Warning: Japan-related content of the following post is
roughly 1.47%. You have been warned.
Sitting in the theater the other night watching Skyfall (for
the second time), I was struck by how much a good movie really can do for you.
I was in a reaaaaally bad mood (thank you, job) and I was just feelin funky and
not in a good way. I sat down, the lights dimmed, and within minutes of the
cheesy opening “turn off your cell phone” reel I was transported. To a place
where there are no money problems (and if there are they are someone else’s so
they are no big deal), no worries, no stress…just 2 hours of watching Bond
catch the bad guy, make love to several beautiful women, and just look
generally badass. The music is perfect, taking you up and down and around in a
way that only movie music can do…thank you, Mr. Newman! But it made me really
want to do an Oscar review blog, so please forgive the lack of Japan-related
content (but hey you were, in fact, warned earlier). And before I get into all
that, I must say that I don’t know where our country lost our love of
movies…when I was younger it seemed like people were just easier to impress and
therefore really enjoyed the whole movie experience. Nowadays there are way too
many apps and distractions and it kinda makes me sad to see that era go…but
rest assured, there will always be movie lovers in the McVey house, including
yours truly. They can’t make an app for
the feeling the movies give you…maybe if they do, I’ll download it and be
converted. But I’d probably need an iphone first.
Anyway, let’s get going cause this could take a moment.
This year there are several
great front-runners for Best Picture, which of course excites the movie
lover in me to no end…here’s a mini-review of each one, in case you missed any
of them. J
Amour: Sorry, missed this one cause strangely enough,
don’t get too many English-subtitled French films in Japan. This better not win
best picture or I’ll be pissed.
Argo: Ok, I’m not a history buff and I have no clue
how historically accurate this movie is but I thought it
was a great story…a little slow in parts, but overall good entertainment. And I
was quite frankly shocked and reminded of our Dear Leonardo DiCaprio in the way
that Ben Affleck was snubbed for Best Actor for this movie! I mean, come
on…this is quite literally the only Ben Affleck movie that I can even stand,
aside from GWH. Come on, Oscar picking people...this was a lame snub. Anyway,
back to the movie itself, I think the action was good and since I (sadly) knew
nothing about this controversy before watching the movie, I was genuinely taken
along for the proverbial ride by what happened in the movie. Very eye-opening
and in an entertaining way…what movies are all about! The bonus was the super cool
70’s hair (especially Ben's). I give this movie 3 out of 4 stars.
Beasts of the Southern Wild: This movie was messy and raw and a tad painful to watch in parts...and kinda leaves you with the "why did I watch that again?" feeling. Not necessarily a good thing. It was intriguing and made me wonder about the people that actually live in that area of Louisiana and how much of it was really accurate. They seemed to have no shortage of crummy places and questionable characters to film so I'm guessing they were not all extras. It had that semi-serious-artsy feel to the whole movie, which is sometimes really awesome but it didn't really seem to flow with the story very well in this case. I'm sorry, but there is nothing beautiful about a horribly run-down trailer with a 6 year old living in it, no matter how artsy you try to make it seem. But the story was very real, almost had a documentary quality that made it very engaging. And the little girl was amazing and I am not surprised she is nominated for Best Actress...however she has some pretty stiff competition in that category this year so I'm not sure she'll take it. However one thing in her favor is that Meryl Streep is nowhere to be seen this year. I give this movie 2 1/2 out of 4 stars.
Django Unchained: Ok, first of all, you can't compare this movie to Pulp Fiction. Yes, they are both Tarantino, but I am sorry to say that this movie is no Pulp Fiction. I had heard it was "the new Pulp Fiction" so I had that idea before watching it and I was a bit disappointed. Because really, PF is a masterpiece and pretty much perfection and how can you improve on that? So that was my bad. But if you judge this movie on it's own, as it should be judged, it was a classic Tarantino fun-fest. Plenty of blood, nay, overkill amounts of blood (pardon the pun) in true Tarantino fashion...and following thusly, done in a way that makes you actually celebrate it because it is usually the heinous bad dude that is getting what he deserves and you find yourself cheering that there is now a river of blood where that bad dude was. And there are plenty of bad dudes in this movie. The story was really enthralling and it was very fun to see Christoph Waltz finally play the good guy...and at the same time to see Leo DiCaprio play the bad guy (and do it well). Overall a worthwhile movie for Tarantino lovers (and possibly non-lovers?) and I give it 3-1/2 out of 4 stars.
