Up

The joyful music begins to play. The drums begin to roll. I march out onto the stage and heroic music floods the stadium and I bow to it. But then I open my eyes and realize that just because I have now completed all ten Best Picture nominees don’t really mean that much. Am I glad that I’m finished with them? Yes, I really truly am, I can get back to my regular watching now that I’ve watching the finest films 2009 had to offer (apparently).

Tonight, I watched the Best Picture nominee Up for about the millionth time, but the brilliant part about this movie is that I don’t think I can get sick of it. I know that this is just my opinion, and I know that people will agree, but others won’t, but I truly think that Up is Pixar’s best, which is saying something when I think of the Toy Story movies, and Monsters Inc. and The Incredibles, I truly love their movies, but there was just something more that Up has to offer.

The movie begins and we’re introduced to Carl Fredrickson, played perfectly by the great Ed Asner. We meet him when he’s a little boy and we see that he worships his hero, Charles Muntz, who is a pilot and an adventurer who finds a creature’s bones in Paradise Falls, South America. But, no one believes Muntz that it’s a real animal’s bones. So, Muntz boards his zeppelin and goes back to Paradise Falls, exclaiming “Adventure is out there!”.

So, Carl wants to go to Paradise Falls and he meets a young girl who shares the same dream. We then get a beautiful montage (one of the best I’ve ever seen) of their lives together passing, never getting to go to Paradise Falls, but always trying. I'm not ashamed to say that it makes me cry every time. Finally, his wife dies of old age and Carl lives alone in grief and memories.

Well, the house that Carl and his wife, Ellie, lived in their whole life is in the way of a construction project and he keeps getting offers to have the house be bought, but he refuses. He then assaults a worker and he is sent to court and has to go to a retirement home. He then attaches balloons to his house and flies to Paradise Falls with a young scout named Russell who was under the porch at the time looking for a ‘snipe’ as per the request of Carl.

So, they land on the opposite side of the canyon of Paradise Falls and they have to walk the house the rest of the way, meeting talking dogs, Charles Muntz and a giant bird named Kevin along the way.

Well, I’m sure that you’ve probably watched this film before; it’s a wonderful movie that makes me cry several times, and makes you laugh just as much. You really feel for Carl and his quest, and he learns a wonderful lesson by the end of the movie.

Like I mentioned earlier, the casting was practically perfect. Ed Asner plays Carl perfectly and makes the character loveable, even though he’s a jerk most of the movie. The plot was really good, it certainly wasn’t the greatest, but it was fantastic just the same. It’s a perfect family movie, everyone can enjoy it. The animation was amazing, and I really wish that I had gotten to see this movie in theaters, or even better, in 3-D. Oh well.

So, do I think this should be up for Best Picture? Most definitely. It deserves its place amongst the other ten films, and ranks above a lot of them. I would love to see it win.

So, overall, you know, I keep thinking about it, and I think it deserves it. I’m going to give this film a perfect 10 out of 10.

Up next is Moon, then (500) Days of Summer as per your choice.

The Blind Side

Boy, am I feeling good tonight. I’m doing my review for The Blind Side tonight, which means that I have been on a long journey myself, and I can see the finish line just ahead. If you have been following me, then you know that this is Best Picture nominee number nine, leaving just one left for next time. But, I will talk about Up next time. This time, it’s The Blind Side.

Well, just like a lot of these Best Picture films, I’d never really heard of them and hadn’t seen trailers and watched them fresh. Precious was like that. An Education was like that. Up in the Air was like that. The Blind Side was half that. I knew of its existence. I had seen the title at the theater, but I had no idea what it was about or anything.

So, a couple of my friends have seen it, and they have said that it’s a feel good movie about football, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it. You see, I really don’t care about football. It’s boring to me and I describe it as ‘an excuse for a bunch of grown men to grab each other’. But, because of my promise to you, the reader, I had to watch it since it is one of the nominees.

I went and saw it this evening and we’re given the story of a young boy named ‘Big’ Mike Oher who lives in Memphis. I’m assuming it was his foster father got him into a Christian school, but then they dumped him and thus Michael was all alone (at least that’s what I’m assuming, since it didn’t really seem to explain that part as well).

