Phil's Official 2014 Oscar's Drinking Game

Phil’s Official 2014 Oscar’s Drinking Game

Take a Swig

-Anytime Meryl Streep is shown, or talked about.

-Anytime you see Jack Nicholson wearing his sunglasses.

-Anytime Ellen Dances.

Drink for 5 Seconds

-Anytime you see the clip from ‘Captain Phillips’, or someone says “I am the captain now”

-Anytime they begin to play an award winner off the stage.

-If someone mentions Cloon-Tang or Leonardo DiCaprio’s womanizing status.

-Anytime they mention Martin Scorsese’s shortness or glasses to face ratio.

-Anytime they bring up ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ with reference to the drug use, language or sexuality.

-Anytime someone says “Chiwetel Ejiofor” (I spelled that right on the first try.)

-If there is a prompter malfunction or any other production miscue.

-Every time Jennifer Lawrence makes a funny face.

Drink Half a Beer or Drink

-If someone tries to make a “12 Years a Slave” Joke.

-Any time Bill Murray is on the screen.

-If Matthew McConaughey wins best actor and starts his speech with “alright, alright, alright”

-If someone brings up politics in their speech.

Shotgun a Beer or Slam a Shot

-If Leonardo Wins Best Actor.

-If someone other than Cate Blanchett doesn’t win Best Actress.

-If someone makes a Woody Allen being a pedophile reference.

Slam 2 Shots

-If anyone other than Jared Leto wins best supporting actor.

Drink Until You Need to Call an Ambulance

-If June Squibb flashes anyone.

-If Jack Nicholson is shown without his sunglasses on.

Oscar Predictions

First off I'd like to apologize for my two month hiatus from the bloggosphere. I was too busy through the holidays and movies pretty much suck this time of the year unless they are nominated which is what I'm discussing today. I will give you a preview of the awards and give you a detailed analysis of what I think will win and what should win (for the major awards that I can actually provide input on).

The 85th Annual Academy Awards (which have been re-branded simply as "The Oscars" this year for some reason) take place this Sunday at the Dolby Theatre (formerly known as the Kodak [RIP FILM]). The mustiest of the Award Ceremonies in the season also happens to be the most prestigious. The Golden Globes have never been regarded as highly as the Oscars so everyone just gets blasted and has a great time. The hosts of the Globes have become funnier and because it is less formal and stuffy, it's more enjoyable to watch.

The spectacle that used to be the Academy Awards has changed several times over the last decade as they've tried to reach the younger audiences in different ways. Two years ago they had a visibly high James Franco host with Anne Hathaway in what had to have been the most awful awards ceremony in recent memory. Then they brought back the grotesque Billy Crystal to host last year, after Eddie Murphy backed out because Brett "Rehearsal is for Fags" Ratner resigned as director. The Academy wanted to bring it back to grass roots and it was more or less boring. They tried to make it more entertaining by having a Cirque Du Soleil portion during the middle, which some people liked, but having seen a few of them in person I thought it was pretty bland. They just can capture the majesty on a camera, it has to be seen in person to appreciate how amazing it truly is.

This year they hired funny man, Family Guy creator, Seth McFarlane to host which I think is a great decision. The problem is that his comic value will be severely limited because he will have to follow the Academy's staunch guidelines for being PC (politically correct). If they just let him go out there and deliver a ton of lewd jokes prodding the actors then it would be a fantastic show. Ricky Gervais got away with this at the Golden Globes a few years back and it was hilarious. The Academy doesn't have a very good sense of humor so Seth's comic ability will be held back.

Now on to the actual awards. Every year a ton of scrutiny goes into who gets nominated and who gets snubbed. It seems like these last few years have had an even bigger microscope over them since The Dark Knight was snubbed from a best picture nod and they upped the amount of best pictures to 10. Now the rules are that as much as 10 can be nominated so if a movie gets a certain amount of votes it can be in the running for best picture. This is why this year we have 9 nominations for best picture this year.

Best Picture

What I think Will Win: Argo

This one is tricky. Argo has managed to rake in nearly every major award this season and it has a ton of momentum going into the awards. The drawback: The Academy didn't nominate Ben Affleck for best director...

The last film to win best picture without the director being nominated was Driving Miss Daisy in 1989. It's only happened 4 times in the 84 years the Academy has been around to this point. So the odds aren't in it's favor in that regard.

The fact that Affleck wasn't nominated made it seem that the film didn't have a chance to win but since then it has taken home the top prize at the Golden Globes, the Directors Guild Awards, The Producers Guild Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild. To this point the fact that Affleck was left off of the best director ballot has left nearly everyone scratching their heads. Ben is more than deserving of a nomination if not the actual award and it's just mind boggling to think that he was left off. Everyone loves the comeback kid except for the Academy I guess which scares me when it comes to the award.

Even with all this momentum will it win? Will the Academy remain headstrong and arrogant by picking the unimpressive Lincoln to win? Who knows what the academy will do, they're a bunch of old assholes who don't really give a shit about public opinion.

What Should Win That's Nominated: Zero Dark Thirty or Argo.

I think both of these films were seamless cinematic experiences. While a movie can be good if it isn't smooth and has flaws, it can rarely be great. Both Zero Dark and Argo were terrific. Even though we pretty much knew the story of Argo and how it was going to turn out, we were compelled by the filmmaking. One of the hardest things about making a period piece drama is to make it feel right and the film feels right throughout. While a lot of the suspense seems convenient it still manages to grip you and keep you on the edge of your seat.

Let's talk about modern war films for a second and say that any film company who is planning on making one other than Katheryn Bigelow, should halt their production immediately, and just give up because this woman is better than whatever you're making. Unfortunately Zero Dark's biggest problem was the subject matter of torture that surrounded the film in a bunch of negative press. Some people misconstrued the film and came across with the conclusion that the film was pro-torture, when in fact the film didn't have a stance on it whatsoever. The Government wasn't happy with it and steadfastly denied the use of torture to find Bin Laden entirely. Like The Hurt Locker, the film appeared to me as merely a character study of a person that had no political stance whatsoever. You take away that negative press, and this film would be in high contention, but since Bigelow wasn't nominated for best director and the film has that negative press, I just don't see it pulling that off.

