Oscar Nominees 2013

The nominees for the 85th annual Academy Awards were announced this morning. Y'all know how I feel about movies. I'm totally going to comment.

Best Picture:
Amour
I actually would love to this, but non-big-city-living apparently keeps me from doing so. There's still over a month until Oscar night, so maybe I will get to see it, but I'm not holding my breath. I've heard wonderful things about it though. The only thing I can be judgey about is that it's nominated for best picture AND best foreign language film. Do we need to repeat like that? I mean, if this stayed only in the foreign film category, maybe the academy could've put the highest grossing film of 2012 on the list...the film that had something for everyone...The Avengers. I wouldn't expect it to win...it's too mass market for the academy. However, it was awesome on so many levels that I'm really peeved they didn't even deign to think to include it.

Argo
In my opinion, this has a shot. It was so well done and so engaging that even though I knew the ending, I was still on the edge of my seat, panicked that everything would go wrong. Will it win? Probably not. Should everyone see it? Yes!

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Months after I've seen it, I still have no idea how to describe this film. It was beautiful and horrible and sad and happy and ALL OF THE THINGS! I really liked it a lot, but I don't think it will win either. (Side bar: When I went to Target not long ago, I noticed this was on display with the children's movies. Just because a child is in the movie, don't think that it belongs with the cartoons.)

Django Unchained
I was kind of surprised to this nominated. I mean, sure, I liked it. But it's not something I'd think would be Oscar-worthy? I don't know. It's very gory and foul and, well, Tarantino's hands are visible all over it. And yes, I'm biased, I don't like him, but I still see his work because it's good in it's own way. But winning? This one was just an instant gut felt no to me.

Les Miserables
So gloriously depressing. I really loved it. This reeks of Oscar. In a good way. This is what you expect to see for a win. However, I'm not holding my breath here. There's an ex-President who may have something to say about it.

Life of Pi
This is one I haven't seen yet. A friend highly recommended it, but I was not interested. It's not showing here anymore, so I may be out of luck. This won the AFI award. I don't know if that has any bearing here or not.

Lincoln
Normally I wouldn't root for a Spielberg film, but this one was really, really, really good. I felt there was only one flaw with the whole thing...but I understand why they filmed it that way. See? Look at how I won't give spoilers even when we've all studied enough history to know the story :) I'm feeling that it's probably this one or Les Mis FTW.

Silver Linings Playbook
I can not tell you how surprised I was with this film. I absolutely loved it. It was really witty and you actually cared about the people and what happened to them. Very well done and completely worthy of the nomination. Shouldn't win though.

Zero Dark Thirty
This one opens here tomorrow, so it will be seen before the Oscars. I fully believe that it will be just as awesome as The Hurt Locker. I'm just not sure that they'll give Bigelow her due again so quickly. If I change my mind, I'll update this post.

Actor in A Leading Role
Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings Playbook - He was so great in this. But there was someone better...

Abraham Lincoln Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln - If our late, great President doesn't win this, there is something really wrong with the electoral system.

Hugh Jackman for Les Miserables - Again, really great in this. Perhaps my favorite Valjean since I read the book. But, I still don't think he'll win...unless he busts out the Wolverine claws and takes it from the announcers.

Joaquin Phoenix for The Master - I love Paul Thomas Anderson, but this is easily one of my least liked films of last year. Phoenix did a great job of looking hideous and making me dislike his character a lot.

Denzel Washington for Flight - Didn't see it; don't think he'll win. The DVD comes out February 5th, so I might end up watching it in time.

Actress in A Leading Role
Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty - Since I've not seen this one yet, I'm not sure how she does. Hopefully she's good though.

Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook - She was excellent in this, but Katniss is going to have to wait a few years before she gets her statue.

Emmanuelle Riva for Amour - Again, haven't seen it but have heard wonderful things. Reserving judgment.

Quvenzhane Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild - Hmm. This could happen. She was amazing in her role. Again, reserving judgment.

