The Horror

Makes me think of good (better) contemporary horror (psychological thriller?) movies that I can recall like

 and 

 

Both have a great shot and set-up of a stoic New England house.

However nothing compares:

Another Earth

Best Forgotten Movie of the Year

The Debt

About three Israeli Mossad agents operating behind the iron curtain to capture a Nazi, and how their mission affected their adult lives as well. Acted with perfection by Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, Marton Csokas, and Helen Mirren, Ciaran Hinds, and Tom Wilkinson.

Easily one of my favorite films of the year. If this came out in November I don't think it would've been overlooked.

Best Trailer of 2011: Pina

Except it's only playing in New Yawk so I will never see it in the theater.
What dreams may come.

The Oscar's According to Shosh

Best Picture Enabling One to Sit at a Park for Hours and See the Trees Blow in the Wind:The Tree of Life

Best Picture After Smoking a Large Amount of Marijuana :
The Tree of Life

Best Picture of Tits Under Different Fabrics:
Martha Marcy May Marlene

Best Upcoming Trailer of 2012:
We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Pump Up Trailer:
Hanna

Most Underrated:
Tie: Hesher and Super 8

Most Fabulous and Unexpected and Lonely and Sad and Adorable:
Bill Cunningham New York

Most Annoying that it is up for  Foreign Language Oscar:
The Land of Blood and Honey

Most I Really Don't Care About You Anymore:
Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia and Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn


The Why is She at the Golden Globes Award? Award. Is she in anything these days?
Jessica Alba

Most Unhappy to be at the Golden Globes yet Awesome to See How Pouty he was:
Ashton Kutcher

Best Name Dropping of Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe:
Limitless "I read it in 30 minutes and understood all of it!"

Best IMAX 3D:
Tie: Born to Be Wild vs. Under the Sea vs. Hubble 3D

Best Supporting Actress:
Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids

Best Credits:
Bridesmaids, esp. Maya Rudolph's fist pump

Paul Newman IS Hud

  

The man with the barbed wire soul. Manders have you seen this? 

It is slow but once you get through it you will love me because it is just a great moral movie and raises a lot of questions about progress and what that exactly means.

NOT to be confused with Steve Mcqueen

Who is brings his Blonde American Bad Assness as THE COOLER KING in The Great Escape:

"Sometimes God makes perfect people and Paul Newman was one of them." -Sally Field

Butch Cassidy and the Kid Hiding in the Trees from the Bolivian Police with their Lady Friend

Make me want to go to Sundance!
All access pass.
Who would you rather be? Butch or the Sundance Kid?
Friendly Loyal Cutey King of the Gang or Smooth Rifling Hot Stoic Sundance?

This One Gives Me the Chillz

Every time.

Poster + Detail

 AUUUUUUU REEVVVOOOOIIIIIR SHOOOOOOSSHAAAANNNNAA
I think a lot about posters and trailers and will be brainstorming continually about them until the end of time.

Free Mahi Mahi! Free Mahi Mahi!

A Forgotten but Excellent Marketing Campaign

I was playing this pinball machine last night and stared at every portrait for HOURS. Well not hours, but each expression is phenomenal. The photograph is so well crafted and JUICY. And makes me want to start back at Season 1.

Hi I'm Bud..and I'm Doyle...And when we're not saving the environment, we're thinkin' of you, naked, thigh deep in tofu.

"I'm trying to make a movie here, not a film!"

And The Nominees Are...

Amanda's Predictions are in Green

BEST PICTURE

The ArTisT

Thomas Langmann, Producer

The DescenDAnTs

Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers

exTremely louD & increDibly close

Scott Rudin, Producer

The help

Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers

hugo

Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers

miDnighT in pAris

Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers

moneybAll

Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers

The Tree of life

Nominees to be determined

WAr horse

Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Demián bichir

A BeTTeR Life

george clooney

THe DeSCeNDANTS

Jean Dujardin

THe ARTiST

gary oldman

TiNKeR TAiLoR SoLDieR SPy

brad pitt

MoNeyBALL

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Kenneth branagh

My WeeK WiTH MARiLyN

Jonah hill

MoNeyBALL

nick nolte

WARRioR

christopher plummer

BeGiNNeRS

max von sydow

exTReMeLy LouD & iNCReDiBLy CLoSe

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

glenn close

ALBeRT NoBBS

Viola Davis

THe HeLP

rooney mara

THe GiRL WiTH THe DRAGoN TATToo

meryl streep

THe iRoN LADy

michelle Williams

My WeeK WiTH MARiLyN

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

bérénice bejo

THe ARTiST

Jessica chastain

THe HeLP

melissa mccarthy

BRiDeSMAiDS

Janet mcTeer

ALBeRT NoBBS

octavia spencer

THe HeLP

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

A cAT in pAris

Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup felicioli

chico & riTA

fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal

Kung fu pAnDA 2

Jennifer yuh Nelson

puss in booTs

Chris Miller

rAngo

Gore Verbinski

ART DIRECTION

The ArTisT

Production Design: Laurence Bennett Set Decoration: Robert Gould

hArry poTTer AnD The DeAThly hAlloWs pArT 2 Production Design: Stuart Craig Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan

hugo

Production Design: Dante ferretti Set Decoration: francesca Lo Schiavo

miDnighT in pAris

Production Design: Anne Seibel Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil

WAr horse

Production Design: Rick Carter Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

CINEMATOGRAPHY

The ArTisT

Guillaume Schiffman

The girl WiTh The DrAgon TATToo

Jeff Cronenweth

hugo

Robert Richardson

The Tree of life

emmanuel Lubezki

WAr horse

Janusz Kaminski

COSTUME DESIGN

Anonymous

Lisy Christl

The ArTisT

Mark Bridges

hugo

Sandy Powell

JAne eyre

Michael o’Connor

W.e.

