Sony’s slogan is “Make Believe” so I’m gonna make believe they didn’t fire Dan Harmon.
CRITERION CORNER GIVEAWAY!!!!
hey there. it’s been a while since i’ve randomly given stuff away, and that doesn’t jive well with my philosophy that love and / or readership should be shamelessly bought. so in honor of the holiday season - and to make up for lost time / clear my shelf of some extra stuff i’ve got lying around - i thought i’d throw the biggest Criterion Corner giveaway yet.
The Prize:
- DVD of Sidney Lumet’s 12 ANGRY MEN!
- Blu-ray of Claude Chabrol’s LES COUSINS!
- 1 DVD box set of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s THREE COLORS! (opened but never watched and in mint condition… long story)
- 1 MYSTERY DVD!!!! (maybe a Criterion film, maybe just something I want to share with a stranger. definitely previously loved).
TO ENTER: just “like” and / or Re-blog this post. each note will count as a separate entry, so every fellow blogger can therefore submit a maximum total of 2 entries.
giveaway will be closed at 12 P.M. EST on Friday, 12/3/2011. 1 winner will be randomly selected from the notes. so the odds should be okay if not super awesome, but someone’s gonna get some great stuff for nothing.
good luck, and thanks so, so much for reading the blog and my Criterion Corner column on movies.com!
Nintendo 3DS: Cosmic Black GIVEAWAY!
Hey guys as promised here is something I got that I want to share with you. =] I’m going to be honest and say that I don’t have too much use for this thing, so I would love to pass it onto one lucky follower. I know this is a messed up way to gain publicity, but with more support I will be able to get more awesome stuff out to you guys like this.
As for the Pokéwalkers, I was planning on doing an Ash thing with six of them (the sixth being the one I actually own) but decided not to. So I don’t need them anymore.
THE RULES:
- You must be in the U.S.
- You must be a FOLLOWER.
- You must REBLOG this post, that will be your entry. LIKING the post will also count as an entry but is entirely up to you.
- Winners: you will have 24 HOURS to message me back after I message you,or I will just pick again.
- People who don’t win: Be sure to stay tuned to see what else I’ll be giving away!
- Contest will end August 20, 2011 at 10PM PST. Winners will be selected the morning after.
HOW WINNERS WILL BE SELECTED:
- I will copy and paste the notes into Word. I will number the notes. Then, I will use Random.org to pick the result. After finding someone through the notes I will check to see if you are following me.
Runner-ups will recieve 1 of 5 Pokéwalkers!
Good Luck everyone, and be sure to leave something in my ask box if you have any questions.
The Tragedy of the Oscars
Protip: That title was mostly sarcasm.
Beyond all the complaints about the hosts and whatnot (which are a completely different problem which I don’t care about enough to address), there was a huge chunk of people who were up in arms against The King’s Speech, and most of the movies that won awards, for beating out Inception for…pretty much anything.
These people are heavily clouded by bias and I bet less than half of them have actually seen The King’s Speech.
…that being said, I don’t completely disagree. Inception was probably a better movie, but I’m not saying that means it should have won.
I’d lay part of the blame on the Academy.
No, it isn’t that they hate sci-fi. No, it isn’t that they hate Christopher Nolan. No, I wouldn’t even say it’s that they’re all really old. Though, it’s probably related to that.
Nope, it’s because they voted for the most well-made movie.
No, well made does not mean better. Inception is a great movie, a fantastic one, but it isn’t perfect. It can be hard to follow, the characters spend an inordinate amount of time spouting exposition, some of the action scenes make you wonder if they were filming during an earthquake, etc.
I would like to find a flaw in The King’s Speech, I really would, but I can’t. It just does everything right. But that doesn’t mean it’s better. As great as Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush were, as great as Tom Hooper’s direction and David Seidler’s screenplay were, people will, admittedly, look back at the Oscars in fifteen years and wonder “…what the hell is the King’s Speech? And how did it beat out Inception, Toy Story 3, and Social Network?”
I don’t mean that in a hostile way. I LOVED The King’s Speech. It is, at the very least, in my top five movies of the year. 127 Hours, which has planted itself firmly in the number one spot beside The Social Network, won’t be remembered either, even though it kills me to say it.
But Inception will. In ten years, its name will be next to that of The Matrix, Bladerunner, Tron, and that ilk of near-legendary sci-fi films. It likely will (and should) be revered for its expert treatment of dreams (you never remember how you got there? whaOH WUUUT), as one of the most original movies in a decade, as one of the smartest summer blockbuster action flicks, and most of all, for having the coolest fight scene in I don’t know how long, which will very likely pass into legend.
Do I think Inception is a better movie? I guess so. Do I think King’s Speech was more well-crafted, and deserved the Oscar? Sure.
In the end, none of this really matters. All that really matters is that 127 Hours was shafted.