Naomi Watts for The Impossible - This just started in town so I've not seen it yet. I will though. I don't know that I'll be able to comment on her performance since the trailer makes me cry...I've got a feeling I'll be a sobbing mess and miss a lot of the movie.

Actor in A Supporting Role
Alan Arkin for Argo - He had the best line in the whole movie! I thought he was great, but he wasn't actually in the movie that much. Not sure.

Robert DeNiro for Silver Linings Playbook - Good, strong performance. Don't think he should win for it though.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman for The Master - As much as I want him to have a statue, I do not want it associated with this movie. Ugh. Not sure about this one either.

Tommy Lee Jones for Lincoln - If there's a sweep, it'll include Mr. Jones. But, if there isn't and things are distributed a tad more fairly, then my vote goes to...

Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained - At it's core, this movie is about slavery and brutality in the south before the Civil War. But you don't see the main actor, Jamie Foxx, up for Actor in A Leading Role. That's because this guy totally stole the movie. He was so charismatic and genius that I could watch the violence over and over just to see him. My favorite. Fingers are crossed.

Actress in A Supporting Role
Amy Adams for The Master - Please. Just. No. Was she good? Yes. Is this what she needs an Oscar for? No.

Sally Field for Lincoln - This might be her best role yet and she's been around forever. Her talent in this can not be dismissed...she became Mary Todd Lincoln, hoop skirts, crazy, and all. This is the clear winner to me, but she definitely has harsh competition from...

Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables - Wow. Her tiny voice pushing out that song. I don't even think I noticed how hard I was crying until my collar was soaked. I'm ok if she wins this over Mrs. Lincoln Sally Field. But just barely ok with it.

Helen Hunt for The Sessions - Helen Hunt is still in movies? Hunh. Who knew? Well, she must've been fairly good to get a nomination. I've not seen this one.

Jacki Weaver for Silver Linings Playbook - I'm not going to lie...I had to look her up to make sure I knew who she was in the movie. I was right. She played the mom. She was good. Not seeing the Oscar though.

Animated Feature Film
Brave - I totally loved this. It was very sweet and very cute. I followed all the Pixar rules...it will probably win.

Frankenweenie - I did not make it to this one, but I own the original short (it's on the The Nightmare Before Christmas DVD). I imagine it was great. But, I doubt it's winning.

ParaNorman - I did not see this one either...and I'm kind of sad about that because it looked really cute. Again, doubtful of a win.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits - Another no see that I actually really, really wanted to see. Oh well. I will rent it, but I'm seeing this winning either.

Wreck-It Ralph - This I saw. This I freaking loved. I would be ecstatic if it won...I do feel it's the main contender against Brave, and I don't think it's because those are the only two I've seen in this category. It was so funny and cute and had lots for kids and adults. I liked that the main character and supposed to be a bad guy. It was just as heart-warming as Brave, but in a different way. Come on, Ralph! (Plus, Buckner and Garcia theme song! That's retro gold people!)

Skipping Cinematography and Costume Design...even though I think there are some awesome nominees.

Directing
Michael Haneke for Amour - No idea..wish I knew :(

Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild - This is a definite maybe.

Ang Lee for Life of Pi - He definitely deserved his Brokeback Mountain win, but since I've not seen this one, I just don't know. He's directed some really amazing movies.

Steven Spielberg for Lincoln - Fine. Ok. Just give it to him.

David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook - I wish he would win for this. But it's really hard to deny the glory of all that is Lincoln. Sigh.

Documentary Feature and Documentary Short aren't categories that we get to see the films here before the Oscars...sometimes afterward though. Skipping them.

Also skipping Film Editing, Foreign Language Film (I've seen zero of them this year, which is so lame that I can't even deal with it), Make-Up and Hairstyling, Music Original Score, Production Design (go Hobbit!), Short Film Animated, Short Film Live Action, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing.

