Winter Movie Reviews

Hey everyone! I must be in a good mood of late because I've liked every movie I've been to see. Either that or the studios did indeed save the best for last. And by that I mean the last part of the year. So since I live in flyover country, that means January is a good month for movies for us. Here are some of my favs of late:

• Children of Men - First off, Clive Owen can do no wrong by me. Secondly, this film had me on the edge of my seat. We left it with Thomas saying something like, that's how I picture the future. Yikes! I hope not. It definitely puts the dys in dystopia. Children of Men is set in a future world that has pretty much gone to hell. There's major discontent/rioting/violence everywhere, and to top it off the human race is on the verge of dying out because no more babies are being born. The story follows Owen as he struggles to get a miraculously pregnant woman to safety against all odds. Owen is spectacular and was robbed of an Oscar nom. For some reason, this film hasn't been nominated for much at all this season. The movie also has good performances by Julianne Moore and newcomer Claire-Hope Ashitey. Micheal Caine plays an overly stereotypical aging hippie. There is much action in the movie - car chases, shoot outs, escape sequences, etc., but it's alleviated by much needed bits of humor from Owen.

• Apocalypto- Thomas has been dying to see this movie since previews started coming out this fall. I have not. This seems to be the case with every married couple I know. The men all want to see it and the women don't. I finally gave in, because let's face it, I love to go to the movies and it has been so deathly cold this winter that there's little else to do. Apocalypto tells the story of an isolated Mayan tribe living out in the jungle/woods that is attacked by a group of mercenaries (that's the closest thing I can think to call them) who are intent on bringing them to a Mayan city to either work as slave labor or be sacrificed. The movie focuses on one particular man, Jaguar Paw, and his quest to escape and get back to his pregnant wife and child who are inconveniently stuck at the bottom of a very deep well. The movie is basically one long chase scene with a spectacular stop at the Mayan city. The sets for the city were worth the price of admission - a visual treat for the eye with a cornucopia of tribes represented. Whoever built them definitely deserves some recognition, though I see none was given by the Academy voters. From what I understand only one real professional actor was cast in the movie, but that did not detract at all from the performances. Jaguar Paw and his wife were both great and his wife was especially sympathetic. There are some excessively violent scenes in this movie. I had to close my eyes for extended periods during three of them. But I'm glad I saw it, and I'm glad I'm not a Mayan.

• Notes on a Scandal - Luckily, I went into this movie not knowing much about it. Because boy, were there some surprises. I won't ruin any for you, so this will be brief. Notes stars Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett as two schoolteachers who have quite the rocky relationship. Blanchett is glowing and wonderful, but it's Dench who delivers the best female performance of the year in this edge of your seat faceoff. Bill Nighey is also stellar as Blanchett's husband.

• The Queen - I almost didn't want to see this because I've grown tired of watching Helen Mirren accept all those awards for this movie and for Elizabeth I, which I have yet to see. How silly. The Queen is all about what happens when the royal family has to deal with Princess Diana's death. Basically their love of protocol, dignity, and privacy are scorned by the English media and public so it's up to newly elected Tony Blair to save the day. I'm one of those people who was shocked and saddened by Diana's death - I watched both her marriage and her funeral - so it was very interesting to see all this from the viewpoint of the family she scorned. Queen Elizabeth ends up coming off as sympathetic, though her husband Prince Phillip seems a bit of a monster. Mirren, Michael Sheen as Blair, and the always great James Cromwell as Phillip all rock.

Next up via the big screen or netflix: Little Children, Volver, Letters from Iwo Jima, Blood Diamond, Pursuit of Happiness, and Last King of Scotland. Whew.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: God Bless the World. No exceptions.

-sunday

2006 Oscar Noms Are In

Hey everyone! The Oscar noms are in and sad to say I haven't seen two of the best picture nominees - Letters from Iwo Jima and Babel. Thomas and I planned to see Letters this wkend but didn't get around to it. I'm now determined to catch it next wkend. As for Babel, I have no plans to see it any time soon. Maybe I'll netflix it. Why? First I saw the horrifically annoying preview in theaters about a billion times until it drove me mad, and second I wasn't a fan of the director's other films, 21 Grams and Amores Perros. Tres depressing and much ado about nothing they both were. The only segment that looked interesting to me was the one with the Japanese girl. I must admit I'm officially off Brad Pitt these days.