We then get to know the Tuohy family. They are a rich southern family which consists of a husband and wife and a daughter and a son. S.J. (the son) goes to school with Michael and on their way home one night, the family sees Michael walking in the freezing cold. Leigh Anne (the wife) convinces Sean (the husband) to stop and let him stay the night with them.

So, the movie snowballs from there (in a good way). Michael decides to stay and becomes a big brother to Collins and S.J. Leigh Anne teaches him several things and Michael starts to have confidence in himself and do better at school and everything. She then has him join the football team and he learns to be the ‘Left Tackle’ and is amazing at it.

Well, there are a lot of obstacles that Michael has to face and he finds it hard to feel welcome and become a part of the family until much later in the movie. It truly is a feel good movie.

So, here comes the question. Do I think it deserves to be one of the Best Picture Nominations? Well, compared to some of the other movies I’ve watched, I would say yes. I think it was very good, and it was nice to see something that wasn’t quite so artsy-fartsy up for Best Picture. Do I think it will win? No, I don’t think so, but at least the nomination is nice.

But yeah, I did like this movie. It was a breath of fresh air compared to such downers as An Education and Precious. The acting was fantastic and the plot wasn’t too bad either, apart from it being one of those stories that’s been done tons and tons and tons of times before. But, it’s based on a true story, so we’ve got to give it that.

But yeah, I really enjoyed this movie. I was fun and made me laugh several times, and almost made me cry. Not quite, but almost. I give it 8 out of 10.

Precious

Well, I am back with my review for Precious. I told you that I would be back doing my Best Picture reviews, and I’m keeping that promise to you guys. I wasn’t sure which of the Best Picture films I wanted to do next, so I picked at random, and Precious was what got chosen.

So, I watched the Best Picture nominee Precious tonight and you know, I’m not sure what to think. This film was really good, but it was really sad at the same time. I guess it truly set out to
achieve this purpose and it hit it dead on.

Precious is about this young sixteen year old girl named Precious who is impregnated by her father twice and she is kicked out of school. Her father hates her and her mother despises her and beats on her all the time. Precious can’t win for losing.

The principal of her previous school decides though to send her to a special school to prepare to get her GED. Her mother is pissed about this and beats on her for it, but she goes anyway. She then meets Ms. Rain who teaches her to read and write. The rest is a downhill slope of just...awfulness. Not awfulness in quality, but awfulness in the sense of what happens if awful.

You know, I don’t really want to give too much of this movie away because it is definitely one I would suggest seeing, but I would suggest popping a Disney movie in immediately after because this movie depressed me. You felt so bad for all that Precious goes through, and just when you think it’s as worse as it can get, it gets even worse. Then it gets even worse. It’s like watching two hours of people dump on this poor young girl.

Like I said, I would definitely suggest seeing this film. It was good, yes, but it goes in my list of movies that I will watch once, then never again, such as Gone, Baby, Gone and Mystic River. Far too depressing. The only one you route for in this movie is Precious, but you begin to lose hope and after it ends, you do wonder what’s going to happen next. Obviously, I won’t give away the ending.

Do I think it should be up with the other Best Picture nominations? I honestly can’t say, I just don’t know. I would say yes, but when I want to say yes, I think of all the reasons why I should say no, and vice versa. I would suggest seeing this as a rental. Don’t go out and spend $20 on a DVD. Netflix to the rescue!

So, overall it’s very hard for me to rate this movie. Like I said earlier, it set out with a purpose, and it achieved the purpose quite well, but I don’t know if I enjoyed it. So, for now, I think it will get 6 out of 10.

The Blind Side is next folks. Eight down, two to go.

The Dark Knight

Devin Griffiths: Welcome back to Cineplex 14. I know that I've been going over my Best Picture films, and I promise that I will get back to them next. I'm actually doing an experimental review tonight. I have asked my friend Eric Wood to co-review this film with me, and if you, the reader, enjoy what we have to say, then I may just keep him on. Eric, welcome.

Eric Wood: Thank you Chuck

DG : We decided tonight to do an easy review. We'll be reviewing The Dark Knight, 2008's summer blockbuster hit, sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. And I can honestly say, wow. When this movie was announced and casting was listed, I got worried, wondering if it could possibly live up to the masterpiece that was Batman Begins. What about you?