Music Original Song
"Before My Time" from Chasing Ice - I'd never even heard of this movie, let alone the song. I think that means I can in no way support it because of my ignorance.

"Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from Ted - Oh man, I really want this one to win. It would be even better if it was the thunder buddies song from Ted, but picking a longer song with less cursing is ok too.

"Pi's Lullaby" from Life of Pi - Listening to it just now...this is lovely. Could be a winner...but I think the winner is going to be...

"Skyfall" from Skyfall - I know people get tired of Adele, but this is a great song and was perfect for the movie. (Please note: If you have not seen Skyfall yet, you really need to do so. It was great. Should be out on DVD next month.)

"Suddenly" from Les Miserables - Wait. I forgot about this being nominated too. Maybe it wins. Who knows? WOLVERINE!

Visual Effects
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Normally I would root for this, but not this time. I gotta root for the one that needs to win awards...as well as all the cash prizes it has already amassed!

Life of Pi - I realize I've been typing over an hour, but I've still not seen this movie. I got nothing.

Marvel's The Avengers - This is the ONLY nomination for the BEST. MOVIE. OF. 2012. If it doesn't win this one award, I am going to be very saddened.

Prometheus - An excellent choice for this category. But I still want Avengers to win.

Snow White and the Huntsman - Really? Whatever. Not even Thor saved this movie for me. Actually, change a few words in this clip and you'll know how I felt about this movie.

Writing Adapted Screenplay
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook

I have no idea who will win this one. Of the four out of five that I've seen, I would be happy with any of them (actually, knowing my luck, that mean Life of Pi would win). Five way tie? Can we do that?

Writing Original Screenplay
Amour
Django Unchained
Flight
Moonrise Kingdom
Zero Dark Thirty

Oh my gosh! That's another one that got completely hosed. Moonrise Kingdom was one my favorites this year. Please, please, please let it win its only nomination!

Well, that's my thoughts and feelings so far. I'm already planning out my Oscar evening...this year I'll honor Les Mis and have French food while I'm watching. Tune in February 24th on ABC to see who wins! (You might hear me rant from wherever you are, depending on the outcomes.)

The books of December 2012

Well, that's the end of 2012 (wipes dust off hands). I'm ready for 2013. So ready that I already forgot I had plans this afternoon. Looks like I had a good idea to do this blog thing earlier in the day as opposed to later.

Crafts:
OK. Now I will post all of the items I made from about July through December that I gave away to friends as gifts. One or two may not have been opened yet...people, get on that! ;) So, no names, but lots of gifts!

I totally put a bird on it.

"Nobody ever suspects the butterfly!"

It's not a metal chicken named Beyonce, but it'll do.

Remember, I warned you last month, this part was going to be long. This next one is a pattern from weelittlestitches, who rocks.

Joss Whedon...a genius even in stitches. 

Say it with flowers...or one flower...on a dishtowel.

"I only lied about being a thief. I don't do that anymore."

Stay with me...just a few more. This is what happens when the craft store no longer sells the teeny frames I wanted that hang from the tree...a combination that has to be justified.

Invasion from space? I'd say ugh to that too.

This monster looks ready to par-tay!

Hoo can it be now? (I totally kept this one for me.)

"Santa?! I know him!"

Those meddling kids...

Tea time!

Another one from weelittlestitches...except that I took it from an assembled team...

Every day is Thorsday!

So that's it for the crafts section. Hurrah!

Movies:

This was a banner movie release month. I saw eight movies...and I'm going to see another one today (which I guess I should save for next month) and another one on Friday. Everything has been so good that I've not minded sitting in the theater for hours on end.

So the least liked film I saw in December was Killing Them Softly. I thought it looked interesting and I guess as a social commentary, it was. Everyone was just so filthy. No true redeeming qualities for them...and Brad Pitt delivering a speech about poverty and survival in bad economic times is a little unsettling since I'm pretty sure he makes more money in a day than most of the people I know.

