Tuesday, February 26, 2013

OSCARS 2013!

Everyone else can have Christmas, Hanukkah, Valentine's Day, President's Day, Arbor Day, Mother's Day and Super Bowl Sunday to me they all fail in comparison to my FAVORITE day of the year the day when all of HOLLYWOOD dress up and celebrate, OSCAR DAY! I too join in the fun by dressing up and spending the day in front of my TV watching the per-show, the red carpet (who doesn't like checking out the gowns) and the post show. This year was a little different, I got to spend the day watching the nominated shorts at a local theater for the second year in a roll so let me start with a look at the nominees-

Live Action

The oscar went to Curfew Directed written edited and starring Shawn Christensen. The only US nominee story about a suicidal man who gets a call from his sister asking to watch his niece for a couple of hours. Happy it won.

My other favorite was a strange french film called Death of a Shadow Directed by Tom VonAvermaet and Ellen DeWaele. A story that is hard to explain let me just say that I will never look at a crime scene in the same way again as the lead character took photos of past/future? death as art.

Then there is Henry a Canadian film directed by Yan England. All of these shorts were dramas but this one seemed the saddest for it was about something we all fear, getting old and forgetting your life and who you are.

and there were two tales about kids the first called Asad from South Africa directed by Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura. A young boy learns from an elderly man how to fish in order to keep him from joining his friends in piracy. At the end he has his first catch but I'm not going to ruin it for you.

Finally there is Buzkashi Boys from Afghanistan directed by Sam French and Ariel Nasr.  A sweet and sad story about two boys, the son of a blacksmith and an orphan who dream of being more when they grow up.

The Animation--

The oscar went to Paperman directed by John Kahrs from the US. A nice romance about a man working in a office building and tries to contact the girl who is in the building across the street. Magical paper airplanes make it a delight to watch.

From the creators of The Simpsons we get Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare directed by David Silverman. At her day in daycare Maggie must save a caterpillar turned butterfly from her nemesis the one eyebrow baby.

Next is Adam and Dog directed by Minkyu. A lonely playful dog comes across a newly created world's  first man. No Dialogue but nice to look at.

And Head Over Heels directed by Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly from the UK and my favorite. A long married husband and wife live in a unusual way. Strange but sweet :)

Finally there is the shortest film to ever be nominated called Fresh Guacamole directed by PES. At only 2  minutes a entire story about a unseen person make the snack out of unusual items including a light bulb as the green pepper  and poker chips in place of those darn potato chips that ALWAYS break while dipping.

As I was saying Oscar Night is the best night of the entire year and I really enjoyed it this year from all the nominees to the show itself and especially its host. As soon as I heard months ago that Seth MacFarlane was going to be the host I knew I was going to like the show because I like him (even better then the TVseries and movies he creates). MacFarlane did what a host should do for such a important hollywood event, he sang, danced, told jokes, some were controversial, but all in all a perfect.

The show itself was fun to watch. As I long time fan an viewer I have to admit I haven't been this happy about what I saw, now 2 days later and still thinking about it, in a long time. The theme of celebrating the music of film, the guests and the emotion of it all was as magnificent with glitz and glamour.

In a year where I actual really like ALL of them I want to congratulate the winners. And to Mr. Ben Affleck I have to say 15 years ago (When I started to actually pay attention the the Academy Awards and 1st year I saw all the nominated movies) you won for "How do you like them apples?' beating "I'm the King of the World!" yet Titanic went on to win best film over nominee Good Will Hunting leading me to believe that if one wants a best film oscar one should hire Victor Garber (Whom I have loved since playing Mr. Andrews master shipbuilder of Titanic) to portray a real life person, foreign preferable. Just saying:)

In conclusion even my sister who is NOT a fan of Award shows enjoyed Seth MacFarlane and in her own texts "He seemed really comfortable!Total package! Plus Shatner."

It was a good 24 hours and as The Host and Kristin Chenoweth sang their final comedic song I laughed cried and started to count the days (363) til the 86th Academy Awards!!!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Silver Linings Playbook

It has been 32 years since a movie has had oscar nominations in each of the 4 acting categories and after watching this particular film I understand why. Nominated for 8 oscars including best actor/actress, supporting actor/actress, adapted screenplay, director and movie Silver Linings Playbook is a fine little film.

With a Screenplay (based on a novel by Matthew Quick) and Directed by David O. Russell at the center of this story is a family, a family like many others, to which life has thrown at them a few dilemmas. In this case when Pat Sr. and Dolores played by Robert DeNiro and Jacki Weaver adult son Pat played by Bradley Cooper (yes Hangover's Bradley Cooper) after a stay at a mental institution returns home. His life is then turned upside down (in a good way) when Tiffany played by Jennifer Lawrence, who has recently lost her husband to a accident and been fired from her job for "bad behavior" enters the picture.

Silver Linings Playbook is ALL about its main characters. These 4 people who are thrown together and now must work with each other to pick up the pieces of their lives and figure out how to move on. Each of the actors portrays a person who just may be someone the viewer may know. Heck they may not be the most stable person in your life, for example one night your son might wake you and the whole neighborhood up while frantically searching for his wedding video. Then the next week your husband gambles your entire life savings on one football game! If any of this does happen you, as their friend or family should do the right thing and give them a helping hand and together you just may dance your way to your own little victory.

Now here is where I should admit that I was debating on whether or not I should spend time and money to see this film and only did because of the 4 acting nominations but now that I've seen it I am happy I did. There are no special effects, no big locations (just some neighborhoods in Pennsylvania), no elaborate costumes  (a certain football jersey does play a small role) and a tone down, impressive Chris Tucker as Danny (a fellow patient of Pat's) makes this the perfect date night flick. So find someone to love and go see Silver Linings Playbook.