Oscar Picks
That’s right, I totally intend on using tumblr as a blog instead of Twitter for pictures. How long will it last? I give myself a week tops; I mean seriously, Hipster Regular Show? How can I resist?
But anyway, having seen all of the Best Picture nominees (and a fairly hefty selection of the movies up for any awards), I figured I’d go through my Oscar picks. Particularly what I think SHOULD win, regardless of whether or not it’ll win.
So I might as well start with the Best Picture nominees. From best to worst:
1. Social Network - I’m pretty sure I fell perfectly into this movie’s key demographic, being a college-aged male with facebook and a knowledge of computers, but I thought it was a hell of a movie. They took a pretty uninteresting concept (a bunch of assholes make a website and proceed to be assholes to each-other and make billions of dollars), and made it a sharply written narrative that was gorgeous visually. I hate to seem generic, but this movie has jumped into my top ten favorite movies of all time, and should definitely win Best Picture.
2. The King’s Speech - This is the likely winner for Best Picture, and I certainly won’t mind; again, a great piece of film, both visually and in its writing. Interestingly enough, it again takes a seemingly uninteresting premise and turned it into a great movie. Not that I mind.
3. Inception - I feel like this is going to end up being the Bladerunner of this decade, which it certainly should be; In a year full of ‘Incredible True Stories’, Christopher Nolan made an original, interesting scifi universe with a gripping narrative, and did it in a big-budget action flick. I also think Christopher Nolan was robbed of a Best Director nom, but I’ll get to that.
4. 127 Hours - Back to the incredible true stories built out terrible concepts: guy gets his arm stuck in a rock, sits there for five days, cuts his arm off. Yet, between Danny Boyle’s directing and James Franco’s stunning performance, This was definitely one of my favorite movies of the year, and to be honest, I couldn’t decide whether or not to put this above or below Inception.
5. True Grit - Coen Brothers + Jeff Bridges + Matt Damon = success already, but Hailee Steinfeld is what pushed it over for me. Between her great performance and the gorgeous visuals, this movie made me want to go watch more westerns. Or just more Coen Brothers.
6. The Fighter - I was not expecting to like this movie, but it certainly deserved its nomination. The story wasn’t anything particularly special, but the performances were astounding enough to make it an Oscar-worthy movie.
7. Black Swan - Hangnail scene aside, Black Swan was gorgeous and tragic all that junk, but it felt more like a painting than a movie. If that makes sense. It still definitely deserved its nomination, but I feel like its strength as a visual work of art was much greater than its strength as a narrative.
8. Toy Story 3 - I loved this movie more than most of these movies, but I’m not actually sure if it deserves its nomination. It WAS a great film, but much of its strength was as a sequel; fanservice might be a strong term, but along the same lines. I felt like it had some pacing problems and it was too quick to jump from silly gags to heartbreaking emotion in a few places, but I’m not gonna complain too much cause I loved it so much.
9. The Kids Are All Right - I can’t say whether or not this deserved its nom, but either way it was still a great movie. It’s nice to see a comedy nominated too, cause that doesn’t happen nearly enough. My only gripe is the ending, and how it villifies a certain character and totally ruins what I thought was the entire point of the movie, but oh well, I’m not complaining.
10. Winter’s Bone - THIS is the one I’m complaining about. I can’t necessarily say it was a BAD movie, but it was really bland and the main character was unlikable and it never really grabbed me in the way a Best Picture nominee should. The shining point of this movie in my opinion is John Hawke’s performance, which was definitely nom-worthy. Otherwise, there were a number of movies that could have better fit this spot, like The Illusionist, Blue Valentine, or any number of movies I didn’t see.
I’ll do a bunch of the other categories, but I won’t spend that much time on them.
Best Actor - I haven’t seen Javier Bardem’s performance in Biutiful, but between the other nominees; firstly, Jeff Bridges, while his performance was great, probably shouldn’t have been nominated, between Ryan Gosling and Mark Wahlberg, but it doesn’t matter too much, because it ends up coming down to Jesse Eisenberg, Colin Firth, and James Franco. Colin Firth is clearly going to win, but I personally (and probably alone) think Jesse Eisenberg deserves it. Firth had an amazing performance to go along with his stutter, and Franco had an equally amazing performance with no one supporting him but a rock, but Eisenberg, in my opinion, nailed his supergenius-with-too-much-on-his-mind-to-figure-out-how-to-be-social, which I think was a much more difficult role than many give him credit for, especially since he had to display so much emotion while at the same time acting fairly emotionless (…if that makes sense). Granted, it’s close enough that all three actors deserve the award, so I don’t mind that Firth is gonna win, and I’d actually be pretty psyched if Franco won.
Best Actress - Haven’t seen Kidman’s performance, but as far as the rest go: Lawrence shouldn’t and won’t win, leaving it between Annette Benning, Natalie Portman, and Michelle Williams. Another tough decision, particularly between Benning and Portman, so I’ll go the obvious route and say Natalie Portman, cause she’s going to win and she certainly deserves it.
