The Oscars: Who Will Win.

I made all of these predictions before the nominees were announced. I'm gonna stick with them until the day. I want to change my best Picture guess from Avatar to The Hurt Locker. It will between these two films. But, I'm just gonna stick with my original gut. The last two times a film crossed 1 billion dollars at the global box office, it won best picture. Titanic? Return of the King? So here they are. This is the worst I could do.

Picture: Avatar

Director: Katherine Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Best Animated Feature: Up

Best Documentary Feature: The Cove

Best Foreign-Language Film: The White Ribbon (Germany)

Adapted Screenplay: Inglourious Basterds

Original Screenplay: The Hurt Locker

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Supporting Actress: Monique, Precious

Editing: Avatar

Cinematography: The Hurt Locker

Art Direction: Avatar

Sound Mixing: Avatar

Sound Editing: Avatar

Costume Design: The Young Victoria
Make up: Star Trek

Original Score: Up

Original Song: "The Weary Kind" --Crazy Heart (this is my pick)

or that song from AVATAR

The Type of Movies that I Like

I think that the type of movies, or films that stay with me are the big ones. If I look at my favorite films of all time, I can see a pattern. These are the movies with the emphasis on huge things at stake where the characters that I love are fighting for something much greater than themselves. They are fighting for their loved ones and for the truth or for some kind of freedom. They are usually films of grandeur that display an imagination on a large scale. As if someone's imagination exploded and ended up on celluloid in an organized fashion. But not anybody's imagination. People that can think big, and imagine incredible worlds and tell incredible stories in those worlds, make the movies I like. It is not that I am not moved by movies that are created on a smaller budget and a smaller scale. I am not someone who is reserved to only Hollywood movies. It is rare when a gem with a Hollywood budget comes around. That is why most people enjoy indies: It is because the filmmakers have no choice but to make something compelling and moving with their small budget. A high budget does not make the picture worth watching by any means. Transformers had one of the highest budgets of the year and it sucked. Avatar, on the other hand has one of the largest budgets of all time and it rocks. Just a small and not very well made comparison that I just made.

AVATAR!

I was so extatic to see this movie. I went with my friend Jacob who said he'd been waiting for this movie to come out for about a year. We decided to go together to see it at an early bird showing which means that we pay less than a matinee price. At cinemark you pay "only" 5.50 for the very first showing of the day, plus the three dollars for the 3D formatting. So it was still around 9 bucks for some reason...tax?

Anyway, to the movie....

It opened with some incredible science fiction images of people being shipped off to Pandora, and Jake looking at his dead brothers body. The spaceships made me think of watching a Star Wars film for the first time in theaters. This is what it must have been like for those people back in 1977 when that giant ship came onto the screen. Only this one was in 3D. The visuals aren't too stunning, when they arive on Pandora. We get to meet Sigourney Weaver's character. I immediately began to like her the moment she came on the screen. We begin to understand what the mission is and what an Avatar is. Sigourney Weaver's character begins to talk about the Na'vi people. There is immediately a conflict between the scientists on Pandora studying the people and the Biology of the planet, and the Military forces that want to take the rich minerals that bring in the big bucks.

When the planet is first being explored, I am reminded of Jurassic park when we are first looking at the dinosaurs with the caravan of tour jeeps. Only this world is incredible to behold. It is "planet earth" on steroids, but healthy ones if that is possible. It looks and feels completely real. I had the feeling plenty of times as if I was going to movies for the first time in my life. There were times when I was actually afraid of falling off cliffs, I was afraid of being stabbed in the face, I was afraid of being shot with an arrow. These were all feelings I was literally feeling because of the world that James Cameron created, and because of the ingenious ways the 3D process was implimented. These things I felt throughout the entire movie, not just the moment when the planet was first being explored.

The Na'vi people are beautiful. They have every human quality and characteristic. They express themselves the same ways that we do, only their tails are the additional expressive feature. They are about three to four times the size of humans, and they fly about the trees with the agility of Tarzan. They're eyes, when scaled to size, are much larger; their ears are something in between horse and elf. They're blue skin is the overarching color in the color palette of the film.

When Jake is going between the world of human and na'vi, it is as if he is entering something that is surreal, and dreamlike. Not quite real, but not fake either. The na'vi soon becomes more real to the audience as they becomes more real to Jake. The Na'vi become the focus of the film and they become the people, the Humans almost become the fake monsters that we so often see in VFX films. whatever that means.

The culture of the Na'vi is explained through the lessons of Neytiri to Jake. We learn about the flying beasts and horselike creatures that the Na'vi ride and make a connection with using their hair. We learn about the way they speak to their dead ancestors through the roots of the trees.

anyway that's all i can think of for now. :)

Science Fiction Movies.