Anna Karenina was very good. Yes, spoiler, it's a total downer. But, since it was expected, I wasn't as bothered. Jude Law was fantastic. And while it's not a ploy for everyone, I really enjoyed how they changed many of the scenes as if they were in a play (mobile scenery is always a good thing). I didn't quite buy the lack of carnage at the end, but it was still as dismal as expected. Yay Russian literature!

The Hobbit takes us all back to Middle Earth. And it's a fantastic place to be. As I watched, I wasn't as into it as I thought I'd be. I love the scenery and the additional places we'd not been before...and it was nice to see people from the other movies, but I didn't think I was affected by it. Until I found myself sitting on the very edge of my seat, biting my nails (not something I do), and sobbing...with about an hour left in the movie! It was very exciting toward the end and now I'm hooked and will have to sit through the other two parts. Peter Jackson is still a genius...don't think he isn't.

Hitchcock was a surprisingly good film. I love old movies and because this was about a maker of old movies, it had that feel to it. I didn't know much about the man himself...or the making of Psycho in particular, but I definitely want to know more. Watching this brought that love of older movies back and I ended up re-watching lots of films I'd not seen in a long time...mostly Stanley Donen pictures, but a couple of Hitchcock as well. (I prefer the Donen chatter...extremely witty.)

Silver Linings Playbook was another surprise. It kind of reaffirms that whole "there's someone for everyone" theory. Despite having characters with depression (and other issues), the whole thing was pretty uplifting and generally quite funny. I've not read the book, but I think this adaptation was wonderful.

So Les Miserables puts Anna Karenina to shame for being a downer. It's the first time I can remember seeing a musical in the movie theater that was actually a true musical...almost no talking at all...just singing. It's still a beautiful story and I completely loved it...but I kind of wanted to go home and bury myself in the covers and continue crying for days. Everyone was perfect for his or her part...which has got to be hard to cast for looks and actual singing talent. Very well done.

Jack Reacher was very fun. I hate when I end up liking a Tom Cruise movie. He irritates me, but he's a very good actor and always throws himself into the role. I've not read the books so I don't really know how it compares, but if you need a mindless action movie to cleanse your palette of all the depressing films that made you cry, this could be the right one for you. There were also a lot of very funny moments. It's a fairly typical action movie, but still entertaining with a couple of plot twists.

Lastly, I saw Django Unchained. I lump Tarantino in the people who irritate me list and yet I continue to see his movies. Like Cruise, he is amazing at what he does...and clearly willing to make an idiot of himself (Australian accent? Really?). The best part for me is that he usually gets killed off in the storylines including him, so it's kind of like he must know he's irritating on some level. The star cameos were pretty awesome and I laughed uncomfortably through many scenes. Tarantino is still very over the top with the killing scenes, so there's lots of blood...and, well, parts. I know he's getting some flack for making this one, but it's a good movie. 

Books:

I bought a lot of things on the Kindle...hurrah for gift cards! Awakened (Vampire Awakenings) by Brenda K. Davies, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E. M. Berens, Loki by Mike Vasich, All the Lonely People by Jess Riley, City of Dark Magic: A Novel by Magnus Flyte, In the Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food by Stewart Lee Allen, Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman and Robert Chandler, Letters to Sartre by Simone de Beauvoir and Quintin Hoare, Everyone's Reading Bastard by Nick Hornby, Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie, and Joseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie. I have a LOT to read...

The books I read in December were all on the Kindle except for the first one: Eight Women Taking Pictures by Whitney Otto, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, All the Lonely People by Jess Riley, Everyone's Reading Bastard (short story) by Nick Hornby, The Columbus Affair by Steve Berry, and Enslaved by Ducks by Bob Tarte.