Dark Horse: Silver Lining's Playbook

If Argo doesn't win best picture and the Academy is stupid like I think it is, then I would imagine the award would go to Lincoln. It's the most logical choice for them to make considering it's a film about one of the most important political figures in history, it has one of the most storied directors in the history of film, and is definitely going to pick up at least one award in the acting categories. The movie however is really boring, is shot poorly, and has a shitty ending. It would be a very undeserving best picture and I would become even more disenchanted by the awards then I already am.

If somehow or other the Academy didn't award it to either Argo or Lincoln, I would imagine the award would fall to Silver Linings. Silver Linings is complicated. It's a movie that I both love and hate. I hate the plot and the story, yet every time I think about it I fall in love with the characters anyway. It's a tricky movie to evaluate because the performances are what drive the film, and the performances are terrific. The plot is kind of convoluted and everything ends up hindering on this dance. Not to mention the fact that the ending of the movie is only the beginning of a relationship between two people who both have a damaging past.

Still the critics have ate the film up, and Jennifer Lawrence has been pulling in most of the major awards. Plus the film tackles a potent topic of mental illness which has been looming over the past few years as we are becoming more aware of the trials and tribulations these people face. I don't see it winning, but you never know, maybe every one else in the academy was as stupid as I was to fall for this off-kilter relationship.

Nominated Films That Don't Have a Chance of Winning: Amour, Django Unchained, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi, and Les Miserables.

Not that any of these films necessarily doesn't deserve to be nominated, but I just don't see them having any chance to win.

I think the Beasts of the Southern Wild nomination was to counter the fact that they nominated Django. Basically to say "hey we're not racist, we nominated this other movie that has a lot of black people in it". I mean the movie is great, don't get me wrong, I loved Beasts, but there is no universe or year where that film is winning, so it doesn't really need to be nominated.

Les Mis really isn't all that amazing. Most of the performances are stellar, but the movie is pretty tough to swallow up until Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter make their first appearance and liven it up.

Amour seems like a movie they nominated because a french movie (The Artist) won last year.

Life of Pi just looked really stupid and I hate movies that try as hard as they can to "spiritually enlighten" me.
 
Nominated film I enjoyed the Most: Django Unchained

The first time I saw Django, I'll admit I wasn't completely sold. I enjoyed what I watched but having Inglorious Basterds fresh in my mind after watching it a few weeks before, I expected a little more. I have seen it twice since that first screening, one time at the New Beverly movie theater, which is owned by Tarantino, and had special hand picked vintage trailers and a cartoon to play before it. Seeing it this time after the trailers to the ridiculous spaghetti westerns and blacksploitation films he used as his influences I was able to accurately understand his vision. It was also a little long the first time and I was uncomfortable laughing in a theater with only like 13 people. The other times there were far more people so I wasn't as uncomfortable laughing at certain parts. I don't think it's Tarantino's best film but it definitely is a great one. Spike Lee is an asshole for refusing to see it. Tarantino is a much more talented filmmaker, just deal with it Spike.

What Got Snubbed: The Master and Moonrise Kingdom

I think the Academy has become afraid of films that challenge the audience, and give them something to talk about and discuss after the film is over. When you think about it the only film nominated that truly makes you think about what you saw is Beasts which is no where near as good as The Master. The Academy shouldn't scorn movies that challenge audiences and give us a lot to talk and think about, they should celebrate that. Not only do I wish the Academy had the balls to nominate it, but that they actually had the balls to vote it to win. Unfortunately people who make movies don’t like movies about scientology that aren’t about scientology.

Moonrise Kingdom was up there in the most entertaining films of the year for me. It's probably the most accessible Wes Anderson movie and it's theme is something that all audiences can relate to:  young love. Still you either love Wes Anderson's style, or you despise it. His films are quirky but can rub you the wrong way if you can't accept the world that he paints. Still, Moonrise is extremely funny, and heartwarming at the same time. A great period film about love and family. I think it could definitely could've and should've gotten a nomination.

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Best Director

Who I think Will Win: Steven Spielberg?

I mean Affleck, Bigelow, Tarantino, and Paul Thomas Anderson aren't nominated for some reason so he would be the only logical choice, right? I feel like this was done for a reason. Take all of the other worthy competition of the category entirely and the award is gifted to Spielberg by default.

What Deserves to Win Thats Nominated/ Dark Horse: David O. Russell, I guess.

I mean Ang Lee is nominated for some reason, the person for Beasts would be a cool choice but I think the academy was just trying to be "hip" by nominating him, and who has seen Amour? (I don't even bother looking up their names because who cares?) David O. Russell did get some really great performances out of his actors but I feel like he has a vice grip on the entire process which bothers me. His movies are disheveled. They're poorly edited, have shitty sound, and because of these things they don't feel smooth. Whereas Katheryn Bigelow, and Ben Affleck crafted seamless movie experiences.

Still I guess I would choose O. Russell because I liked Silver Linings more than Lincoln and still think that it was a supremely overrated film that we like merely because of all of the people involved in making the movie. We didn't actually care what the finished product looked or felt like. We made our decisions on Lincoln the instant we said "Spielberg is directing a biopic of Abraham Lincoln?! And Daniel Day Lewis is playing him?!" while jumping up in the air and clapping our hands together like a high school freshman girl who just got asked out by the senior quarterback. We forgot to actually view the film impartially. You take away Spielberg's name and it's a decent movie about how to get bills passed that has a hilarious James Spader in it. That's about it.

What Really Deserves To Win: Affleck
What Got Snubbed: Affleck, Bigelow, Tarantino and PTA.

While I think Zero Dark should win best pic, Bigelow is three years removed from pulling in a best director award for The Hurt Locker, so we know she is more than capable of making a captivating modern warfare film. Still she deserved to be nominated and it's ridiculous that she wasn't.

Tarantino is literally the only director in the history of cinema that could pull off a film like Django in this day and age. I don't understand why he wasn't nominated. Spike Lee's an asshole.

Paul Thomas Anderson is probably my favorite director in Hollywood right now, and he still hasn't gotten the respect he deserves from the Academy. I'm really happy to know that he will never pander to the Academy by making movies that are intrinsically simple. His films will always be challenging to digest and will leave you thinking about them for weeks if not months.

I'm made it sound like I think PTA deserves to win, but I think Affleck really does deserve it this year considering the fact that Argo is probably going to win best picture. I probably would say I think PTA should win if The Master was nominated for best picture, but I think considering the circumstances, that Affleck should take home the award. He made an extremely entertaining film that kept us at the edge of our seats and made us laugh even though we pretty much knew the ending. That's a pretty stellar achievement. I do sometimes think that the awards should go to the most entertaining movie of the year, and Argo probably was that.