EW: Well Devin, I never really worried about it, silly twurp that I am. I looked at the commercial and thought, "this is going to rock." So, as far as educated guesses, I can only say that I was worried that what the commercials had shown would not live up to the standards I already had in mind. But was I worried? Not too much. I mean, we did have Batman Begins to go off of.

DG: True, very true. So, we saw it in theaters, together actually, and the film begins and we're given a bank robbery right away and show the madness (and brilliance) of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker. We're then given a feel that this film hasn't forgotten it's roots and what made it special as we get a cameo from Cillian Murphy as The Scarecrow, and even people dressing up as Batman, copying him, much like Frank Miller's comic The Dark Knight Returns. That was the comic, right?

EW: Well, yes, that was a tip of the hat to the comic, Devin. But I feel now that this movie was rather telling the back story behind what happened in the Frank Miller comic. We are pulled into the world from Batman's view because of the tenasity of the Joker. Joker has no rules, Batman does. Heath Leder's acting brought that out real well. I remember the "Let me do a magic trick" part. It really pushed the enveloped on that one.

DG: Yeah, it truly did. Let us talk about the acting for a moment.

EW: Okay

DG: I know that I am in the minority when I say this, but I truly believe that, although Heath Ledger was amazing, I believe that Aaron Eckhart stole the show as Harvey Dent, and, not trying to bash Ledger's wonderful performance, but I think that Eckhart should have recieved the Oscar Nomination.

EW: I'm not going to disagree with you Devin in that Eckhart was good. He was, and so were the other members of the cast. But I still feel really attached to Ledger's performance. However, I have a middle ground idea. They were two power house actors, and the movie seemed to realize that, and gave the first half of the film to Ledger, and the last of it to Eckhart.

DG: Yeah, you're right there. They were equals, and in fact all of the cast was outstanding. I just believe that it was Harvey Dent's movie.

EW: Well, I don't.

DG: The rise and fall of Gotham's White Knight.

EW: I think that was the moral at the end of the movie, but the movie was about the story leading up to that, or rather, consisted of what happened that could destroy someone. Ledger was the meal, Eckhart was the after taste. That's my take anyway, and a short version too.

DG: Alright, well let me ask you this. In the case of 'If Heath Ledger was still alive', would you still feel the same way?

EW: Well, you got me. I can't truthfully say Yes a hundred percent sure. From an entertainment stand point, though, Ledger gave me, personally, more than Eckhart. I think that was the point.

DG: You may be right.

EW: Of course.

DG: Well, we could go on bickering about casting for a while. You know, I can honestly say that when I hear the name Christopher Nolan, I know I'm in for a treat. Ever since Memento. To steal a quote from Dark Knight and change it up a bit, "I Believe in Christopher Nolan".

EW: Hmm, it’s really a shame that more people don't know his name as much as the actors'. That includes me

DG: That's alright, buddy. I could drop names of directors that I'm sure you've never even heard of, but we won't go into that now.

EW: Thank you for sparing me. You're so kind.

DG: This film is definitely a dark psychological thriller. It definitely deserves is PG-13 rating, and could have even been pushed to an R. It's not just simply a Batman film, it's a dark and gritty crime drama.

EW: I think R would have allowed more for the dark tone. I mean, we have had a few R comic book movies before.

DG: I agree. Well, Eric. I think I'm going to give this film 9 out of 10. I would give it a perfect 10, but I think that it dragged a little too much at some parts. It was just a little too long at two hours and forty-five minutes. Not too mention a couple little plot holes that always bug me when I see them, such as getting fingerprints off a shattered bullet when the fingerprint would be on the bullet casing.

EW: And I think perhaps YOU dragged on a little too much.

DG: Maybe a little. What would you give it?

EW: I give it three ratings: 10/10 for entertainment, 9/10 for personal like and dislikes, and 8.5/10 for overall great picture. I give it that because there have been more powerful films that hurt you, uplift you. This film did that, but not as much as others. It took us to the edge, but didn't push us over too much.

DG: Definitely.

EW: Yeah, and I give it three ratings because films are complicated. Especially this one.

DG: Well, thank you Eric for being my co-reviewer tonight, it was an honor having you, and I hope that we can do this again.