Les Misérables: Sooo, it's a musical, in case you didn't know...and boy, do they sing pretty much every.single.line! I truly enjoyed this movie and I think it has some decent chances at winning a couple Oscars, including possibly Mr. Jackman for Best Actor! Which he deserves, he was really phenomenal in this movie. I think they cast it very well, even including Russell Crowe...who, by the way, does a wonderful job despite our hearing to the contrary before we watched the movie. I heard he had gotten some flack over how bad his singing was, but I thought he was rather good for a freakin actor. People are just buttmunches, but that is an entirely different blog. I loved Amanda Seifried in this; she is just adorable and has a beautiful voice...and I thought Anne Hathaway did a great job as well but she doesn't have much screen time. I will say that her singing "I Dreamed a Dream" was amazing and brought me to tears! I was very impressed. It wasn't just her voice, which was very nice, it was the true passion she sang the song with. A very memorable scene that could possibly get her Best Supporting Actress. Overall the movie gets 3-1/2 out of 4 stars from me.
Life of Pi: Ok, this movie made me cry so that must mean that there is something of substance here...at least that's what I'm telling myself. In reality I'm just a giant sap. I have to say that this movie is the dark horse to win Best Visual Effects and I'll be cheering if it manages to beat Peter Jackson. Not to say I don't love me some Petah Jackson, but I just generally enjoyed this movie more than The Hobbit. The story was a bit slow to start, but once the action gets going about midway through you are definitely invested enough in the characters to be intrigued. It was a very unique story and I enjoyed the "voice" of the main character. It reminded me of Cast Away only it had a more upbeat outlook but the survival aspect was just as harrowing. I like movies that make me think and this is definitely one of those movies. Overall I give it 3-1/2 out of 4 stars.
Lincoln: We now enter the “wayyyy too historically
accurate” class of movies w/this film…snoozefest! I’m sorry, but the costumes
and me wondering if that is what Lincoln really sounded like were the only
thing that kept me watching this movie. It was probably epic to some history
buff type people, but it could have been a lot more entertaining. That being
said, Sally Field was great and I really think she will take the Best Actress
nod on this one. I would not be surprised if this is the only win for this
movie. I give this movie a 2 out of 4 stars.
Silver Linings Playbook: Ok, yes Bradley Cooper was
really good for Bradley Cooper. Was
it amazing acting? No. Was it great for him, absolutely. Does that deserve an
Oscar? I personally don’t think the movie was all that exceptionally written,
but he did go above and beyond with what he had to work with. I enjoyed the
“crazy” chemistry between his character and Jennifer Lawrence, but even that
wasn’t really all that noteworthy. That being said, a decent movie overall but
the replay factor is pretty low and also I was extremely disappointed in De
Niro’s performance…we get it, you’re a grumpy asshole. Overall it was a “meh”
for me. I give this movie a 2-1/2 out of 4 stars.
Zero Dark Thirty: Ok, now we get to my favorite movie
of the year! Even if you are not a patriot, you must respect this movie. I am
totally drinking the Kool-Aid on this one because I want to believe that this
is exactly how all of this went down. I know it can’t be all true, but for
movie purposes, changing it to the truth would probably not make it any less
badass. *Spoiler alert* he still dies in the end, so how much does it matter
exactly how we got there? I
thought they showed the interrogations tastefully and they were mild compared to what was probably
done in some cases. Did I “enjoy” watching that? Of course not. But the painful
truth is that those things have happened in defense of our freedom…and if you
can’t support that then I’m not sure you can call yourself an American. *End
political rant* Back to the movie itself, I remember distinctly I was so into
the movie towards the end that J had to actually lean over and whisper to me
“you know he dies, right?” Thank you, dear, for that comic interlude because it
didn’t seem to matter that I knew the ending, the movie was that gripping and
it totally had me. Even if you aren’t political at all (like myself) you need
to watch this movie. It’s amazing and I give it 4 out of 4 stars.
For those of you paying attention, here is a spoiler pic from today that constitutes the 1.47% Japan content of this post. Hope you all enjoy watching the Oscars...I am jealous that none of you have to take Monday morning off of work to watch it. ;) Love to all!
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| Explanation coming soon..stay tuned ;) |
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| "Enjoy My Casualty Life Style"...pretty Boss, indeed. |