Best Original Screenplay

Who Will and Should Win: Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Why should Tarantino win this award? He is the only person who can take a truly grotesque thing, and treat it completely seriously, while making you laugh like it's not serious at the same time. There are extremely powerful scenes of Django that make you shiver and grit your teeth, and there are scenes that make you feel your ribs hurt from laughter. Nobody can else can do this. It stems from his dialogue. His dialogue is what shapes and moves his movies.

Tarantino’s main competition would be Mark Boal for Zero Dark, but again he’s only 3 years removed from winning the award so I think it may fall to Tarantino.

It would be really cool if Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola could win it for Moonrise, but I think the polarizing views of Anderson films would make that difficult to come by.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Who Will and Should Win: Chris Terrio, Argo

I don’t actually know if Terrio is the front runner but I would assume that he is considering the film itself is a front runner for best picture. I mean, *spoiler alert* “Argo Fuck Yourself” is reason enough to win that award in my eyes.

I fear that this award may be passed to Tony Kushner for his Lincoln screenplay which I heard is roughly 500 pages long... My theory is that he was writing it to be a short series because that is just absolutely ridiculous. You shouldn’t win a best adapted screenplay award if less than half of your screenplay actually hit the screen but that’s my opinion. Still if Terrio doesn’t win for Argo, this would be the academy’s next logical choice.

Dark Horse: David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

This movie is about mental illness which is a hot topic in our society. It is something that surrounds us in our daily lives and hasn’t been explored all that much in film. The film does a pretty decent human portrayal of mental disorders through the perspective of family, and even love. It’s also zany, and funny even through all of it’s flaws. I still don’t see it winning but I wouldn’t be overly surprised if it did.

Best Actor

Who Will Win: Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln

Blah Blah Lincoln Lincoln Daniel Day Lewis Blah Blah Steven Spielberg Blah Blah.

Not that Daniel Day Lewis’ performance wasn’t great, there are people far more deserving of the award this year, and every time Abraham Lincoln spoke in the movie the camera slowly zoomed in on him to try and make it a more “epic” speech. Daniel Plainview was a much more deserving winner.

Who Should Win: Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Just watch the trailer to this movie, or the few clips they have online and it will be clear that he deserves the award. Sure we’ve seen Joaquin be weird and even a bit rapey before, but he straps on a set of crazy eyes like you’ve never seen and there’s a scene between him and Philip Seymour Hoffman that is deserving of both a best actor and best supporting actor award alone.

Joaquin sealed his own fate as a loser in an interview last year when he was asked about the oscars and he said “I think it’s total, utter bullshit, and I don’t want to be a part of it.” He then went on to compare the Oscars to a “carrot.” Not just any carrot though, “the worst-tasting carrot I’ve ever tasted in my whole life.” While I agree that the Oscars are a massive pissing contest, it’s not a bad thing to be rewarded for your hard and dedicated work. It’s too bad, because his performance is far and away the best of the year.

Best Actress

Who Will Win: Jennifer Lawrence, The Silver Linings Playbook

People gave her flak for her “I beat Meryl!” line that started her heartfelt speech at the Golden Globes, but it was an innocent joke, and also a line from the movie the First Wives Club. Many took it as a cocky statement but J-Law is just a witty person who couldn’t believe nobody ever used it in an award ceremony when pitted against the great Meryl Streep considering it’s from a movie. And seriously, why would Meryl care, she’s been nominated so many times you almost cant count it on four hands.

The reality is, J-Law is a bright new blip on the radar. A stunning talent who is refreshing in the world of attractive actresses we recycle in and out of chick flicks every year. She will be around a long time, and she deserves it.

Who Should Win: Jennifer Lawrence’s Body, Silver Linings Playbook

She’s just insanely hot.

But in actuality I think both J-Law and Jessica Chastain are equally deserving of the best actress award this year. Both give layered performances, but J-Law get’s a little crazier in Silver Linings. My aggravation with the plot of that movie would make me give it to Chastain because I think Silver Linings is far from a complete happy ending. I wont complain J-Law accepts the trophy on Sunday night though. That means she’ll get extra screen time which is fine with me.

Best Supporting Actor

Who Will Win: Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Why? I don’t know. There isn’t really anything special about his performance in this film whatsoever but he seems to be gathering momentum going into the awards so who knows. James Spader is the only person who was interesting in the entire movie, but hey, Tommy Lee Jones is old so let’s just give it to him I guess.

Who Should Win: Philip Seymour Hoffman or Robert DeNiro

I already told you about the scene in The Master, when PSH does a face to face interview session with Joaquin Phoenix and that it deserves awards. It’s not complicated, that scene is absolutely brilliant and I urge you to see the movie. The whole move is amazing, but it’s worth it just for that scene.

I would argue that Bobby DeNiro is the other solid choice for this award. He gives his first really layered and heartfelt performance in over a decade. Since the mid to late 90’s his specialty has been shitty action movies, and family comedies. This was his first serious turn at dramatic acting in quite some time and I personally think he was the best part of Silver Linings, acting wise that is (J-Law’s ridiculous body is the best part). This is his first nomination in over 20 years (Cape Fear, 1991) and it would be cool if he hoisted up another trophy.

I don’t see PSH holding up a trophy this year, but I would count DeNiro as the dark horse in this supporting actor race. Hopefully he comes out on top because Tommy Lee doesn’t deserve it for this role.

Best Supporting Actress

Who Will and Should Win: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

When Anne Hathaway I first saw “I dreamed a dream” in Tom Hooper’s screen adaptation of the musical, I almost got up and walked out of the theater to catch a breath. A single tear ran down my cheek after it. It was absolutely beautiful, even when it wasn’t. She really unlocked all the emotion you could ever get from the lyrics and it gave me chills. Hathaway does more acting in that song than most actors and actresses achieve in their careers. Her sparse scenes at the beginning are what carry the first act which is dreadfully dull. Without her the movie would’ve been really tough to handle at the beginning.

The only other person who may deserve it is Amy Adams for the *spoiler alert* handjob scene in  The Master.

