies start?

Movies I’ve Seen

5 Mar

Here’s a list of all the 2005 releases I’ve seen. (click on the link for my review)

1. ELEKTRA (B-)

2. THE WEDDING DATE (C)

3. HITCH (B)

4. THE UPSIDE OF ANGER (B-)

5. SIN CITY (B)

6. FEVER PITCH (B/B+)

7. THE INTERPRETER (B-)

8. CINDERELLA MAN (A-)

9. CRASH (B+/A-)

10. MADAGASCAR (C)

11. THE LONGEST YARD (B)

12. STAR WARS: EPISODE 3: REVENGE OF THE SITH (C-)

13. BATMAN BEGINS (A-)

14. BEWITCHED (D)

15. MR. & MRS. SMITH

16. WAR OF THE WORLDS (B)

17. CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (B+)

18. WEDDING CRASHERS (twice) (B+)

19. BAD NEWS BEARS (C+)

20. MUST LOVE DOGS (C)

21. HUSTLE AND FLOW (B)

22. MURDERBALL (A)

23. DUKES OF HAZARD (C-)

24. RED EYE (D+)

25. BROKEN FLOWERS (B+)

26. THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN (B+)

27. THE ARISTOCRATS (B)

28. MARCH OF THE PENGUINS (B+)

29. JUNEBUG

30. TIM BURTON’S CORPSE BRIDE

31. JUST LIKE HEAVEN (B-)

32. GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK

33. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

34. WALLACE & GROMIT in THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT

35. IN HER SHOES

36. ELIZABETHTOWN

37. CAPOTE

38. NORTH COUNTRY

39. SHOPGIRL

40. JARHEAD

41. PRIME

42. KISS KISS, BANG BANG

43. CHICKEN LITTLE

44. WALK THE LINE (twice)

45. RENT

46. THE ICE HARVEST

47. THE PRODUCERS

48. THE NEW WORLD

49. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (twice)

50. THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE

51. MUNICH

52. THE FAMILY STONE

53. KING KONG

54. SYRIANA

55. CASANOVA (B)

56. RUMOR HAS IT (B)

57. THE SQUID AND THE WHALE

58. THE CONSTANT GARDENER

59. MATCH POINT

60. THE MATADOR

61. TRANSAMERICA

If I Picked the Winners

3 Mar

Since I never did write up a list of my favorite movies of 2005, I figured it was only right for me to post some of my picks for this Sunday’s Oscars. I don’t have strong feelings in many of the categories, and I feel like a good number of them are already pretty well set (which doesn’t generate much interest in picking your own winner), but here goes anyway in a few of the ones I have an opinion about …

Best Picture
Who’s going to win: Brokeback Mountain
How I’d vote: Toss-up between BBM and Munich. While the latter film resonated more with me and would have ranked higher on my list, Brokeback has had the longer-lasting emotional impact, and I saw it twice. As good as it was, I have no real interest in seeing Munich again.

Best Actor
Who’s going to win: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
How I’d vote: It’d be cool if Terrence Howard won, but I’d agree with the Academy if they chose Hoffman. He really was great, and he’s way overdue for some recognition.

Best Actress
Who’s going to win: Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
How I’d vote: Wasn’t particularly blown away by Witherspoon or Felicity Huffman, so this one is also a toss-up for me. Because I enjoyed Walk the Line more, however, I’d give my vote to Witherspoon.

Best Supporting Actor
Who’s going to win: George Clooney, Syriana
How I’d vote: Tough call again. Despite my allegiance and loyalty to Clooney, and my liking of Syriana, I’d really like to see Paul Giamatti get some long overdue recognition.

Best Supporting Actress
Who’s going to win: Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
How I’d vote: Weisz was the best thing in a great movie. She’d have my vote too. Still, even though I didn’t like her movie, I think it’d be cool if Amy Adams won.

Best Documentary Feature
Who’s going to win: March of the Penguins
How I’d vote: Murderball was my favorite movie of 2005, the only one I actually wanted to be longer. So I’m really rooting for it here.

Best Original Song
Who’s going to win: “Travelin’ Thru,” Transamerica
How I’d vote: “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” from Hustle & Flow. Let me put it this way: If this song doesn’t win, there’ll be a whole lotta bitches jumpin’ ship.

Best Original Score
Who’s going to win: Gustavo Santaolalla, Brokeback Mountain
How I’d vote: The score for BBM is great music that can be listened to on its own without the movie. I’m hoping John Williams’ two competing scores cancel each other out with the voters.

Otherwise, here are my other picks:

Best Animated Feature: Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Best Art Direction: Memoirs of a Geisha
Best Cinematography: Brokeback Mountain
Best Costume Design: Memoirs of a Geisha
Best Director: Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
Best Documentary Short: The Mushroom Club
Best Editing: Crash
Best Foreign Language Film: Paradise Now
Best Makeup: The Chronicles of Narnia
Best Animated Short Film: One Man Band
Best Live Action Short Film: Ausreisser (The Runaway)
Best Sound Editing: King Kong
Best Sound Mixing: Walk the Line
Best Visual Effects: King Kong
Best Adapted Screenplay: Brokeback Mountain
Best Original Screenplay: Crash

So there you go. Oh, and one last prediction: Jon Stewart is going to rock. I can hardly wait.

It’s All in My Nose

3 Mar

Called in sick and stayed home from work today. Got a bad case of the sniffles. Really, I’d be much better were it not for the fact that I’m sneezing a lot and blowing my nose constantly. Nyquil is helping me sleep at night so I’m not tired, and my achiness is gone. It’s my damned nose that’s trailing. And that’s making me feel worse. Yuck. If I was going to stay home from work on a Friday, I’d rather do it when I could actually enjoy the day. Today isn’t going to be much fun at all. Maybe I should go to Shaw’s and get some chocolate cake…

Is Zathmary’s Clozed?

2 Mar

Stores in Coolidge Corner seem to close often enough that when another shuts its doors, it’s hardly newsworthy — much less blogworthy. But something’s up at Zathmary’s, and I can’t seem to figure out if the store has closed for good or what.

All week, the delivery trucks have arrived, dropping off the daily breads, newspapers and produce, and leaving them right out front or just inside the front door. And there they stay.

When I pass by at night on the way home, the place is empty, half the lights are off, chairs are still stacked on the tables, display cases still empty. Continue reading →

In the Grip of the Grippe

1 Mar

I guess it’s my turn. Again. Some horrible cold has been making its way through the office over the past couple of weeks, and I suppose when the people I work closest with get it, it’s only a matter of time before I do too. So, today I felt gross. Didn’t sleep well last night and I’m tired. Got a runny nose. I’m achy. No appetite (never ate lunch). I’m irritable. And I’m actually looking forward to watching American Idol tonight. You know the symptoms, and you’ve read about them here before, so I won’t go into it again.

Why did I think that because I had a cold in December I was immune now and for the rest of the season? Isn’t that how it works? And when is this cold snap going to pass???

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