the oscars

I thought this years Academy Award Telecast was pretty good. Hugh Jackman did a half way decent job. The opening was good, the midway musical number was not so good. Out of the 24 awards i guessed 19 right (not bad, i must say). I thought the tribute to those who had passed away was awkwardly handled. Half of the names I couldn't even read because the camera was moving around and looking at the screen from an angle. The one thing I was mostly upset with was Mickey Rourke losing the best acting award. His performance was legendary and he truly deserved it. Sean Penn's acceptance speech I thought was gracious and funny and also profound. Rourke deserved it though. The rest of the night there were really no surprises. Ben Stiller was HILARIOUS!!. I never liked him much but after tropic thunder and this stunt I have a new found respect for Stiller. Also, Seth Rogan and James Franco were very funny as well. Their video really brought up a good point too, Comedies are too often overlooked by the Academy. Anyways any thoughts on the Oscars would great, let me know what you thought.

Land of the Fathers

I thought this film had a great story, one that was compelling and touching, but ultimately I thought the movie was terribly made. First off the acting was terrible, but it wasn't good either. The editing felt choppy and rough giving the movie a sense of disjointedness. And I don't know if it was just me but the subtitles seemed to be horribly translated. It seemed like sometimes the wrong word would sometimes be in a sentence. I was immensely disappointed because (judging a book by its cover) or in this case a movie by its title, I was expecting something a lot more entertaining. I felt the story being as profound as it was deserved a far better treatment.

Oscar politics

The reading about the Oscars got me thinking its not just the foreign language films that get overlooked but even the mainstream Hollywood films and the indie/art films. This year the biggest disappointment and surprise was the Academy's overlooking of The Dark Knight. I know some people see the film as just a really good comic book movie, but to most its way more than that and I was pretty convinced that it would score a nomination. The article touched upon the fact that most or at least some of the voters are seniors so they sometimes ignore the violent or more sexually explicit films or ones that appeal to younger audiences (The Dark Knight). I haven't seen all five of the nominees but its just a disappointment that the Knight didn't get a nomination. It did what most mainstream blockbuster films can't do, entertained but also had a message, a message on society and evil. Its rare for a blockbuster film to be immensely entertaining and also very intelligent. The film should have been recognized for that, for being able to elevate itself beyond just a comic book movie. Also, going back to the foreign language film category its disappointing when really good films get overlooked because there's a good chance that without the nomination we won't easily be able to see these films. Let me know what you all think

Mongol on the computer screen

I don't know what you guys all think but I feel like Mongol would have been much more enjoyable had I seen it on the big screen. Some people don't seem to mind watching tv shows or movies on their computers and I usually don't mind but depending on the program it makes a big difference. Mongol is a film that needs to be seen on the big screen due to its scope and epic feeling. I couldn't appreciate the vast landscapes and the amazing costumes and sets on a tiny presentation. I wonder if the sacrifice of quality is worth the gain in easy access?

Some thougts on movies current and upcoming

I saw the movie Taken, this weekend and although it was a predictable action flick I really enjoyed it. Liam Neeson was great in the movie and the action scenes were really well done. Not an award movie but some mindless entertainment at its best. My theatre was in a bit of a rut, not getting any good movies but recently we've been getting some better fare. Frost/Nixon was great, Gran Torino was amazing, This coming Friday We'll be getting Slumdog Millionaire which I'm very excited to see. The films that we should have got at my theatre but we didn't include Revolutionary Road, The Wrestler and The Wrestler. It's tough getting these indie/art films, when we do get them its weeks after their initial release. We try to get our company to get them to us when they come out but for whatever reason they do not listen to us or its just not something they can do. But it gets frustrating when they ask us what we can do to increase business and our answer is to get us these good movies, and then we get them but weeks later.

Anways if anyone has seen these movies I'd love to hear what you thought or have anything you want to ask or say please comment.