Cinematography

Who Will Win: Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi

I feel like this award will not go the way I want it to and it will either fall into the hands of this “Claudio” guy, or Janusz Kaminski, for Lincoln. I heard that Life of Pi was a breathtaking film, and it takes crafty work with the camera and lots of CGI to convince the audience that he’s trapped on a boat with a tiger the whole movie only to find out that he’s not trapped on a boat with a tiger and it’s just a metaphor for survival. Sorry if I just gave away the big plot twist of the movie but I haven’t seen it and that ending is absolutely ridiculous.

I’m pretty much appalled at the Academy’s choice to even nominate Lincoln for this award which scares me to think that they may actually just give this award to them. Every time old Abe speaks, an epic slow motion zoom occurs until we’re inches from his face and he leaves us with an amazing lesson, or ideal. It bothered me the second I saw the first zoom in and it happened literally any time Lincoln said over two sentences. The rest of the camera work was unimpressive and bland. To think that it got nominated over The Master for this award is really just laughable.

Who Should Win: Roger Deakins, Skyfall

Let me give you a brief little look into the portfolio of maybe the best oscar-less cinematographer working in Hollywood: No Country For Old Men, Shawshank Redemption, O’Brother, Where Art Thou?, True Grit (2010), The Big Lebowski, A Beautiful Mind, and that’s just to name a few. He’s been nominated for an Oscar ten times and he still has yet to hold his own golden trophy in his hands.

But this wouldn’t just be a pity award gift him because he’s “paid his dues.” His work in Skyfall is remarkable. The shots of the Aston Martin driving through countryside in the UK, the fight scene silhouetted by the Shanghai skyline, and Bond’s entrance to the casino in Macau are easily the most artful shots in the entire franchise. Skyfall isn’t the best Bond necessarily, but it definitely had the best people crafting it, top to bottom, in the 50 year history of the films. I still think Casino Royale was better, but imagine how much better it may have been if Roger Deakins was behind the camera for that one too...

It’s not impossible for Deakins to pull in this award. I’ve heard enough public demand for the award to be given to him. I just don’t think they’d hand it off to an action flick let alone a Bond movie. It’s too bad, because I hate CGI tigers and slow zooms.

Best Animated Feature Film

What Will Win: Brave?

I honestly have no clue with this award. The only one I actually did see was Wreck-It Ralph, which was great but any movie that features a song by Owl City doesn’t deserve to win anything. I heard great things about all the other ones but not enough about any of them to think they will win. I feel like Brave will pull in the award just because it’s a pixar movie so it will go to them on reputation alone. I don’t really have any input on the other films. I still plan on seeing them but I just haven’t gotten around to it.

Best Costume Design

What Will Win: Paco Delgado, Les Miserables

The guy’s name is Paco? He deserves to win this award on that alone.

Best Documentary Feature

What Will Win: I have no idea.

I haven’t seen any of the documentaries nominated and the only one I even heard about was Searching for Sugar Man. I guess I’ll choose that one. Jiro Dreams of Sushi was a really amazing documentary that I would’ve liked to see nominated. This photo of Arnold and Jiro is Oscar worthy in and of itself.




Best Foreign Language Film

What Will Win: Amour

This seems pretty obvious because it’s the only foreign movie nominated for best picture. By that rationale how could anything else win? Not that I like Michael Moore at all but he had to take his Fahrenheit 911 out of the category of Best Documentary film in order to try and get a Best Picture nomination because he couldn’t have it in both. I don’t see why other films can have their films nominated for both. If he wasn’t such an asshole he probably would’ve been able to be nominated for both.

Best Animated Short Film

What Will Win: Paperman

I have no idea if it is the best one, but it’s the only animated short I saw this year and it was pretty cute.
But- it must have some stiff competition considering there is one named Fresh Guacamole by a man named “Pes” with no last name. Both of those things intrigue me heavily so it has to be good. We’ll see if Paperman can top some Fresh Guac on Sunday.

Best Short Film, and Best Short Documentary

I didn’t see any movies in either category so I can give no opinion on them whatsoever.



Best Film Editing

What Will Win: William Goldenberg, Argo

What Should Win: Argo or Dillon Tichenor and William Goldberg for Zero Dark Thirty

I already told you that both films are squeaky clean in the technical sense. So much of this is achieved in the editing process. Just look, William Goldberg worked on both films so he clearly did good work this past year. I’d be fine with either of these films taking home this award.

I don’t know why Silver Linings got nominated because that movie was edited really poorly.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Who Will Win: Who the fuck cares?

This is the one award that I thought Lincoln deserved to take home because they did do a great job with that. Instead they weren’t even nominated which I find funny. The makeup in Hitchcock looks comically awful to me, yet that got nominated. I know I don’t know anything about makeup, but when the characters in your movie don’t look like people then I think you did a pretty shitty job. That’s just me I guess.

Best Original Score

This is another award I don’t really care about this year. Some years you’ll have a few great scores squaring off. Back at the 2010 awards when both the score for the Social Network and Inception were nominated I found it interesting. Unfortunately we have a bunch of decent scores, but nothing to write home about. I’d give it to Skyfall but I don’t think they’ll give it to an action movie.

Music Original Song

What Will Win: “Skyfall” from Skyfall, by Adele

Everyone in the world seems to swoon over Adele’s music. I happen to not give a fuck. “Skyfall” is a pretty decent Bond song, and probably the best one in quite some time. I guess she deserves the award. I dunno there’s something off about Adele to me. She reminds me of a shark. I feel like if we cut upon her stomach, a license plate, a bunch of Grammys, and a Golden globe would fall out. I guess it only makes sense for them to add an Academy Award to that.

Production Design

What Will Win: Lincoln
What Should Win: Les Miserables

I feel like Lincoln will grab this award even though the movie couldn’t be any more visually bland. Les Miserables had some breathtaking sets and the overall design was terrific. Unfortunately it was utilized poorly by focusing on close-ups and extreme close-ups. All that amazing design was lost in the background of Russell Crowe’s furry nostrils. If it were utilized effectively I think it would be the clear winner, but because it wasn’t, I think the peeps for Lincoln will scoop up this one.

Sound Editing

What Will Win: Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton, Life of Pi
What Should Win: Paul N.J. Ottosson, Zero Dark Thirty

I feel like this is another time the Academy will get it really wrong. Zero Dark has clean and crisp sound throughout. Hell the first 30 or so seconds of the film is just sound bytes from people calling their loved ones from the planes that were hijacked from 9/11 or people who were in the towers while they were collapsing. The screen is black because we can all remember it so vividly from when we saw it all over the news that day. It’s extremely emotional and done extremely well. This whole part is more of a sound mixing thing, but Zero Dark isn’t even fucking nominated for that. The rest of the movie is quiet when it needs to be, and booming when it needs to be.

