Lookin' Back

Two hours into the new year, I wish to look back on my accomplishments of last year. On top of zillions of other movies, I have watched the following movies that have even the slightest chance of nabbing at the very least a technical Oscar:

(500) Days of Summer
2012
9
Avatar
The Blind Side
Bright Star
The Cat Piano
Coraline
The Damned United
District 9
An Education
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hangover
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Informant!
Inglourious Basterds
Julia*
Julie & Julia
Partly Cloudy
Precious
The Princess and the Frog
Public Enemies
A Serious Man
Sherlock Holmes
Star Trek
Terminator Salvation
Up
Up in the Air
Watchmen
Where the Wild Things Are


Other movies released this year (well, in the US in some cases) that I saw:
12
17 Again (blame the plane)
Adventureland
Away We Go
The Brothers Bloom
The Class
Duplicity
Land of the Lost (wish I hadn't)
I Love You, Man
The Proposal
The Soloist
State of Play
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (also mostly wish I hadn't)


Tack on my Documentary class screenings plus outside of class watches necessary along with catching up on last year's award movies (watched Frozen River and Happy-Go-Lucky the day of the Oscars, actually), not to mention good old general viewing and a crapload of TV shows (beloved BSG included)... and this was a productive year, entertainment-wise. I hope to top myself in 2010!



*technically, I saw Julia in 2008.

Sidenotes.

Also, notes:

- Caught up on Dexter. SO GOOD. Jesus, I don't understand why Michael C. Hall hasn't won an Emmy or Golden Globe yet. Love ya, Jon Hamm, love Hugh Laurie, love most of the repeat nominees, but my vote is going to Michael C. Hall this year. Just brilliant work this season (not to mention every season). I also understand the upset over Jennifer Carpenter being left off, at least at the Globes this year. Man, she was extremely powerful this past season. Highly impressive.

- Starting to catch up on House. And admittedly, a bit bored. Granted, I've never been intensely into House. Love Hugh Laurie, LOVE Robert Sean Leonard, love Lisa Edelstein, love Chase's accent, love Taub, loved Kutner... but I've never been particularly thrilled with procedurals. I'm still a few episodes behind though. I'll catch up soon.

- Seeing Sherlock Holmes tomorrow. Excited. Lykewhoa. I love RDJ. I tend to enjoy Guy Ritchie films. I love bromantic action flicks. So, this should be enjoyable if nothing else.

- icheckmovies has gotten me horribly wrapped into the world of watching movies. OH GOD WHAT A HORRIBLE PLACE. Kidding. But I did finally watch A History of Violence earlier and Saving Private Ryan and Artificial Intelligence are waiting for me. Not to mention my 15 or so movies on my external harddrive, the three or four DVDs I own that I've never watched, the few cool looking movies hulu offers, and all the movies I have yet to see in theatres (oh dude, I totally forgot about The Road in my last post... whoops... well, I'll see it). But it feels so nice to see my number go up when I watch a new movie! Like what happened after I saw The Blind Side on Monday. Whoo! Oh, btws, yes, Sandra Bullock was pretty awesome in it. Movie itself had me grimacing a little, but it was, for what it was, warm and gooey and enjoyable.

Rambling complete.

PS: Rewatching last episodes of Chuck. SO FRIGGIN EXCITED FOR ITS RETURN. SQUEE.

PREDICTIONS? Hardly, as if Sharlto Copley and Michael Sheen are getting nominated...

I have made the roughest combination of a dream list/prediction sheet. You'll see some glaring omissions, particularly from films I haven't seen yet, although some clear front-runners to get nominated I have left in some categories either for lack of a better suggestion or because I have faith that said film is awesome in that particular field. There are a couple categories that have an extra nominee because I couldn't narrow it down. There is a very clear bias in these selections. I have cut out a lot of Nine, there's no Invictus to be found, very little The Lovely Bones, but I also haven't seen any of those three so that's no surprise.

