Entries Tagged as 'Movies'

Movie: Hugo

Hugo by Martin ScorseseHugo is amazing to look at. The style and filmmaking are beyond reproach. Given all this, I reluctantly must say that the story just did not completely connect with me.

A story about an orphan boy, unappreciated talent, and the history of early film should have been right up my alley. I just thought Hugo veered around too much.

There are great action sequences in a non-action movie. There are lovely comedic, romantic, and dramatic moments but they sit as vignettes and do not blend together.

And the film seems to say that a loving family does not make a man work, meaning to function as a human being. He must have a purpose as well… unless his purpose is to find a loving family. Hmmm.

Don’t get me wrong. Hugo is definitely worth watching. The moments are all great. They just don’t stream into a whole for me.

If I Picked the Oscars 2012 (in order of my vote)

Best Picture:

  • Hugo
  • The Artist (have not seen)
  • The Descendents (have not seen)
  • Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (have not seen)
  • The Help (have not seen)
  • Midnight in Paris (have not seen)
  • Moneyball (have not seen)
  • The Tree of Life (have not seen)
  • War Horse (probably will not see)

Best Director:

  • Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
  • Michael Hazanavicius (The Artist), have not seen
  • Alexander Payne (The Descendents), have not seen
  • Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris), have not seen
  • Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), have not seen

Tags: Movies by Ms. SP
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Missed the Academy Award Challenge by That Much

This morning, they are announcing the Oscar nominees for last year’s slate of movies. For the last two years, I’ve tried to watch all the movies nominated for major awards from one set of nominations before the next set came out. I made it last year. I’m going to fall short this year by one film. Oh Biutiful, I’ve had you for over a month and just can’t make myself want to watch you.

As a break from all this heavy stuff, I’m thinking that perhaps I should really watch the top twenty grossing movies in a particular year instead of the award darlings. But really, which is the worse punishment? That’s just going to be a lot of 15-word reviews.

Tags: Movies by Ms. SP
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Movie: Blue Valentine

Some movies tell the fall-in-love part. Some movies tell the fall-out-of-love part. Blue Valentine does both.

Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling play Cindy and Dean, a couple we see at two points in their relationship. The getting together and the coming apart cut back and forth throughout the movie.

From a technical standpoint, I felt that the interplay between the two time periods did not come off all the way. Because it is a slower movie dealing with such heavy emotions, it often took a while to get into a specific scene. Then, once I was into the moment, that moment was over and I had to adjust to the next, opposite one. It didn’t come off that smoothly but all the scenes were definitely done well.

After mentioning the non-indie style of Rabbit Hole, I must smile at this return to indie land, what with the shaky, grainy camera shots and the awkward angles. I felt that this did a service for Ryan Gosling and didn’t do as much for Michelle Williams. Her younger Cindy was very effective, coming off as internally mixed up and problematic as a teenage girl should be. Her older Cindy had those edges blunted, or maybe just dulled, and wasn’t as interesting. To be fair, Dean is a character that had to be more consistent throughout the film, while Cindy is the one that changed from cut to cut.

If I Picked the Oscars 2011 (in order of my vote)

Best Actress:

Tags: Movies by Ms. SP
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