EW: I look forward to it. Thank you very much.

An Education

So, I was looking over my options for Best Picture. I thought I was going to watch Precious today, but at the last moment I shifted gears completely and saw An Education. Seven down, three to go.

You know, I honestly hadn’t even heard of this movie before the Best Picture nominations came out. I was reading through the list and most of them I had at least heard of in passing at least. So, this one threw me through a loop. So, I did some studying and discovered that I really didn’t know anyone in the cast other than Peter Sarsgaard (which I don’t care much for either), and Spiderman 2’s Alfred Molina. I was at least excited for Molina, I’ve enjoyed him in tons of movies such as The Hoax,The Da Vinci Code, and even his brief appearance in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Well, I began watching An Education and was quite pleased at the upbeat music at the beginning and was ready to be thoroughly entertained. I feel like they tried to throw you off with the music. We’re introduced to a small family in a suburb of London in 1961. A father played by Molina, a mother played by Cara Seymour, a fairly unknown actress at least to me, and their sixteen year old daughter Jenny, played by yet another unknown named Carry Mulligan (who is also up for Best Actress for this movie).

Jenny is a girl aspiring to go to Oxford when she finishes with her schooling. She’s a straight A student and a cello player. On her way home in the rain one day she meets a man named David (played by Sarsgaard) who offers her cello a ride home because she shouldn’t ride with strangers. Well, they get to talking and start a relationship, despite the huge age difference which no one seems to mind.

So David starts showing Jenny the good life and shows that life isn’t just about school and he starts to teach her life experience. She meets his friends and go to dinners and shows together and just act like a normal couple. Well, that is until David starts showing his true colors near the hour mark.

I don’t want to give the ending away, but I kind of guessed it shortly after the movie began. This movie to me was fairly unremarkable and I’m fairly confused as to why this was chosen as a Best Picture nominee, and if it wins, then my faith in the academy will be lost.

The acting was about the only thing going for this movie in my opinion. I wouldn’t mind seeing Mulligan take the Best Actress Oscar, but I wouldn’t care if she didn’t. Alfred Molina kind of stole the show as her overprotective father.

The editing really seemed rushed at points. There were several scenes that felt really choppy. It didn’t confuse me, but it bugged me. The plot, like I said earlier, was fairly unremarkable and predictable. It was a case of 'Should I go to college or should I be with the man I love?'. Apparently, in the 1960's, you couldn't have both.

So, there’s not really much more that I can say about this film. Did I enjoy it? I didn’t hate it, that’s about the only way I can answer that question, but I wasn’t impressed at all. I give it 4 out of 10.

The Hurt Locker

Well, I’m getting closer and closer to my goal of all ten Best Picture films. Six down, four to go. Not even entirely sure which one is next myself. Could it be Precious? Or how about Up? Well, that doesn’t matter right now. What does matter is the review right here, right now. And tonight is The Hurt Locker and boy was it interesting.

The movie, just in case you don’t know, is a character study of a small bomb squad in the Iraqi War. We’re introduced to Sgt Thompson, Sgt Sanborn and Spc Eldridge. They are a group who don’t fear death, who do their job and they do it well. Well, that is until Sgt Thompson is killed by an explosion and they get a replacement leader. Thus enters Sgt James to take his place.

Sgt James truly shows no fear. They go out to disarm a bomb and he walks out in his bomb suit all ready to do it, walking tall and fearing no one. He then disarms a cluster of bombs that would make anyone crap themselves, but does he show fear? No, of course not. He’s being all that he can be.

There’s really not much to talk about plot wise in this film. This film’s purpose isn’t so much the plot, but showing the terrors of war. Showing that you don’t always win things and sometimes you don’t get your happy ending. You see the fear spread throughout the characters, the moments where you just break down and you can’t take it anymore. The side of war that you don’t see on TV, the weak moments our troops have because of the emotional toll it takes on you.

Well, I think the casting was outstanding. I didn’t know anybody except for a surprise appearance by Lord Voldemort himself, Ralph Fiennes, and a couple scenes with The Ice Truck Killer himself from Dexter Season 1 Christian Camargo. The editing was excellent. I’ve noticed that a few of the Best Picture films have a documentary feel to them, and this one was no different. You got to know the characters and feel for them as if they were real. It had a couple moments that made me laugh, and a couple that made me cry. It truly served its purpose.