I hadn't read a Whitney Otto book in a very long time, so I was looking forward to this one. Eight Women Taking Pictures is about eight women who were photographers going back to the first world war up through the late 20th century. Each woman takes different kinds of pictures and each type of work has different effects on the later photographers. Each story is somehow intertwined with the others...like Otto did with How to Make an American Quilt. This book manages to tell those stories while also covering history, politics, and women's rights. I really, really enjoyed it. The book also managed to cut my arm as I read quietly on the couch as well as hit me in the face as I was reading in bed. Thus my move to the Kindle for a while...it felt safer.

When I was in my early twenties in college, I read Wuthering Heights for the first time. I had great memories of loving this book. Add another twenty years to my brain and it was a 180 degree reaction. I really did not like the book this time around. I guess I grew out of my angsty phase where things like this sounded so terribly romantic. It was just a chore to read through all of the petty outbursts and true and perceived injustices. This time I found that I didn't care about any of the characters at all and didn't really need them to have a happy ending, so that part was ok. Ugh. I'm going to try and reread more classics, but I'll be steering clear of Miss Emily for a long time. I do remember that I liked one of the sisters better...possibly Anne? Yes, it was Anne. Maybe I'll retry one of hers.

All the Lonely People was a cheap buy on the Kindle...the day it dropped another dollar, I grabbed it off my wish list (put there because somewhere - Twitter, blog, Facebook? - another author recommended it). This was pretty entertaining and had me laughing out loud. Basically, the main character feels her family is crap after a huge, food-flinging blow up at Thanksgiving. So she places an ad on Craigslist to find a new family for Christmas. The wacky crew she assembles become good friends and she grows up enough to get that she misses and needs her actual family too. A nice read during the holiday season.

The Nick Hornby short story was about a couple who split and the woman wrote about all of it in her weekly newspaper article. The husband became known simply as Bastard to the paper's reading base. It's from the man's point of view and it's kind of funny. Typical Hornby fare. Read it if you like him.

I got The Columbus Affair thinking it was the next Cotton Malone book. Turns out, the next Cotton Malone book comes out this May. This was another stand-alone. It did mention people and operations from the other books. I ended up liking this one as well as the others. The main character here is a washed up reporter who was stripped of his awards and reputation by a false story...that was actually fabricated by others to bring his ruin. That's the "b" story in this. The main story is about the fabled lost mine of Christopher Columbus...only it's much more complicated...was Columbus a Jew? Was he really searching for a place for Jews to live freely? Did he carry with him the fabled treasures of Judaism? One of the books he read and cited in this book is now on my wish list. The book takes place in Florida, Austria, Prague, and Jamaica. I enjoyed reading it and didn't really want to put it down...although, I did really want to reach into the book and slap the main character's daughter a few times. She was an extremely naive character who did all the wrong things and wouldn't listen to anyone who told her she was wrong. It takes nearly the entire book for her to admit to her mistakes. Her storyline isn't necessary worthwhile, but it ties in and compels much of the action, so I guess she's needed. Overall, Steve Berry continues to write books that I really enjoy reading...whether he includes the main character I know or not.

Enslaved by Ducks is a cute read. Bob Tarte writes about a few different things here and there. This book is about him, his wife, and their pet menagerie. They have bunnies, parrots, doves, starlings, geese, ducks, turkeys, cats, and various other birds in and around their house. He has absolutely no power against the animals and while he occasionally says no to his wife, they generally end up with whatever animal she feels they need. I didn't really come away wanting a pet, but I am slightly interested in a duck. For more than eating. They seem kind of like fun pets...except when they get sick. Normally animal stories end up making me cry because it's generally the end of the lives of the pets. In this book, they did lose a few pets, but they always had more, so it wasn't as upsetting. If you've ever thought you need to own a flying or non-traditional, non-flying pet, you should probably read this book first. It's fun, somewhat educational, and definitely cautionary in its own way.

Well, that's it for the year. I ended the year watching Gone with the Wind...possibly my all-time favorite despite it's flaws. You can take the girl out of the south, but you can't take the south out of the girl. Happy New Year 2013!