Movies yet to be watched, Oscar-wise, include (but are not limited to): The Lovely Bones, Nine, Invictus, The Last Station, The Young Victoria, The Hurt Locker, A Single Man, Crazy Heart, The Messenger, Brothers, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and a big host of others I could see. As it is, chances I'll see The Last Station or Brothers are kind of wobbly. Love Helen Mirren and the stars of Brothers, but goddamn does the material look eh.

Also to note, my original best Actor category had eight people (Michael Stuhlberg, George Clooney, and Matt Damon were also on it). I feel like a traitor totally ignoring Morgan Freeman, but this is a tough category this year, IMO.

ANYWAY, here is my intensely rough list praising District 9 and Bright Star far more than either will ever get praised:

(*asterisks mark movies I haven't seen*)

Best Picture
Avatar
District 9
An Education
*The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Julie & Julia
A Serious Man
Star Trek
Up
Up in the Air

Best Actor
*Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
Sharlto Copley – District 9
*Colin Firth – A Single Man
*Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker
Michael Sheen – The Damned United

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Abbie Cornish – Bright Star
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Gabby Sidibe – Precious
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia

Best Supporting Actor
*Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Alfred Molina – An Education
Stanley Tucci – Julie & Julia
*Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Cristoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Melanie Laurent – Inglourious Basterds
*Julianne Moore – A Single Man
Mo’Nique – Precious

Best Director
*Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
James Cameron – Avatar
Jane Campion – Bright Star
Joel and Ethan Coen – A Serious Man
Lone Scherfig – An Education
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds

Best Original Screenplay
(500) Days of Summer
*The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
Up

Best Adapted Screenplay
District 9
An Education
The Informant!
Precious
Up in the Air

Best Editing
Avatar
*The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
Up in the Air

Best Cinematography
Avatar
Bright Star
District 9
*The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds

Best Costume Design
Bright Star
*The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Inglourious Basterds
Julie & Julia
*Nine
*The Young Victoria

Best Make-Up
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek
Where the Wild Things Are

Best Art Direction
Bright Star
District 9
Inglourious Basterds
*Nine
A Serious Man

Best Visual Effects
2012
9
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Best Sound Editing
Avatar
District 9
*The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Up

Best Sound Mixing
Avatar
District 9
*The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Up

Best Original Score
Avatar
The Informant!
The Princess and the Frog
Star Trek
Up
Where the Wild Things Are

Best Song
“I See You” – Avatar
*“The Weary Kind” – Crazy Heart
“Almost There” – The Princess and the Frog (or “When We’re Human” or “Down in New Orleans”)
“Cinema Italiano” – Nine
“All Is Love” – Where the Wild Things Are

Best Animated Feature
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
*Ponyo
The Princess and the Frog
Up

(excluded: Best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short, Best Documentary Short, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Documentary Feature)

Re: Up in the Air, An Education

Spoilers, people, if you haven't learned to expect them here.

Goddamn, can you stop ruining my romances with secret marriages? I mean, I was totally cool with it in An Education, and honestly, I'm okay with it in Up in the Air (although it does make me want to punch Vera Farmiga's character in the face; a similar sentiment I felt in The Departed), but WHINE.

But yes, Up in the Air was very good. I quite enjoyed it, it brought me to tears a few times, Anna Kendrick is stunning, George Clooney really does do a great job in the role, and Vera Farmiga, for making me want to hit her, does very well also. The film is very much of its time, and felt extremely satisfying in that way. It was very good.

Because Nobody Likes a Total Snob.

Two things.