Do I think that it should be up for Best Picture? Well, you know I’m not entirely sure. Don’t get me wrong, I liked this movie, I liked it a lot, but I don’t know if I liked it enough to be up for Best Picture (but then again, this is coming from the guy who thought Slumdog Millionaire, last year’s Best Picture winner, was disappointing).

So overall, it was a good film, one that I definitely would suggest to anybody to see. It’s not a family film, obviously. It shows the brutality of war and it makes you think a lot. I give it 8 out of 10.

Up in the Air

So, last night I went for a drive. I drove and I drove and I drove, simply trying to find a theater playing the Oscar nominated Up in the Air. Finally, I found one, about fifty miles from my home, and I was quite relieved. I paid my admission, got some popcorn, and sat on my butt in the nice comfortable theater seat.

I sat there for several minutes, doing a checklist in my head, wondering how hard it would be to see all of these films in one month, and even if it kills me, I’ll do it. I’ve made a promise to you that I will see all of these films, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. We’re five down, five to go.

Well, I am a fan of George Clooney, even though, as my girlfriend puts it, he seems to play the same role over and over again, so I wasn’t expecting anything different from what he usually does, and to be honest with you, that’s exactly what I got, but I got so much more than I was expecting.

To be honest with you, still to this day, I have yet to see a trailer for this film. I had never really even heard of it until I saw that it came to theaters, and at that point, I heard George Clooney was in it, so I planned to see it sooner or later.

So the movie begins and literally within five minutes, I knew that I was going to love this film. It had great names in the opening credits such as Zach Galifianakis, J K Simmons, Danny McBride, Sam Elliott, Jason Bateman and even the Reitman brothers. All around a spectacular cast, and it definitely showed, but I’ll get more into that later.

We’re introduced to Ryan Bingham played by George Clooney, a man who is always flying from city to city for his job as a, well I’m not sure what the official title would be, but he’s a guy who companies hire to fire people. Well, we get to know his character a little bit, and at first, you love him, at least I did. He made me laugh at several points, but he makes you think at several points as well.

So, Ryan is told early on in the movie that to save on costs for the company, they’re going to start doing digital firings, and this is the idea of a new woman to the company named Natalie, played flawlessly by Anna Kendrick, who really hasn’t been in anything good (sorry Twilight fans, but its true).

Ryan then explains to Natalie that firing people digitally wouldn’t work, and he gives her several reasons why. So, they are then sent on the road, or the sky as you could say, and he shows her that firing people in person is much more feasible. So, basically, that’s the plot, it’s about them firing people, but getting to know the characters themselves. This truly is a character movie. We find that Ryan has a hard time connecting to people, that Natalie is too soft and that Alex (Ryan’s girlfriend whom he meets at an airport) is more than she seems to be.

You know, this movie was really well done. I do believe that it deserves its place amongst the other 9 Best Picture films. Do I think it could win? Yes, actually, I think it could. Will it? Well, I’ll make a special post talking about all 10 films after I’m done and give you my opinion, so you’ll just have to keep reading.

The casting was very well done, and I wouldn’t be surprised if George Clooney took home the Best Actor Oscar however. The editing was superb. Much like District 9, it had a documentary feel at points and really made you think, and thus you would forget that it was a movie. The running time was perfect in my eyes, at about an hour and forty minutes, it was perfect.

So yeah, overall this film is definitely one I would recommend, to anybody. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry and it will make you think. It sets out to accomplish all of those and it succeeds with, no pun intended, flying colors. I give it 9 out of 10.

District 9

Well, I know I just posted my review for Friday the 13th, but now I am going to review a good film. A film that you, the reader, voted for me to review. That’s right, I’m finally reviewing District 9. And you know what? In honor of the Academy Awards and District 9's inclusion in the Best Picture category, I have decided that between now and March 7th, I’m going to review all the movies that are up for Best Picture. At least I’ve reviewed Avatar, A Serious Man and Inglourious Basterds. Now I’ve got District 9 done, so that leaves The Blind Side, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Precious, Up and Up in the Air.