Arianne Phillips

DIRECTING

The ArTisT

Michel Hazanavicius

The DescenDAnTs

Alexander Payne

hugo

Martin Scorsese

miDnighT in pAris

Woody Allen

The Tree of life

Terrence Malick

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

hell AnD bAcK AgAin

Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner

if A Tree fAlls: A sTory of The eArTh liberATion fronT Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman

pArADise losT 3: purgATory

Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky

pinA

Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel

unDefeATeD

TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

The bArber of birminghAm: fooT solDier of The ciVil righTs moVemenT Robin fryday and Gail Dolgin

goD is The bigger elVis

Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson

inciDenT in neW bAghDAD

James Spione

sAVing fAce

Daniel Junge and Sharmeen obaid-Chinoy

The TsunAmi AnD The cherry blossom

Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

FILM EDITING

The ArTisT

Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius

The DescenDAnTs

Kevin Tent

The girl WiTh The DrAgon TATToo

Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

hugo

Thelma Schoonmaker

moneybAll

Christopher Tellefsen

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

bullheAD

Belgium

fooTnoTe

israel

in DArKness

Poland

monsieur lAzhAr

Canada

A sepArATion

iran

MAKEUP

AlberT nobbs

Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle

hArry poTTer AnD The DeAThly hAlloWs pArT 2 Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin

The iron lADy

Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

The ADVenTures of TinTin

John Williams

The ArTisT

Ludovic Bource

hugo

Howard Shore

TinKer TAilor solDier spy

Alberto iglesias

WAr horse

John Williams

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

man or muppet

THe MuPPeTS Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

real in rio

Rio Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

DimAnche/sunDAy

Patrick Doyon

The fAnTAsTic flying booKs of mr. morris lessmore William Joyce and Brandon oldenburg

lA lunA

enrico Casarosa

A morning sTroll

Grant orchard and Sue Goffe

WilD life

Amanda forbis and Wendy Tilby

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

penTecosT

Peter McDonald and eimear o’Kane

rAJu

Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren

The shore

Terry George and oorlagh George

Time freAK

Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey

TubA ATlAnTic

Hallvar Witzø

SOUND EDITING

DriVe

Lon Bender and Victor Ray ennis

The girl WiTh The DrAgon TATToo

Ren Klyce

hugo

Philip Stockton and eugene Gearty

TrAnsformers: DArK of The moon

ethan Van der Ryn and erik Aadahl

WAr horse

Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

SOUND MIXING

The girl WiTh The DrAgon TATToo

David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson

hugo

Tom fleischman and John Midgley

moneybAll

Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and ed Novick

TrAnsformers: DArK of The moon

Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin

WAr horse

Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

VISUAL EFFECTS

hArry poTTer AnD The DeAThly hAlloWs pArT 2 Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson

hugo

Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning

reAl sTeel

erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg

rise of The plAneT of The Apes

Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett

TrAnsformers: DArK of The moon

Scott farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John frazier

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

The DescenDAnTs

Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat faxon & Jim Rash

hugo

Screenplay by John Logan

The iDes of mArch

Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon

moneybAll

Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin

TinKer TAilor solDier spy

Screenplay by Bridget o’Connor & Peter Straughan

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

The ArTisT

Written by Michel Hazanavicius

briDesmAiDs

Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig (I WISH!)

mArgin cAll

Written by J.C. Chandor

miDnighT in pAris

Written by Woody Allen

A sepArATion

Written by Asghar farhadi

Sorry for the weird font, that's just how it copied, and I really didn't want to retype it. 

I'm A Little Embarassed...

But I REALLY want to see this movie:

Watch the trailer here:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi236559897/

More Oscar talk

One more thing (for now) about my thoughts on this year's nominees. I'm not too thrilled with any of the best picture nominees. Usually, I try and see all of them, but this year I wanted to see none of them, so I settled and only saw 4. Of those 4, I did see the top 2 contenders, The Artist and The Descendants.  I enjoyed neither of these movies. I could see a hundred movies exactly like The Artist; there were plenty made in the 1920s. Nothing new there. The Descendants was a snoozefest for me. I thought George Clooney was just okay, did a pretty good job, but someone else could've done the same or better. The film started out with an interesting plot point about the relationship between a distant father and his troubled daughter, which seemed to go nowhere. They didn't delve into those emotions and that drama deep enough for me. And the subplot about the land deal? Sucked the emotion right out of the room. Thank goodness for the character of Sid because he provided the funny, quirky moments that the film lacked, and that the trailer suggested it would deliver. I think if this movie came out last spring or summer, of if Clooney wasn't the star, it would never get this kind of Oscar attention. That's my rant about these nominees. Thanks for listening.