One - I hate film snobs. I love movies. I love good movies. I love bad movies. I love commercial movies. I love experimental/artsy/etc. movies. Not all of any of those categories... but I can't help that. There are good movies I dislike (Let the Right One In... that's supposed to be a good movie, right?). There are bad movies I dislike (...this list would be much longer, but let's limit it to a piece of trash like You Don't Mess with the Zohan. Yeah, I wasted money on that movie). There are commercial films I dislike (er, again, this would make a long list, but I think Zohan fits here too). There are experimental/artsy/etc. movies I dislike (I don't see a lot of these, to be frank, but film class helps expose me to them and some just are not my style). But no matter what movie I see, even if I go in thinking I will hate it or like it or whatever, there's still a clear opinion that I cannot deny myself. Like Avatar, which I went into expecting to not be impressed, determined to not be impressed and was... impressed. Like Let the Right One In, which I'd heard was awesome, which people told me was great, but I walked away not really enjoying it. Like Twilight, which actually had some awesome moments for so bad a movie I will happily admit to (and honestly, with such shitty material, snaps to Catherine Hardwicke for doing it any decency).


So, pretty much, I just really hate people who rip on commercial films because of the industry. Or people who rip on foreign language films because for whatever reason people hate subtitles (honestly, I love me some subtitles; I used to watch movies in English with subtitles for kicks). Or people who rip on independent filmmaking because they think it's too snobby (unfortunately, too often, they're right). I dislike the pressure some people put on me as a socially conscious individual to avoid commercial filmmaking, to avoid Hollywood, to avoid supporting the big guy. And y'know what? I would love to focus in on independent fare. And I love independent fare. But you know what else? There are some major pretentious jackasses over there, just like there are some obnoxious full-of-themselves douchebags in commercial filmmaking. Wherever you go, there will be jerks. So I might as well watch and make movies that I like, whether it be through a big distributor or a small one. 'Cause, really, in the end, we can generalize all we want about each field, but there's no right or wrong way to make a movie. And I tend to prefer movies made for art rather than money, but there are some SHITTY movies made for art rather than money too.

To all you film snobs out there determined to hate big movies, to diss on The Dark Knight because it's too commercial to like, like my former college film advisor, who complained about the Hollywoodization of Milk: shut the fuck up and just enjoy the movies. You can criticize the roots separately, but the movie itself is something worth approaching and appreciating without major critique to where it is coming from. Just enjoy the experience without the jadedness while you're watching it. Relive that innocence within you. It's refreshing, believe me.

On that note, yes, I do like Juno. No, I do not think it is the bee's knees, I think it is wildly overrated but still a good movie. Yes, I do have something against Diablo Cody and it's not just her "dress" she wore when she won an Oscar. Although I appreciate where her attitude of "I'm so awesome" comes from, I dislike what she does with it, promoting the most crappy eclectic things as she can and being the ultimate hipster goddess. Jesus H. Christ.

I can get a bit snobby about movies, but believe me, I like my fair share of crappy movies, commercial products, and movies from many walks of... production. I rented Maid in Manhattan like once a week when I was 12. I LOVED that movie. I still think it's kind of cute. >.>



Two - I am seeing Up in the Air tomorrow. I am excited.

4 Movies, 5 Days...

Not bad, not bad at all in my humble opinion. Since my arrival home Thursday evening I have seen Avatar, Fantastic Mr. Fox, An Education, and The Princess and the Frog. All of which I think were good. I blabbed on about Avatar and although I certainly liked the other three movies, I don't really feel too strongly about blabbing on for ages.

And in older film world... I've been slowing making my way through The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly on hulu. I'll finish it tonight is my hope. >.>

If Dexter doesn't distract me! Or gnawing guilt over my unfinished internships applications that I seriously need to get down to. Or how behind on House I am.

Gah.

I will say that the music in The Princess and the Frog was quite excellent. I love the nostalgia of 2D Disney animated musicals. Carey Mulligan was fabulous in An Education (and Rosamund Pike was adorably ditzy). Fantastic Mr. Fox was cleverly adorable. But as for their respective best bet categories, although Carey Mulligan has an excellent chance at the Best Actress, Meryl Streep's Julia Child was simply stunning. LOVED it. And Fantastic Mr. Fox is excellent... but you got to be kidding me, it is no Up. If it was competing against the opening montage of Carl and Ellie's life together only, it would still lose in my book. People cheer over the beautiful silent opening of Wall-E... well, I say, what Wall-E does in half an hour, Up does in about five minutes. Not to mention reducing me to tears.