The reason I think Life of Pi will take it away from Zero Dark is because the Academy loves awarding people who aren’t worthy of being nominated. “There were some really neat tiger roars in this movie, lets give it an academy award.”

Sound Mixing

What Will Win: Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin, Life of Pi, or Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes, Les Miserables

What Should Win (And Isn’t Nominated as I’ve Already Indicated): Zero Dark Thirty

I would be okay with Les Miserables taking home that award but I thought a lot of the beginning was messy and certain parts were a little too quiet for me to hear the lyrics. Of course I saw the movie in Waterford, CT, which wouldn’t do it justice, but still the whole first act is a mess. “One Day More” was an extremely powerful sequence in the movie and if it wins the Oscar I would say it’s from that scene.

Still I feel like Life of Pi will get the award because people just swooned over the technical aspects of this film so it only makes sense for it to win those awards.

I already wrote why Zero Dark should win and I’m not going to repeat myself.

Best Visual Effects

Who Will Win: Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott, Life of Pi

What Should Win: Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill, Prometheus

Prometheus may have the finest special effects I’ve ever seen in my entire life. There are sequences in this film where my jaw literally dropped because we were displayed with such a clear and beautiful, visual feast.

The reason it won’t win: the movie just just “okay.” If it were a better movie, I think it would definitely get the award, but because Life of Pi is nominated for best picture and James Cameron loved it, it will go to that.

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I think I’ve managed to cover all the major bases in this analysis of what to expect tomorrow at the awards themselves. I hope the 50 year tribute they do to Bond is great, and Seth McFarlane can be funny.

Also, go everything that’s not Lincoln or Life of Pi!

PS. I apologize if this is littered with poor spelling and grammar issues. It took a really long fucking time to write and I don’t feel like re-reading it.

Deal with it.

"The Hobbit: An Expected Journey Into Our Collective Pockets"

We sit only a few hours from the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and I'm not excited about it at all. I never thought I would say that considering I saw each of the three LOTR's films on their opening day and own all three on extended edition DVD. I've sat through the 11 or so hours of all three extended editions back to back and spent two whole hours this past Saturday trying to decide if I was going to go sit through a marathon of all three in a theater before I decided I could just do it at my apartment. Needless to say I'm a big fan of Tolkien and the Middle Earth world. I don't really know what's holding me back from going to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at midnight tonight.

Maybe it's because it's in 3D and I think 3D is just a gimmick that lets the studios us to reach their greedy bastard hands into my pockets.

Maybe it's because it's also in HFR (high frame rate) which is also really stupid.

Maybe it's the fact that it's the first in a trilogy of films adapting a 300 page children's book... Yeah three movies.

Maybe because it's a 2 hour and 46 minute movie that is the first in a trilogy of films adapting a 300 page children's book.


Maybe it's all of those things put together. Yeah, that's it.

Sure I was originally excited when I heard the film was finally getting made and that Peter Jackson was back in the directors chair. Although it was originally supposed to be Guillermo Del Toro directing but MGM was bad at money for awhile and delayed production for so long that he stepped off leaving it open for Jackson to re-fill the chair. At the beginning of production they began releasing production diary videos that got me all giddy seeing the costume designers, set designers and make up artists back at work. All the pieces were back in place and it seemed impossible for them to fuck this up.

Then they made one talking about the fact that it was in 3D. As I already indicated, I am not a fan of 3D. Sometimes it works, but I rarely think that it actually adds to the film experience. Plus I fucking hate shelling out 4-8 extra bucks to see a movie that way. I came to terms with this dumbness and tried to move on.

Then I learned they were splitting the movie into two parts. Seeing the success of the last Harry Potter book and the fact that it was split into two pieces this seemed like an obvious move. This didn't actually bother me because I thought that maybe PJ was just going to split it into two short movies. Sure it means more money for them but a movie around an hour and a half is perfect because sometimes sitting in a theater for 3 hours isn't optimal if you have to take a piss.

Then I heard they were releasing turning the film into three parts and that the first part was 2 hours and 46 minutes long. That was when my expectations began to disappear, and my excitement level completely dissipated. THREE PARTS. THREE PARTS. THREE PARTS. I mean what the fuck. It's a kids book and it's 300 pages long. I'm re-reading the book right now so it's fresh in my mind (of course I'm still gonna see it) and I was past 100 pages after only two hours. I have the reading comprehension of a short bus fifth grader and it only took me two hours to get 100 pages. That's a third of the book so wouldn't that be what this first movie is supposed to encompass? And somehow that first third is nearly 3 hours? At that rate the three put together in what is supposed to be the preface to LOTR, and you have a 9 hour introduction trilogy to a 9 hour movie trilogy. I'm not a mathematician, but that's idiotic.

Sure I've heard that they have apparently inserted lots of back-story on most of the core characters from The Simarillion (is a collection of mythopoetic work that was published after Tolkien passed away) but why is that necessary? Also, I haven't read The Simarillion but I've heard it's extremely difficult to read whereas The Hobbit is written for 10 year olds. I just don't see how they mix, or why they need to be mixed. The source material from The Hobbit may be a little "kiddie," but it's more than enough for a movie.


Lastly, HFR? Really Peter J? You just had to go and George Lucas the shit out of the Middle Earth universe didn't you? For those of you who don't know what high frame rate is, it's when the film is presented at twice the amount of frames per second (48 frames per second as opposed to 24). That still might not mean much to you but film is really just a collection of individual pictures taken and put together at a rate so that it looks like one continual moving piece. Hence why they were originally called "moving pictures". You might think "wouldn't more frames be a better representation of reality?" The answer is no because our eyes don't see that way and it actually makes images look less real. 24 fps is a better representation of what we actually see in every day life so it's unnecessary to enhance it in any way.

They previewed footage of the film at comic con in  San Diego earlier this year and the response was not very good. You would think of the general consensus were that it didn't look good and that it was unnecessary that he would just nix his idea of presenting it in HFR. Unfortunately he's dumb. Maybe when he lost all that weight a few years ago he lost some of his common sense. Who knows.