Shaileen Woodley and Nick Krause (Sid)

Oscars!

Speaking of snubs (thumbs up to Felicity Jones and Elizabeth Olsen), where are Ryan and Leo??

 

And my favorite movie of the year (which is nowhere to be found in any category, despite early high praise from critics and moviegoers) was Like Crazy. Incredibly acting, writing (although it was mostly improv), directing, editing, etc. Just a refreshingly original movie. It also had one of the best trailers of the year. 

An Excellent Performance, I wish I could screen capture his face a lot of the time.

And an excerpt from the Screenplay thanks to the NYTimes. A great scene :

Shame
By Steve Mcqueen and Abi Morgan
Sissy (Carey Mulligan), fragile and self-destructive, has moved into the austere Chelsea high-rise apartment where Brandon (Michael Fassbender), her older brother, lives. He is an executive at a high-tech firm who compulsively indulges in sexual encounters. Their fraught relationship threatens to implode.
INT. BRANDON’S APARTMENT. NEW YORK. DAY.
Brandon is seated on his couch, watching television. Sissy enters, on her cell phone. Brandon ignores her.
SISSY (into phone) David? Pick up. I take it you’re at your pottery class.
Sissy hangs up.
SISSY (Cont’d) Have you eaten?
BRANDON No.
SISSY Are you hungry?
BRANDON No.
Sissy joins Brandon on the couch.
SISSY Can you just give me a hug?
Brandon puts an arm around her. She snuggles up to him.
BRANDON He’s not gonna screw you again. You left a message, didn’t you? You can’t help yourself. It’s disgusting.
SISSY Why are you so angry?
BRANDON Why am I so angry? That’s my boss. You sleep with him after 20 minutes. Now you’re calling him up. What’s the matter with you? You know he’s got a family, right?
(Cont’d) You know he’s got a family?
SISSY No.
BRANDON You didn’t see the wedding ring on his finger?
SISSY No.
BRANDON You’re a liar.
SISSY I’m sorry.
BRANDON You’re always sorry.
SISSY At least...
BRANDON (Over) That’s all you ever say.
SISSY (Over) Well, at least I say I’m sorry.
BRANDON Try doing something. Actions count, not words.
Pause.
SISSY I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I screwed up. I’m not perfect. I make mistakes, but I’m trying.
BRANDON Some people screw up all the time.
Pause.
BRANDON (Cont’d) Look, just forget it. This isn’t working out. Obviously. You need to find somewhere else to live.
SISSY I don’t have anywhere else to go. This isn’t about him. I make you angry all the time and I don’t know why.
BRANDON No. You trap me. You force me into a corner and you trap me. “I’ve got nowhere else to go.” I mean, what is that?
SISSY You’re my brother.
BRANDON So what? I’m responsible for you?
SISSY Yes.
BRANDON No, I’m not.
SISSY Yes, you are.
BRANDON (Over) No, I didn’t give birth to you. I didn’t bring you into this world.
SISSY You’re my brother, I’m your sister. We’re family. We’re meant to look after each other.
BRANDON You’re not looking after me.
SISSY I’m ...
BRANDON I’m looking after myself.
SISSY I’m trying. I’m trying to help you.
BRANDON How are you helping me, huh? How are you helping me? How are you helping me? Huh? Look at me. How are you helping me? You come in here and you’re a weight on me. Do you understand me? You’re a burden. You’re just dragging me down. How are you helping me? You can’t even clean up after yourself. Stop playing the victim.
SISSY I’m not playing the victim. If I left, I would never hear from you again. Don’t you think that’s sad? Don’t you think that’s sad? You’re my brother.
BRANDON Why is it always so dramatic with you? Everything is always the end of the world.
SISSY It’s not dramatic. I’m trying to talk to you.
BRANDON I don’t wanna talk. Try not talking. Try just listening or thinking for a change.
SISSY Yeah, ’cos that’s working great for you. You’re completely fine.
BRANDON Well, I’ve got my own apartment.
SISSY Oh, whoopee-doo. You have your own apartment, that’s amazing. Your job and an apartment, I should be in awe of you.
BRANDON Well, at least I’m responsible for it. At least I don’t depend on people all the time. You’re a dependency. You’re a parasite.
SISSY (OVER) You don’t have anybody. You don’t have anybody. You have me and your pervert boss.
BRANDON You slept with that pervert boss. What does that make you?
SISSY Don’t talk to me about sex life, Brandon. Not from you.

She should probably be on the ballot although neither of us care about her

Although I once did really, really care about her.

Insulted that these two ladies are not on the Oscar 2011 Ballot

Felicity Jones in Like Crazy**

Elizabeth Olson in Martha Marcy May Marlene

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But then Felicity has just been cast in Warren Beatty's new movie about Howard Hughes. Perhaps she will get her reign someday.