These are the logs of the Starship Sarah. Her ongoing mission? To seek out unknown space, to see movie after movie after movie, to talk and talk about them until people roll their eyes, fall asleep, and beg for mercy.

BTWs, no, I am not a Star Trek fan (save the new one). As I explain to all of my friends, Star Wars is pop culture, Star Trek is cult, and I love me some cult, and I like camp, but Jesus Christ, all I thought while watching Wrath of Khan was "Khan has a REALLY nice chest" and "I wish I were watching Star Wars." >.>

Still to see in theatres in the coming days? Up in the Air (comes out Wednesday! :D), Invictus, Nine, The Blind Side, A Single Man, Crazy Heart, The Messenger, and The Lovely Bones. Maybe The Last Station and The Young Victoria. Hope to catch The White Ribbon eventually, and The Beaches of Agnes. Will rent Food, Inc., The Hurt Locker, In the Loop, and others...

I saw it. Avatar.

I'm not going to blab on particularly long about Avatar because, well, I don't have that much to say. It was, to be frank, quite awesome. I really enjoyed it. Some people complained beforehand about the story being trite and thin and the dialogue being rather meh, but it hardly distracted me. It was hardly Shakespeare, but when it comes to sci-fi epics, I mean, how simple are the Star Wars lines that are endlessly quoted?

"May the Force be with you."
"My name is Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you."
"I love you." "I know."
"No, I am your father."

None of these are exactly poetry either, but they are all incredibly awesome lines, particularly Harrison Ford's improvised ESB line pre-carbon freeze. So I see nothing to complain about with Avatar. Beside that, it is an EPIC. And by epic, I mean that the plot is going to be somewhat traditional in many ways, and that's nothing to guffaw at. Storytelling-wise, there's nothing revolutionary about the movie. The special effects are fucking amazing, of course, but the story itself is what it is supposed to be - strong, powerful, striking, and good. But not revolutionary.

But on the special effects, can I say how fucking amazing they are again? And it's not just the Na'vi, which were done very well, but also simply all alien life on Pandora. Every creature, all the flora, the whole thing was just so beautiful and, for lack of better word, exotic. It felt like I was truly transported to this location, which is what the best sci-fi and fantasy epics do. I have the same feeling with Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and to bring in video games, the sci-fi epic I am partial to: Mass Effect. These are spectacular worlds that tell amazing but traditionally-based stories. I am happy to see Avatar and look at it as a new classic. Although the special effects will soon enough be commonplace and not long after become outdated, the epic nature of the beast will keep it around for a long time.

It's not the special effects that made Star Wars or Lord of the Rings as awesome as they are, and it's not that they told a wildly original story - they simply brought us into this new world and captivated us with a beautiful story and a well-thought out and captivating world.

In fact, I want to return to Pandora really soon, and I hope that, if good sequels can be imagined, that there will be sequels. But only if they can be good (take a cue from Pixar; even though Toy Story 3 is eleven years after Toy Story 2, it's because they were waiting for a good story and I have few doubts that Toy Story 3 won't deliver the goods. Toy Story 2 did). We have enough bad sequels in the world. Other than that, I look forward to seeing Avatar again. I might dare to do it again in theatres if I find time between all the other movies, but probably not. I will see it again. And hopefully love it just as much. Because it truly is a GREAT film in both content and era. While maybe not the best film I've seen of this year or my favorite (and I am still lacking several, so we'll see what happens), I have a feeling that this movie will last.

I think I read somewhere that James Cameron doesn't see this film to be as timeless as Titanic, but I have a feeling it'll prove otherwise. For example, over thirty years later, everyone still knows what Star Wars is. Even if the damned fools haven't seen it.