There have been a slew of science fiction movies this year. Well, good science fiction, in my opinion. Three of them are noteworthy: Star Trek, District 9, and Moon. I just saw "Moon" last night at the dollar theater. I'm starting to count the days until Avatar is released. It will be as if I am watching a science fiction movie, in what used to be a science fiction manner. I will be watching it in a high resolution format, probably, in the new 3-D, and it was shot with High-Definition 3-D cameras. Not to mention, it has state-of-the art visual effects, it is the most expensive film of all time, and it is coming out in the year 2009. Who would have thought? Well, there are some big incredible effects movies coming out this holiday season, including 2012 and The Lovely Bones. This year is stuffed with computer visual effects.

But, as always, it is never the visual effects that make the movie. Even though the visual effects in all of the movies I mentioned above are state of the art. It is always the dynamic story that makes the movie good. Notice I did not mention Transformers? Star Trek was a big budget movie with a studio backing it. Because it focused on brining those characters and themes about star trek that everyone loves, it succeeded. Moon and District 9 are different though. They are basically independent movies with a huge following. The visual effects in both of these films are just as seamless as those in Star Trek. The only difference is, there are bigger and larger moments in Star Trek and thus more FX are needed.

Moon follows the story of a man who works on the moon by himself. He is basically a maintenance man for the machinery on the moon. These machines are responsible for harvesting an Element from the moon to fuel the earth's resources. He deals with the struggle of loneliness and missing his wife and kid. There is a robot who is played by Kevin Spacy who is his support. This robot gives an equally compelling and creepy performance as Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Where the Wild Things Are.

Where the wild things are is sad. I mean really sad. It is about two broken families. The broken family that Max is a part of, and the broken family that the "Wild Things" have. Max runs away from his hurt, he is angry at his mother and begins to act like an animal or a 'wild thing.' He ends up on this island filled with the wild things and somehow he becomes their king.

I was pretty sad throughout the whole thing. Mostly because I was also feeling sad that day, but also because the film struck a few chords in me. It reminded me of my wounded childhood.

Max's mother is dating a guy and obviously Max is upset at her decision. He wants her attention. He is also upset because his sister is hanging out with some people and she does not stick up for him when his igloo is destroyed.

The land of the wild things is full of messed up relationships and family struggle. The wild things are trying their best to pull it together and be a family. When Max gets there, they are getting ready to give up. He becomes a savior to them and they begin to rely on him to be their king.

Max's solution to every problem is violence. When there is conflict and arguments, he decides that the best thing to do is to have a dirt clot fight. He makes one group the 'good guys' and one group the 'bad guys.' This fight creates only more conflict.

Every wild thing character has so much going on behind it's surface. Though they are monsters, they are very human characters. It seems like this was the only way to make the story understandable, was to create the wild things with very human emotions and human problems.

Building stuff was always a kids past time. Max brings this hobby of building and creating back to the wild things when they are building their family home. This gives them something to do and something to look forward to.

Just some thoughts....

Top Films of the Year (So Far) 2009.

1. Up
2. Star Trek
3. Sunshine Cleaning
4. He's Just Not That Into You
5. Taken
6. The Soloist
7. Wolverine
8. Watchmen
9. Terminator Salvation
10.Angels and Demons

Race to Witch Mountain, Hannah Montanah: The Movie

The Singing Book and the Monster Book of Monsters.

I have a singing book. It does not actually sing, that is what is called. It is much like the Monster Book of Monsters in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Only the one in Harry Potter is actually a Monster book. Mine doesn't sing like it promises.

I still think that Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the best of the films thus far. The first two movies were good, though they lacked any imagination apart from J.K. Rowling's magnificent creation. They were studio films with producers heavily involved. They didn't allow for the director to take off. They were fun popcorn pleasers though.

When the third film was released, the series went to some new territory. The acting got better, the direction was top noch. Hogwarts looked like it was something inside of somone's imagination rather than your default movie castle. The story, though it was presented quickly and consisely, contained everything the film needed. No more and no less, and still it did not seem short or rushed. The two films that follow Prisoner: Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix are rushed. They jump from one day to the next in Harry's precious time at hogwarts and they do not cherish each moment.

Goblet of Fire is one of the longest films in the series and it still is so jam packed with plot point after plot point. It is difficult to take in an entire year at hogwarts in so little time. The film manages to rush its audience to the end only to dissapoint. The final "challenge" in the triwizard tournament is the maze. It is a giant maze with fog, and the shrubs that make up the maze attack the champions. This hardly seems challenging to people who have overcome dragons as their first challenge, and being underwater fighting off mermaids in their next. The challenges seem to get easier and less exciting as the movie progresses. By the time Harry and Cedric get to the end, when Voldemort is finally revealled, he seems like an ordinary bad guy. All the hype of "he who must not be named" leads up to some snakey looking guy who kills people. The director gives his audience no suspense, and little to show for who Voldemort really is. He is some guy born from a cauldron. That's what the book says. But when you transfer this to film, you can visually make this a treat and something to fear.

