Friday, 20 January 2012

Thoughts

Sorry I'm a bit late. My mother hijacked my laptop since hers isn't working- MLIA. Anyways, here we go-


1) The Oscar nominations come out in 4 days. I completely forgot about this. In my head, it is still ages away. I have to start making my predictions/ wishlist. This will obviously be related to my final year-end lists. I saw most of the remaining "award-worthy" films this week- just have The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Shame left, them being the two films I think will feature majorly in my lists. I am very reluctant to watch J. Edgar and The Iron Lady, and maybe, if I can, will see My Week with Marilyn and A Dangerous Method. I think Harry Potter has lost all its chances except if someone puts an Imperius curse on the Academy voters (this is not a thought- it's a suggestion. Someone do this please!).


2) Anyways, this brings us directly to Awards Talk- right after its major win in the Golden Globes, I saw The Descendants. I liked it quite a bit in the first hour after seeing it, but with the realisation dawning on me that such a relatively bland and forgettable film is a front-runner for the Best Film in Oscars this year, its becoming less and less impressive for me. Clooney was rather good, though nothing tops his performance in Up in the Air for me; what can I say? I love Clooney playing Clooney. I was really impressed with Shailene Woodley and she was the best part of the film for me. Then I saw Moneyball. I know people say "it's the sports movie not about sports" and blah, but as much as I wanted to believe that, it still was a sports film for me. Here's a fact about me- I don't do sports. And then it was baseball, which is like the most foreign of all sports for me. I spent too long trying to figure out what Jonah Hill's idea was in the beginning that caused the whole stir in the system or whatever.  It did get better for me around the second-half, but I could not shrug the feeling of complete unfamiliarity. Also the song Brad Pitt's onscreen daughter keeps singing is "The Show" by Lenka, which came out in 2008 and this film is set around 2002-2003. I just could not understand why they had to use that song since it was obviously so anachronistic. Little things like this can really get me distracted, and Moneyball unfortunately suffered due to that. Pitt was good, but personally I prefer his performance in The Tree of Life. Hill was a revelation here, and the best scenes were seriously of him and Pitt together. Finally I just saw The Artist. And it was lovely. I would be overjoyed if such a film wins the top prize at Oscars this year. It is not a great or unique film on its own, but the ambition and heart put into making it in this day and age definitely is great AND unique. I loved Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo and even Uggie (I will still not sit in the same room with him though, obviously). For such a nostalgia-filled year, nothing could be better than a black and white, silent (mostly) film, with actors whose faces light up the screen like the celluloid gods and goddesses of  yesteryears. Ouie?


3) I saw the SNL episode hosted by Daniel Radcliffe. He was very good and confident, but he mostly got terrible sketches. His Harry Potter sketch was the best part, though I kind of dug the idea of  him and Kristen Wiig together. Still, his Allen Ginsberg film Kill Your Darlings has an excellent cast lined up. Elizabeth Olsen, who was amazing in Martha Marcy May Marlene; Jack Huston, who plays Richard Harrow in Boardwalk Empire and is possibly my favourite character in the show; and Dane DeHaan, who will be in Chronicle, The Wettest Country in the World and Gosling-starrer The Place Beyond Pines. It's an impressive group of young actors, and I am really looking forward to this.


4) Sherlock got over this week- oh the infinite sadness! :'( Three episodes per year, that which get over within the first half of the first month of the year, is just cruel. I have to finish rewatching the last episode, and then I will hopefully have a little write-up on it. It really is quite a marvelous show, and Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, and I have to mention him because even my ringtone is "Staying Alive" for him, Andrew Scott who plays Jim Moriarty, are all just superb! I'm a Freeman Fangirl!!


5) Trailers- Detachment, which has the fantastic Adrien Brody in lead. It's about teachers and their thankless lives- believe me, I know all about this. Therefore I think it will become either a love it or hate it film for me. Looking forward to Brody's work though, and the Tony Kaye is the director. He made American History X, which is a film I really need to watch completely at some point. Also there is Resident Evil: Retribution, which is apparently the 5th film in the series, though I don't know when the fourth one came out. I have seen the others, and have little-to-no interest in watching this. It is some sort of mobile ad/ culmination of all the previous ones/ whatever. Milla Jovovich is really gorgeous though.


6) Finally, I have barely been on Tumblr this week, so I don't have much to choose from. Most of it is just SOPA humour, like this. Or this. Or definitely this


Byee.

4 comments:

  1. A burberry acoustic song on the background, a post about Sherlock, Daniel Radcliff on SNL, a dissapointing Descendants and tumblr? Oh god, I love you, we have so many things in common :) I LOVE SHERLOCK so much, you can't imagine it! I just finished it, too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ahaha!! Thank you :D
      I think I recommended Sherlock to you. You are welcome :P
      Also we have great minds ;-)

      Delete
  2. J. Edgar comes out in two weeks here and I don't know whether I want to go and watch it. Before the reviews, it was my most anticipated movie for the year but now...meh. If I don't go and see it, I'll feel out of the loop about Leo's performance. But it will cost a lot of money to see it - which I don't have to be disappointed by a movie. IDK. If Leo gets an Oscar nomination, then maybe. The Iron Lady, though? No. Especially as it is at the arthouse cinema which is dearer than the normal cinema. No.

    And yeah - nothing tops Clooney in Up in the Air. But if he wins an Oscar this year, I will be throwing things. And I haven't even seen any of the other Oscar worthy performances. But Woodley, FTW!

    Meh, Moneyball is out in four weeks here (finally). I shall go and see it, providing my parents are lovely enough to take me over. It really is times like these when I wish I could just watch these movies online - which is not good, I know :/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I was never excited for J.Edgar. I really have no feelings towards Clint Eastwood, and I sort of mostly wanted to see it for Armie Hammer. It will take a lot of desperation to make me watch it and The Iron Lady.
      I don't know. I would love to see Oldman win. I have to spend some time pondering over this category. Must see Shame though! Yes Woodley was ab fab.
      I hope you get to see it. I actually do have to watch quite a few films online because they just don't release where I am. I hate it, but it cannot be helped. You're lucky mate :)

      Delete