Don't worry, I'm fixing that. Bard Film Committee is doing a Star Wars weekend next semester. A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. I am FORCING all my WEIRD friends who haven't seen Star Wars to come. I just don't understand. It's such an amazing classic.

One of my favourite things about future!motherhood (y'know, in ten years or so is what I'm aiming for) is going to be sharing my childhood experiences with my kids. The Pixar films, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter. And you know what? They're seeing Avatar too. And a shitload of other movies. 'Cause, well, if you know anything about me, I effing love movies. My kids better too.


PS: Let me make this very clear. Yes, I think Sam Worthington is a hunk. Yes, I think he was amazing in Terminator Salvation (as was Anton Yelchin. Sorry, Christian Bale, you're normally great but you really blew in that movie). Yes, I am going to start seeing movies probably explicitly because he is in them. No, Anton Yelchin is still my future husband.

PPS: I am attempting to do a double feature tomorrow of Fantastic Mr. Fox and An Education. Wish me luck! Hope it doesn't snow TOO much.

Lists. I Like 'Em.

Quick, useless-to-anyone-but-me updated To See list:


- The Lovely Bones
- Nine
- Avatar
- Invictus
- The Blind Side
- Amreeka
- An Education
- Sherlock Holmes
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- The Princess and the Frog
- The Road
- A Single Man
- The Messenger
- Up in the Air
- Crazy Heart
- The Last Station
- The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
- The Beaches of Agnes
- Food, Inc.
- Ponyo
- The Hurt Locker
- Every Little Step


That's manageable over winter break, right? I might weed some of these out. I actually don't really care about Leo Tolstoy, but I do love Helen Mirren hence wavering interest over The Last Station. Point is, some of these movies are on here because I like to see all the awards contenders I can. But, luckily, I have genuine interest in nearly all of these films anyway, so nyeh.

As for possible contenders seen: 2012, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Inglourious Basterds, A Serious Man, The Damned United, Up, Coraline, Precious, The Cat Piano, Partly Cloudy, Star Trek, District 9, Public Enemies, The Informant!, Where the Wild Things Are, Bright Star, Julie & Julia, (500) Days of Summer, The Hangover

No, I think it's hilarious too that The Hangover has submitted itself for Best Picture. But you want to know what's funnier? Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has as well. Just because there are ten best picture slots doesn't mean we have to revert to BAD block-busters to fill the spots. 'S why Star Trek has the fighting chance it does. I'll be surprised and pretty impressed if Star Trek ends up nominated, BTWs.

Precious: A Difficult Feeling

Last night's episode of Glee was one of the best of the season. The music of the episode wasn't the best, no, but the story was brilliant. I love Glee, but sometimes things are too much of a mash-up when I just want it all to move like a real story.


Maybe it's just me, but I really wasn't that in love with Coraline. I liked it, I wanted to really like it, but I just couldn't. It was a great film visually, but the story felt too thin at times that I just couldn't love it the way some of my critics seem to.


But onto more convoluted and lengthily-written sentiments...

I saw Precious this past Thanksgiving weekend (last Saturday, to be exact). I was almost ashamed that I didn't actually cry during it. I teared up, for sure, the same moment Mariah Carey's character was kind of blubbering on screen, and the whole film just left me in this state of mind that I just wasn't allowed to talk about it. Which is so interesting from the perspective we're taking from reading Maus in my literature class this past week. The idea that the Holocaust cannot be retold, but rather that Maus acts as a substitution, never daring to presume that it is a retelling or a recreation - it simply is what it is.