Order of the Phoenix goes to a different level of scary that I think the series should be headed. The dementors are actually starting to be something to be afraid of in this film. Harry is having some freaky dreams about attacks and he is seeing what Voldemort sees. Voldemort becomes scary when Harry has to take some lessons on how to keep Voldemort out of his head. This is called Occlumency taught by Snape, Harry's Hogwarts Nemesis. The final battle lives up to its hype. There are wizards flying around dissappearing here and there, and people are throwing killing curses at each other. I was a little dissapointed at the show down between Dumbledore and Voldemort. These are the two greatest wizards of all time. One the defendor of good, and the other is the description of pure evil in the wizarding world. They were limited to throwing fire and water at each other. Although I thought it was pretty sick when Dumbledore transfigured glass into sand to protect himself from thousands of sharp ends of broken glass flying at him.

So I haven't been talking about the movies that much have I?
Well, I haven't seen the "major Oscar Contenders" for this year yet, but I've seen quite a few pictures this year. So Here's my top ten list of the year so far.

1. Atonement
2. The Bourne Supremacy
3. Ratatouille
4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
5. Dan in Real Life
6. American Gangster
7. Enchanted
8. 300
9. The Simpson's Movie
10. Beowulf

Oscar Predictions

Best Picture: The Departed
Potential Spoiler: Little Miss Sunshine

Best Director: Martin Scorsese
Potential Spoiler: Clint Eastwood

Best Actor: Forest Whitaker
Potential Spoiler: Peter O'toole

Best Actress: Helen Mirren

Best Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy
Potential Spoiler: Alan Arkin

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson

Best Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Departed

Foreign Film: Pan's Labyrinth

Animated feature: Happy Feet

Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth

Cinematography: Pan's Labyrinth

Editing: The Departed

Score: Pan's Labyrinth

Song: Listen (Dreamgirls)

Visual Effects: Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest

Sound editing: Letters from Iwo Jima

Sound mixing: Dreamgirls

Costume Design: Curse of the Golden Flower

Makeup: Pan's Labyrinth

Animated short: Little Match Girl

Doc Feature: An Inconvenient Truth

Doc short: The Blood Of Yingzhou District

Live Action Short: Eramos Pocos

Now that this summer is pretty much over, here is a list films coming out next summer, The Summer of 2007. GO NUTS!

Spider-Man 3
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Pirates of the Caribbean 3
Transformers
The Simpsons Movie
The Bourne Ultimatum
Live Free or Die Hard
Fantastic Four and The Silver Surfer
Rush Hour 3
Shrek the Third
Ocean's 13
Ratatouille
Evan Almighty

This is the AFI's "Top 25 Musicals of All Time..."

• 1. Singin' in the Rain, (1952), MGM
• 2. West Side Story, (1961), United Artists
• 3. The Wizard of Oz, (1939), MGM
• 4. The Sound of Music, (1965), 20th Century Fox
• 5. Cabaret, (1972), Allied Artists
• 6. Mary Poppins, (1964), Disney
• 7. A Star Is Born, (1954), Warner Bros.
• 8. My Fair Lady, (1964), Warner Bros.
• 9. An American In Paris, (1951), MGM
• 10. Meet Me in St. Louis, (1944), MGM
• 11. The King and I, (1956), 20th Century Fox
• 12. Chicago, (2002), Miramax
• 13. 42nd Street, (1933), Warner Bros.
• 14. All That Jazz, (2002), Miramax
• 15. Top Hat, (1935), RKO
• 16. Funny Girl, (1968), Columbia
• 17. The Band Wagon, (1953), MGM
• 18. Yankee Doodle Dandy, (1942), Warner Bros.
• 19. On the Town, (1949), MiraMGM
• 20. Grease, (1978), Paramount
• 21. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, (1954), MGM
• 22. Beauty and the Beast, (1991), Disney
• 23. Guys and Dolls, (1955), MGM
• 24. Show Boat, (1936), Universal
• 25. Moulin Rouge!, (2001), 20th Century Fox
  

Where's "Fiddler on the Roof?"

Welcome! This blog was created for you, me, and everybody who loves movies and especially loves talking about them. Here at this blog I will talk about the movies I love and hate. I will talk about the things I love about them, my favorite scenes, the things I hate about them, the worst scenes, my favorite people, etc. Feel free to leave comments about the movies I discuss...

First Things First...
Top Ten Films of 2005 that I've seen (and other worthy mentions.)
NOTE: Subject to Change
Honorable Mentions: The Pacifier, The Island, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, War of the Worlds, Kingdom of Heaven, The Corpse Bride, Flight Plan, Just Like Heaven, Batman Begins, Elizabethtown, The Interpreter, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

10. Wallace and Gromit, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
9. Walk the Line
8. March of the Penguins
7. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
5. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
4. Cinderella Man
3. King Kong
2. Pride and Prejudice
1. Crash