Best Supporting Actor - Haven’t seen Renner in The Town, but even discounting him, this is probably the hardest choice. Hawkes’s performance made it worth it to watch Winter’s Bone; Ruffalo stole The Kids Are All Right with his performance, at least in my opinion; and Geoffrey Rush very nearly did the same with The King’s Speech, despite playing opposite the likely Best Actor winner. In the end though, Christian Bale was just too good. I feel like he must have stalked the actual Dicky Ward for months to get the part down, cause if it weren’t for how recognizable he was, I probably would have thought they got the real guy for the movie.
Best Supporting Actress - Haven’t seen Jacki Weaver’s performance, but other than that; I can cut out Amy Adams and Helena Bonham Carter from the start, because as great as their performances were, Hailee Steinfeld and Melissa Leo were just astounding. And as much as I loved Hailee Steinfeld (who should have been nominated for best actress, and who might have won that), Melissa Leo was again just too good. Like with Bale, she could have easily been the actual mother.
Best Animated Feature Film - I’m having a hard time with this one too, which might surprise some people; namely, people who have only seen Toy Story 3. While TS3 is very clearly going to win, I personally preferred the other two movies; How to Train Your Dragon felt much like a higher-level Pixar effort, and I was going to say it should win the category except I just saw The Illusionist. Absolutely gorgeous animation, its simplicity (in it’s lack of dialogue and simple story) echoes Wall-E, but it goes much deeper and, with a bold move for an animated movie, goes for a melancholy ending, and does it to much greater effect than most like movies of the year (namely Blue Valentine, which just came across as depressing), making it feel almost hopeful rather than sad. I feel like a bit of an art-fag here, but the Illusionist is one of the best animated movies I’ve ever seen and deserves to shine, I think, far more than what’s going to win. I say this tentatively, however; it’s been seven months since I’ve seen Toy Story 3, so I wouldn’t be surprised if my decision changes after re-watching it.
Art Direction - I HAVE seen all of these (augh finally), and I’m glad to see Harry Potter here, but I can easily say True Grit. Inception is a close second, and I wouldn’t be disappointed to see it win, but True Grit just looked so good.
Cinematography - I’ve seen all these too and, unlike the last one, this one is helladifficult. I can cut out Black Swan, but the other four (Inception, King’s Speech, Social Network, True Grit) just looked so good. Ultimately, I guess I’ll be unexciting and choose The King’s Speech, just because of how well each shot, more than just looking good, complimented perfectly the emotion of the movie and particular scene. The other three come in close second though.
Costume Design - Uh, I guess True Grit. Haven’t seen two of the nominees though. King’s Speech was really good in this regard too.
Directing - Firstly, Christopher Nolan was robbed, and while David O. Russell made a great movie, he certainly didn’t deserve the nomination over Nolan. That being said, of the other three nominees, I’d give it to David Fincher, cause as Aaron Sorkin put it, he made a scene about blogging and hacking look like a bank robbery. Among other things.
Editing - If I could give this to any movie this year, it’d be Scott Pilgrim, because despite any of its shortcomings it was perfectly edited. But given it wasn’t nominated, I guess I’ll say Social Network, though I wouldn’t be disappointed by anyone else winning.
Best Original Score - Here lies the biggest snub of the nominations, with the massive lack of Tron Legacy soundtrack, which is made worse by the fact that it IS nominated for something, so it wasn’t just ignored by the Academy. That being said, all the soundtracks (with the exception of How to Train Your Dragon) were fantastic, and I’ll say Social Network, UNLESS the guitar twangs in the arm cutting scene in 127 Hours count as part of the score. In which case, 127 Hours, because that was some of the best use of sound I’ve seen in a movie, let alone music.
Best Original Song - Having just listened to all the nominees, I’d cast my vote for We Belong Together by Randy Newman for Toy Story 3, and not even out of fanboyism; it’s just better. The song from Country Strong was sluggish and generic, the one from Tangled wasn’t all that exciting either (maybe it was in-movie, I dunno), and the one from 127 Hours was okay as a song but used very well in the movie itself, so I’m pulling for that to win (cause lets be honest, Randy Newman isn’t gonna win an Oscar).
Best Visual Effects - The Social Network, for completely fooling me into thinking Armie Hammer was two people. But seeing as that wasn’t nominated, Inception no question.
Best Adapted Screenplay - The Social Network. Didn’t even need to think about that one.
Best Original Screenplay - This one is slightly harder, cause it includes The King’s Speech and Inception, but I have to go with The King’s Speech.
/wall of text. I didn’t bother with a few, some because I haven’t seen the nominees and some because I just didn’t care enough (take that Sound Mixing). Not that it’s a bad thing, there are enough words here anyway.