But something tugs at me and tells me that Precious is supposed to be real and that is what makes me clam up about it. Not that it's based directly off of a true story - although Oprah and Tyler Perry find themselves taking it and applying it to real tales around them, and I can't blame them for doing that in the least - but that it isn't trying to substitute for anything, it's trying to take the place of that reality, trying to show us it. I'm not sure how I feel about that, about seeing this depressing-as-hell story told to me. I can't really talk about the film, about the elements of it. I feel as if I'd be betraying what the movie is showing. I don't dare to put the film into a frame like we're asked to when we're asked how we feel about a movie or how it is. And some movies, most movies that I see actually, I can do that. I can talk and talk about the narrative structure, about what I liked and didn't like, about the portrayals and this and that and on and so forth. But some movies, like Precious, just leave me with the sense that I'm not allowed to say anything about it. I can't even know how I feel about it. I can pick out little things, talk about the skillful acting, about the interesting structure and bleakness of it all, but I can't even dare to seriously summarize or react to it.

This is something I don't want to have. I'd rather have the courage to be able to do what Art Spiegelman does and take the frikkin Holocaust and find some way to express myself without betraying the original event, without betraying Precious and her story, but still managing to express what that experience brings. I haven't read the novel the movie is based off of, and maybe the movie does that for the novel. Successfully substitutes the sufferings of the novel with the sufferings in the movie. There is something that so nicely converts a story sometimes when it is translated from a textual to a visual medium. But I'm rambling, and I don't even make sense to myself by this point.

My point is that this class, Narratives of Suffering, has changed the way I look at everything around me, no joke. I also saw A Serious Man and thanks to Narratives of Suffering, despite really enjoying the movie and thinking it was good, I have some serious beef with it that I am still trying to articulate in my mind to make into an eventual post. But A Serious Man is still something of a comedic movie, something quirky, by the Coens' brothers. Not like Precious, not like this brutally honest thing that I just don't want to confront but is haunting me everyday that I don't try to face it down and accept what it was trying to tell me. It's simple really: the horrors people can put on those they supposedly love, the hurt that "love" provides, and real love that can be found, a way to escape and a hope for something more. But there's still such a trauma there.

It's funny how everything pieces together so smoothly in life. Not only did I see these two movies all about suffering in the midst of trying to understand it through the lens of this class and the fifteen books we've read for it (The Road is last and coincidentally enough, the movie version just came out!), but one of my friends just did a presentation on trauma this evening, the last portion of which I attended. It was a pretty straightforward synopsis of trauma, providing the important information about it, and presenting it mostly within the idea of sexual abuse and on college campuses. But after having just finished rereading Maus, trauma seems so much bigger than that, so much more complicated. But basically my life is surrounding me with these narratives of suffering and asking me, begging me, in fact, to confront and understand them. The song I'm doing for my jazz final is even called "I Want To Be Happy!" I mean, what the hell, life?

It always circles back around to that class lately. And not without good reason. I'm glad that a class I'm taking has had such an effect on my life. Not like my film classes which, although awesome, have provided more of a technical and aesthetic appreciation and skill, but something that has truly made me think more profoundly and to look around me at the world with more thought. A year ago, I would have simply accepted Precious and A Serious Man as amazing films, and when Precious would have scared me from trying to talk about it, I wouldn't have bothered to try to think about why and have simply accepted that it's a difficult story.

And it is a difficult story, and a very difficult movie. But I want to try to talk about it without feeling the eyes on me, asking why I, such a privileged person whose worst worries are about getting her homework all done in time and adequately, should ever dare to think about such pain. Who am I to think about such pain? But it's not about looking at it apart, seeing it as myself. I want to look at this movie and not get lost in the pain and suffering but see it analytically as well, understandingly, but without losing my humanity in the process. Yes, I feel for Precious, I watch her in the movie and my heart tries to leap out of my chest to be closer to her, to join souls with her, but I don't want that to cloud my ability to see the movie as a narrative. It's easy to let that happen as I've felt with several of the narratives we've read in my class. And it's easy to step back and forget how to feel. I want to do both and it's a struggle, but a worthwhile one, because in feeling but understanding, like Art Spiegelman seems to succeed at in Maus, I can lay myself next to the story, and love it.