Other notes of interest:

• Everyone's in an uproar that Dreamgirls did not score a best pic nod, tho it led with 8 nominations (3 for singing). I haven't seen this movie either and will be hard pressed to do so because I am not a Beyonce fan, Jamie Foxx's public persona is off-putting, and I hate the type of singing they do in the movie. However, there are such raves for Jen Hudson's performance, that I may netflix this one as well and fast forward thru the singing parts.
• Leo got a nom for Blood Diamond and not Departed. This completely baffled me because in Departed he acted circles around everyone else. Forrest Whitaker must be thanking his lucky stars. I did some research tho and found that Warner Brothers produced both films and since in the Oscars one actor can only be nominated once per category, they decided to promote him as Best Actor for Blood Diamond and Best Supporting Actor for Departed. He was clearly the lead in Departed so their strategy failed miserably and will likely result in no Oscar for Leo. Instead Mark Wahlberg got the Best Supporting nom for Departed. I must admit that he was quite good, better than Jack Nicholson or Matt Damon, so I'm fine with this.The longshot in this category is Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson, a movie I did not enjoy, but Gosling is an excellent actor so it's great that he's getting some recognition. He will also hopefully bring his rumored fiancee and my fav younger actress Rachel McAdams.
• As for Best Actress, I've seen all the films except for Volver and Little Children. It's a stretch having Meryl Streep in this category rather than Supporting. She was fabulous as always, but this role was really more of a caricature than anything else. It is likely to be a battle of the Brits with Helen Mirren coming out on top, as she's swept all awards this season. I preferred Dench's performance in Notes on a Scandal though. She scared the bejeesus out of Cyd and me.
• Finally, the most pleasant surprise for me was the number of noms received by my fav film of the year, Little Miss Sunshine- five in all! I would be happy if it won all five, but as they say, it's just nice to be nominated.

I'll be back closer to the awards themselves with my fearless predictions.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: 40 MPG Patriot

-sunday

2007 Golden Globes Wrap-up

Hey everyone! I'm back. Just in time to review the Golden Globes. Given that this has been a blah movie year, I'm not too surprised that almost none of my favs took home the gold. I guess it's fitting. The show itself was okay. It seemed to move quickly, provided you did not have to sit through the billion commercials. Not sure how anyone watches this thing live though. Now, onto my best/worst of the night:

• Best short dress - Reese Witherspoon
• Best black dresses - Hillary Swank and Penelope Cruz
• Best white dress - Jen Garner (but only standing still - girl could not walk well in it at all),
• Best metallic dress - Jessica Biel
• Worst dressed - Beyonce, Annette Benning, Salma Hayek
• Best hair - Evangeline Lily
• Worst hair - Sienna Miller, Cate Blanchett second
• Worst makeup - Sienna Miller
• Worst hair accessory - Hillary Swank
• Glummest - Angelina Jolie
• Most glowing - Cate Blanchett
• Best looking tv guy - Eric Dane (aka McSteamy)
• Best looking movie guy - Leonardo DiCaprio
• Biggest trends: British winners, white/cream dresses, short dresses, strapless dresses
• Best speech: Hugh Laurie - why is it that the Brits are so much wittier and so much LESS likely to cry than Americans. What are they taught that we're not?
• Most outlandish speech: Sacha Baron Cohen
• Most senile: Warren Beatty
• Who I most wanna be when I grow up: Meryl Streep - loved her speech!
• Most lauded: Helen Mirren - between the globes and the emmys, i have to admit i'm getting sick of her winning everything
• Most poised newcomer: America Ferrera
• Most boring speech - Kyra Sedgwick. When will these nitwits learn to NOT thank their publicists, agents and lawyers or at least don't id their professions
• Most incoherent - Forrest Whitaker
• Most overlooked- Little Miss Sunshine!
• Most disappointing - The winners: Babel, Dreamgirls, Kyra Sedgwick, Ugly Betty, and Alec Baldwin
• Favorite win - Hugh Laurie

Once again, I'll have to hold out hope for a better showing at the Oscars.

-sunday