Happy Sunday, or maybe not. We are under an extreme wind chill warning of -40F and here it is March now and the Academy Awards are on tonight. If Oscar were here, his privates would shrivel considerably. So I will make some cocoa, do some reading today and make my picks for the big night.
There’s been a strong field of movies this year on a wide variety of subject matter, from space to slavery, to pirates, AIDS, sting operations, war, lost babies, breakdowns and heartbreak. I’ve seen quite a few of the nominated ones. Here’s a list of the films I’ve seen so far:
The Great Gatsby
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Saving Mr. Banks
Blue Jasmine
All Is Lost
Gravity
Captain Phillips
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
Philomena
Lone Survivor
Her
Dallas Buyer’s Club
Frances Ha
And here’s a list of films I haven’t seen but still hope to in the future:
Inside Llewyn Davis
Labor Day
The Wolf of Wall Street
August: Osage County
Nebraska
The Book Thief
I’m sorry to say I also haven’t seen any of the foreign film nominees this year, or the documentaries either, which is a bit surprising, but I hope at least they become more readily available after the awards.
Of the films I’ve seen, it’s hard to say which one I liked the very best. Quite a few of them had moments that blew me away. “Captain Phillips,” “Philomena,” “Saving Mr. Banks” and “Her,” particularly struck me, and I was haunted for a week after “Lone Survivor” and “12 Years a Slave.”
I actually liked all of the nominated films I saw and wouldn’t be surprised if “12 Years a Slave” won for Best Picture and “American Hustle” won for Best Director, or vice versa, and the rest of the awards were sprinkled about. “Her” seems a good pick for Best Original Screenplay as I enjoyed its creativity and explorations of the heart and feelings of alienation.
The performances by Cate Blanchett in “Blue Jasmine” and Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyer’s Club” are hard to argue, though it would’ve been nice if Emma Thompson in “Saving Mr. Banks” or Robert Redford in “All Is Lost” hadn’t been passed over for nominations. Still the categories are tight with some excellent performances. The winners for Best Supporting roles always wind up a bit interesting or surprising. And hopefully there will be some surprises tonight. If it’s the same winners as the previous awards’ shows, it’ll be quite dull, don’t you think?
What about you — which movie did you like best this year and which ones are your picks for tonight?
I think 12 Years a Slave is going to win. I say that with confidence even though I haven’t seen all the nominated movies. lol
You were right Kathy. All the way. I still want to read Solomon’s memoir/book too.
Of the ones you’ve mentioned, I’ve only seen three. Yikes. I need to get going here, I think. I liked Dallas Buyers Club a lot and my wife and I both enjoyed Frances Ha. The other one, The Great Gatsby, was solid, if not a bit too long for me. My wife saw All Is Lost too and was surprised that Redford wasn’t up for his performance in that too.
Hi Bryan, yeah I agree I liked Dallas Buyers Club too and thought it was an important film to be told. I just saw it a few days ago in fact. Too bad for Redford but I guess it’s hard to judge too much in a solo performance.
I feel like I live under a rock! I knew The Book Thief was being turned into a movie, but I had no idea it had already been released. I need to get to the theatre and see it!
Hi Monika – yep The Book Thief came out around Thanksgiving. It might come out on DVD in the near future. So maybe wait if you can’t find it playing anywhere. I still want to see it too. I heard the movie is good. I do like Geoffrey Rush too.
I haven’t seen any of the movies. I just can’t stand going to the movies anymore. There is always someone with their phone or tablet lighting up the whole darn place. I am easily irritated with that kind of thing. I wait for the movies to come out on DVD but sometimes that takes forever, OR there never seems to be a good time to watch them since The Girl is always glued to my side.
I loved the show last night even though I couldn’t really weigh in on who should have won, etc.
What was up with John Travolta and the botched intro to Idina Menzel?? Adele Danzim?? That was so bizarre.
Holy smokes! I guess I didnt know the singer Idina Menzel so I didnt realize his terrible screw up at the time. Wow thanks for alerting me. How crazy! How are the names even similar? The woman ended up winning the award and wasn’t even introduced correctly. That’s got to be the weirdest thing!
I haven’t seen most of the films nominated this year so I skipped the awards. I did catch the last few minutes to see that Leo didn’t win (but I’m glad MM did) and that 12 Years A Slave won best picture. Perhaps I’ll do a better job staying current next year.
Yeah there seemed a lot of good films this year. I was a bit exhausted to see 14 of them. There will be a dearth of good ones now. I can take a break :-). At least you watch The Walking Dead regularly, and that’s what counts. ha