The early reviews have said that the film looks a lot better in 24 fps than in 48 fps. The main criticisms people have said about HFR are that it looks like you're watching a soap opera. It just doesn't look normal. Other people have said that the slow shots of the landscapes are amazing but anything that involves a lot of CGI or camera movement is too much. It's been described by some as "dizzying" and others have complained that the visual effects are laughable in many scenes because at an enhanced frame rate you can't hide your errors. I guess the overall consensus is that the HFR has had a detrimental effect on the movie itself and that if you see it in regular 24 fps, it's a much better experience.

The other criticisms of the film are that it's got a very deliberate pace and suffers from it. At the beginning there is apparently a lot of back story and it takes forever for them to actually get along on their quest. Apparently it's also extremely repetitive in action running into similar problems around every twist and turn of the world. Still most critics have said it's enjoyable to a degree but it's no where near the quality of any of the LOTR's films.

I'm sure a lot of you reading this will probably see this movie and if you do you'll probably have several options of how to see it. In many theaters you'll have as many as four different ways to see it.
At the theater near me in Burbank there is a regular 24 frame per second presentation of the film, an IMAX 3D HFR version, a 3D HFR version, and a regular 3D version. If you really love 3D I would check out the regular 3D version of the film as opposed to the HFR versions. There's just no reason to see it at the enhanced rate. Still my recommendation is that you just see it in the regular format to keep it consistent with the LOTR's films. I may still see it in HFR because I'm curious but I'll likely just sneak in after paying for another movie next week because I don't want to spend 18 dollars on it.

At least going into this film I have killed my own expectations so I could very well be surprised by the end product. It's tough to have to stack up with the expections that the LOTR's movies set but they had all the tools at their disposal to accomplish that feat. I'll give you my overall thoughts on the film after I see it, but I'm in no rush to get to the theater to check it out. I don't see it being better than Skyfall or the Dark Knight Rises in terms of blockbusters but who knows.

----------------------------------------

At one point I actually started to think that maybe all of this bullshit wouldn't have happened and the movie wouldn't look stupid to me of Guillermo Del Toro had actually stayed on. Then I saw this trailer and I think no matter what I would've been disappointed.

Also here's another pile of dog shit Disney hucked 250 million dollars at.

Oh and don't go see Killing Them Softly. Andrew Dominik's film tries to have the style of Drive and the wittiness of a Tarantino movie. It fails to deliver on both. A few bits of good cinematography here and there but not worth your time.

What to see this weekend: 11/30-12/02

As we bridge the gap between the month of November and December this month there stands a vast array of directions you can head if you're looking to spend some money at a movie theater this weekend. As I've indicated in previous posts, there is some good shit in theaters. Between The Silver Linings Playbook, Skyfall, Lincoln, Wreck-It Ralph, Flight, Argo and Life of Pi, you have a huge variety of movies you could see that are all above 75 % on the tomatometer. I'm still skeptical about Life of Pi because I haven't seen it and it looks too effects driven, but all those other films I mentioned above are well worth seeing, and are probably still playing at a local theater around you.

That goes with the season though. While the summer is mostly a hodge-podge of the big budget blockbuster bullshit, the fall has the quality films that are trying to nose their way into oscar contention. Sure Twilight still exists right now unfortunately, but at least there are some meaty dramas and action films out there that you can sink your teeth into.

The only two new films hitting the box office wide this week are Killing Them Softly and The Collection. The former is probably only the one worth seeing. 

The Andrew Dominik directed, Brad Pitt starring, Killing Them Softly, sits at a solid 80% on the tomatometer. In the film, a hit on a mob ran poker game leaves them hurting financially and scrambling to find the culprits. Brad Pitt is hired as the enforcer who is set to investigate and bring down the guys who knocked over the game. It takes a refreshingly new perspective of the mob world by turning it upside down economically. Some people don't like that it too obviously mirrors our own recession but I don't see why that's a problem.

Despite adoring solid critical praise the film hasn't really earned any awards buzz of any sort making it a missable film considering the competition there is out there and the high price of tickets these days. Brad Pitt's performance may be something to check out because some of the critics have called it the saving grace of the film. This is no surprise to me because Pitt and Dominik's last project The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (TAOJJBTCRF) was well received for it's acting. Some critics called it Brad Pitt's finest performance in his career. It makes sense then, that the two would be attracted to make another project together. The rest of the cast is pretty stellar too, with Richard Jenkins, James Gandolfini, and Ray Liotta in supporting roles. 

It's definitely something I'm going to go out and see, but if you're unsure about the movie then you should probably hold off. There are some really good flicks out there right now and it might be worth waiting for it to hit the premium channels. If you love Brad Pitt and mob movies though, this could be a good one to check out.

The Collection looks like a really shitty horror movie that is coming out a month too late. I recommend not seeing this because there are actual good movies out there that exist and this is not one of them. That's really it. If you didn't read my reviews for Skyfall, Silver Linings and Lincoln here are the ratings I gave each.

Skyfall - 9

Silver Linings Playbook - 8

Lincoln - 7.5

All I highly recommend and I'll let you know my official thoughts on Killing Them Softly after I see it.

Reviews: 'Skyfall', 'Silver Linings Playbook', and 'Lincoln'.

This is the first time I've officially written a review for a movie so naturally to make things more difficult I've decided to do three at once. I like to make tasks more daunting from the outset just so that after a few hours I can beat my head against a desk and hate myself. I really do feel like there are a lot of film critics tend to gear all their reviews toward movie junkies instead of the general public who actually goes out and spends money on these films. I'm going to try to appeal to both. I have the education to, and I happen to like garbage from time to time. I also find most critics to spoil too much of the story for the readers. What's the point of writing a review the Thursday before a movie comes out and revealing the ending, or key plot points not noted in the commercials. Let the audience find that shit out on their own is my motto.

With these first three reviews though I give you my insights on quality films that are in theaters right now. These are films that can very easily appeal to both sides of the spectrum so if you haven't seen them and are deciding on whether or not you should, here's my input.

Silver Linings Playbook

I went into this film with very high expectations from get-go with all the buzz surrounding it since it premiered at the Toronto film festival back in September. Of course I was interested in the film back early in the year when I read about the pedigree of actors working on the film (Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro, etc) and wanted to see if David O. Russell had the capabilities of pulling out another solid film (Three Kings, The Fighter, and I Heart Huckabees). Even though David O. Russell is a royal prick, he managed to put together another pretty damn good movie.