So, District 9. I remember seeing the preview for District 9 when I went to see Terminator Salvation and I remember thinking that it definitely looked interesting, and that I would give it a chance, but that I doubted it would be any good. At least it had Peter Jackson producing.

Well, I went and saw District 9 in theaters with my friends Andrew and Eric and I loved the first half, I truly did. I loved the documentary feel of this film; it gave it a big touch of realism. But then, it felt almost like we were thrown into a war movie like Saving Private Ryan and I wasn’t sure what to think, and I honestly hated people laughing when people were exploding, it took away from the vibe of the film in my opinion. So, I left the theater disappointed.

So, the other day I rented and watched District 9 again, and I must say, I was much more impressed by it the second time without people laughing at everything. The battle in the film felt like it should be there and it fit quite well.

Well, I guess I should talk about the plot a little bit. At the beginning we are introduced to Wikus, a worker for District 9. District 9 is a refugee camp where a group of aliens are being kept. You see, in the film we’re told that there was an alien space craft that came to Earth, specifically Johannesburg, Africa, and kind of broke down, trapping the aliens here on Earth. The aliens, known as Prawns, just want to fix their ship and go home, but the humans won’t let them leave.
So, the humans are working on basically evicting the aliens out of District 9 and into a different district which is more cramped and a lot worse, and Wikus is one of the workers getting the aliens to agree to move out of District 9.

Wikus comes across a prawn who is working on a small pod to the prawn mother ship, so that he can help them all go back home, and Wikus tries to get him to leave, unaware of the pod hidden under the earth, and he gets sprayed by alien fuel and starts feeling sick. He then goes home and he finds out that his arm is slowly turning prawn-esque.

Well, I really don’t want to give too much away if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s definitely a great film, it just took me a second watching to realize that, so don’t be too hard on it the first time around.

The plot was fantastic, I really hope I explained it well enough, the editing was almost perfect. Maybe it was the fact that this film felt real that I really didn’t notice any editing problems.

Overall, it was a really good film, and I can honestly say that I’m glad it’s nominated for Best Picture. I don’t think it has the quality to win, but it was definitely still great. I give it 9 out of 10.

Friday the 13th

What can I say? I’ve missed writing my blog for the past week or so. I’ve had a lot of things on my mind and a lot of things to take care of, so needless to say, I’ve been slacking on my reviewing, but one thing is for certain is I haven’t been slacking on my movie watching, and that means that you, the reader, are going to get a couple reviews today.

My newest review, although completely off subject, is Friday the 13th. Honestly, what can I say about this film? I sat down to watch it just for kicks and was completely blown away (no pun intended, being that it was produced by Michael ‘I just jizzed in my pants from that explosion’ Bay). This movie was complete and utter crap.

It starts off with a group of 20-something’s who have nothing better to do than to go looking for pot plants that have been growing around Camp Crystal Lake (honestly, are all horror movies based on pot nowadays? Maybe it’s a clue that the writers were high while writing this crap). They then proceed to have crazy amounts of sex and scoff at the legend of Jason. I mean, honestly, you don’t go to Camp Crystal Lake and bad mouth Jason. That’s like going to Yankee Stadium and bad mouthing the Yankee’s. So needless to say, about twenty minutes of killing and sex happen.

It then goes forward to six weeks later and a new group of 20-something’s go up to a cabin which is apparently adjacent to Camp Crystal Lake. At least they don’t know about Jason. So, then the killing and sex start, again.

This film was not deep at all. If you like slasher films that make absolutely no sense or have no plot whatsoever, then you might, I emphasize might, like this movie to an extent. I don’t even think hardcore fans of the Friday the 13th series would care much for this apart from showing the origin of Jason’s mask, which I think they did in Part 2 or 3 of the original anyway.

At least it’s worth a tiny laugh watching. Honestly, Jason is like seven feet tall and suddenly he’s super sneaky. He only kills you when he stands behind you for however long until you notice him, scream and then die. I feel that’s how the makers of this film wanted you to feel. To feel like you’ve been snuck up upon and murdered.

Overall, this movie feels like a spit in the face. It gets my lowest rating yet of 2 out of 10. Avoid this one like the plague, or Camp Crystal Lake.