I guess I should probably actually talk about what the movie is about since it isn't necessarily clear from the few commercials you have caught on TV, and I'm writing a movie review for it and I think that's what other people do...

Synopsis

Bradley Cooper plays a nutcase.  At the beginning of the film he is released into the custody of his parents from a mental hospital after serving an 8 month stint for beating up a man he found his wife making it nasty with in the shower. The emotionally unstable Bradley Cooper refuses to take his medication because it makes him look "bloated" and he is determined to win his wife back. Unfortunately his wife has issued a restraining order and is absolutely terrified with him, which he just can't get through his bi-polar brain.

Bradley Cooper's father, played beautifully by Robert DeNiro, is a part time bookmaker who can't bet against his precious hometown Philadelphia Eagles. He too has problems with anger but has managed to eek by without having to spend time in a looney bin. His sweet loving mother played by the ever so sweet Jacki Weaver, seems to just be a nice lady who puts up with everyone's shit.

At a dinner Bradley Cooper is seemingly set up by his friend, with the recently widowed and undeniably gorgeous Jennifer Lawrence. Bradley Cooper has no filter and continually brings up J-Law's dead husband while she has the thick skin to call him on all his shit. Two broken souls in the same place at the same time: let's see where this goes.

Jennifer Lawrence says she can try and help Bradley Cooper get back with his restraining order wife only if he competes with her in a big Philadelphia dance competition. Not passing up on the opportunity to hopefully reunite with Ms. Restraining Order, he decides it's worth the hardships of having to train with yoga pants wearing Jennifer Lawrence every day... What a tough break.... Must've been really hard for him to decide...

And that's where I'll leave it because I don't like to play spoiler and ruin the ends of movies for people especially for one like this. The film is sold as a love story, but it's also about finding yourself, coming to terms with who you are and accepting that. Both B-Coop and J-Law have had a tough go of it and they both manage to find themselves which leads you to a great climax at the end of the film.

- The Negative -

(I chose to go with the negative first because Ledyard Class Pessimist 2007 represent)

The technical aspects of the film are a bit sloppy. Once again I felt like David O. Russell either rushed the post production or hired assholes to put it together because the cinematography isn't anything special, the editing is poor, and the sound mixers and editors should find a new profession. The screen time is bit lengthy and the film gets laggy at points. They should've found a better way to transition between scenes instead of using these weird coverage shots. After the big climax at the end they want the great moment to sink in so they used these cheesy transition coverage shots where the camera zooms in on shit and it just doesn't work. They have no place being in the film and they could've easily found better transition shots. The film also has lots of cheap plot devices and cheesy lines that are meant to fuel the climax.

+ The Positive +

Even with all those negative thoughts on the film doesn't really end up mattering when it's all said and done once those last 10 minutes of the movie finally get there. All the muddled plot, and poor production aside, Silver Linings is a film with a great emotional payoff, that leaves you walking out of the theater with a smile, while feeling warm and gooey on the inside. It's an unconventional love story but you really root for them and you're satisfied to the point where all that technical stuff becomes an after thought.

What really makes that emotional payoff possible is the strong performances by the cast. It's that great ensemble performance that makes the whole story possible. David O. Russell definitely knows how to get his actors to act so I commend him on that.

All those technical issues I bitched about only really crept back into my mind because I was on such an emotional high when I exited the film that I took a left and walked all the way back to my apartment where I noticed my car was missing from my spot and realized that I drove to the theater.... So I probably got a little over analytical since I had the whole 10 minute walk back to the theater to keep thinking about the movie.

Look for some nominations from this film this awards season. Especially from DeNiro and Lawrence who don't have too stiff of competition this season. Bradley Cooper is also a contender for a best actor nomination but that field is stacked this year with already established big names who've either won or been nominated. He has a good chance of getting snubbed. If the film itself gets nominated for best picture O. Russell will probably find another best director nomination. I hope it doesn't get nominated for any other technical aspect of film because that is the only real thing holding the film back. I felt very much the same way about The Fighter in that regard.

If you can't handle heavy dramatic issues for a couple of hours that lead to a huge emotional pay off then this is not the movie for you. The movie I can most compare it to is last years 50/50, a film that I actually caught the ending of today on television oddly enough. That film is another one with heavy dramatic issues, with witty dialogue laced throughout, and a great emotional payoff. If you've seen 50/50 and liked that film then you would definitely like Silver Linings. If you like not-so-simple minded love stories that aren't written by Nicholas Sparks then this could also be a great movie for you. I myself have always really enjoyed love stories but the problem is they are rarely told in creative ways. This film definitely breaks the mold on romance but still leaves you rooting just as hard as any other love story and I think that makes it a pretty special movie.

I give it an 8 out of 10.

Lincoln

It's Spielberg and it's a movie about Abraham Lincoln... If I wrote a negative review about this movie I would be seen as a heretic and would probably get sentenced to be stoned publicly. The truth is there really anything bad to say about it. That being said there isn't anything in this film that makes it a great piece of modern cinema. It's great story telling, not grand story telling.

Synopsis

Instead of focusing on Lincoln's whole life it focuses on the time just after he was reelected to a second term and was working hard to pass the 13th Amendment which would free slaves and bring the Civil War to a close. That's really all I need to describe the film.

- Negative -

The film is kind of boring. While the subject matter is extremely interesting, we have stale, pallet-less sets, with simple stagnant shots. The camera movement is slow and subtle throughout, between the panning side to side in the courtroom, to the ever so slow zoom in on Lincoln, any time he started saying anything moderately inspirational (which was like fucking every time he spoke apparently).

Side note: I wish there was a scene in the movie where Lincoln described a bowel movement and the camera slowly zoomed in on him as everyone eagerly listened in the room. That would've been amazing.

 The film opens on a gruesome scene on the battle field of men fighting the mud and then you only see the battlefield once more in the film when Lincoln rides a horse through the battle field to talk to Ulysses S. Grant. That's pretty much it for excitement.

+ Positive +

Daniel Day Lewis is terrific as Lincoln. Despite my reservations on seeing the film because every fucking trailer ended with the cheesy line "Shall we stop this bleeding" he managed to not over-act it and put a great tone to the character. We got to see the sensitive, hard, cold, powerful and funny sides of Lincoln and Daniel Day put on another amazing performance. The rest of the cast is pretty solid as well. Between Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, and James Spader we could see another few nominations. I like James Spader a lot more in this film then I do TLJ but they will probably choose him over Spader because they are dumb.

The other big positive is that they chose a specific period of time of his life to focus on. All encompassing biopic films don't tend to work as well as the ones that focus finite periods of time. If they did a full biopic film it would be far less effective to the audience and not necessarily give you the emotional feeling you should have when leaving a movie like that. I walked out of the theater feeling proud to be an American, and even got a little teary eyed at a few moments during some of his speeches. If the film just used small tidbits of those moments it wouldn't have been nearly as effective. Also it's an interesting look into the 13th amendment and how hard they had to work to get it passed. When looking back in history class in middle school we probably barely glossed over a paragraph explaining the difficulties of getting it passed so if we aren't history buffs we probably didn't know the whole store behind it.

The film isn't perfect by any means but if you can handle a lot of bland colors for 2 and a half hours at the price of maybe learning something about our nations history, it's well worth your buck. Either way it's probably the most historically accurate film about Abraham Lincoln that hit theaters this year unless you really thought he was a Vampire Hunter.

I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

Skyfall

I remember back in the summer of 2010 when they were really pushing for this movie to be made. I was at my internship between my junior and senior year of college reading up all I could on the project instead of reading scripts like I was supposed to one day. I was pretty upset because they already attached Mendes and Bardem to the project but MGM just didn't have the money to fund it even though it was going to be a sure fire success. MGM almost killed the Hobbit films as well during this time while they were on the precipice of bankruptcy.

Luckily they found their feet, and in time to keep the big names attached to Skyfall, the 23rd film in the 50 year old film franchise. To this point it's performing the best out of any Bond films in history and for good reason.

Synopsis

Bond gets shot and people think he's dead at the beginning. Turns out he's not and he decides to come back and help M find the guy who blows up part of MI6. Blah blah blah.... It's a James Bond movie. You don't need a synopsis.

- Negative -

I read an early interview with Sam Mendes who talked about how the film is heavily influenced by The Dark Knight. Not just in the way it looks, but in the story as well. I didn't think too much into it until I saw the movie and it was literally the exact same story at points. I guess it's not necessarily a bad thing to copy The Dark Knight and I still think it's really good, but I was definitely thinking about it the whole time during the movie kind of took me out of it a little.

I guess the only other negative thing is that it's a movie that resides in the shadows of the superior Casino Royale. The hardest problem for this new Daniel Craig era of Bond movies is going to be holding up to the standard set by the first installment, Casino Royale. It's a nearly perfect film, and many people consider it to be the finest Bond film out of all the 23. I happen to agree with those people. I think it was the first film to really delve into James Bond and actually presented the first layered Bond. The old Bond was mostly portrayed as a cold, flat character with predictable emotions, the new Bond has complex emotions that lead to clearer motivations.

With a better Bond comes a better Bond girl, which is exactly what you had with Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale. Another complex character who melted Bond's cold heart. Vesper may be the best Bond girl all around, and the most important one when you look at him as a character. She was the one girl he would throw it all away for and he got burned badly. While the Bond girls in this new film are good in their own way they had no way of being better than Vesper.

+ Positive +

Still, Skyfall is damn close to Casino Royale in it's execution and deserves to be in the top tier of Bond films. There's no arguing that this film has probably the most talented group of filmmakers behind the camera in the history of the franchise. You have academy award winning director in Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition), working off a script co-penned by academy award nominee John Logan (Gladiator, Hugo, Rango), with a 9 time academy award nominated cinematographer in Roger Deakins (No Country for Old Men, Shawshank Redemption). You pair Mendes and Deakins with the set and costumes designers and you have easily the best looking Bond in the franchise.

When Bond goes to Shanghai they use the light of the city to set the scenes. Bond tails a man from the airport and along the way the road they drive on is engulfed in blue light which makes it all feel natural. Bond then follows the man up a sky scraper and they have a very Kill Bill-like fight silhouetted by the lights from the city. That scene however short, was one of the prettiest on screen. The camera never goes shaky, even in scenes that would warrant it. Unlike Quantum of Solance, which looked more like a bad Bourne movie than a Bond movie. The fight scenes in Casino Royale may be a little more explosive, but the ones in Skyfall are oozing with style. 

Since this is the 50th year of Bond, the costume designers wanted to mix a little bit of the new style in with the retro Sean Connery 1960's Bond look. This made it look as well as feel like a classic Bond film.

While the technical aspects of this film alone made it enjoyable, the casting is what made it a truly good 007 film. Of course Danny Craig came back with his role of Bond, but the ever so wonderful Javier Bardem played the ever so terrifying villain. You're well past half way through the movie before you even meet his character and the first scene he's in quickly becomes the best scene in the movie. It's hard to believe that the man can reinvent his terrifying-ness this well, but he does. His performance quickly cemented his legacy in the Bond franchise as one of the best villains ever.

Dame Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Noamie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Albert Finney and Bérénice Marlohe make out the rest of the cast. Ben Whishaw's turn at Q was pretty witty and whimsical. Bérénice is a very good Bond girl but she doesn't get much screen time unfortunately (more shower time please). Same goes for Naomie Harris who seems to know her way around sexual innuendos and straight razors. In all the cast is great and will continue to be great as the series moves forward from this point forward.

Still the biggest positive is where they are taking Bond in this series. In Casino Royale Bond is effectively broken, a place we rarely see him. Even though Quantum wasn't the movie it could've been had their not been a writer's strike, Bond's character is probably the darkest in the series. In Skyfall Bond must revisit his haunting past in order to defeat the bad guy. This causes us to see another side of Bond that we never knew existed, peeling another layer off of what we once saw as a flat character. Above all things, Bond is loyal to his country and MI6. We see that at the beginning when he reports back to MI6 to help find the bad guy behind a terrorist attack, after living the dream on a beach somewhere with lots of booze and lots of poon-tang. Bond has always valued country, and you see it the most in this film.

Really if you haven't seen this movie, go check it out. I had a conversation with some dumb buy who was wearing a fedora the other day and I mentioned how good Skyfall was. He said he heard good things but he doesn't really like Bond movies. It's not just a great Bond movie, it's a great movie in general. Either way though, that guy was such a fucking asshole.

9 out of 10.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Well I regretted writing all three of these at once as I now find myself awake at 6 am. I apologize if the writing diminished a bit as you went through. At times I was really motivated, and at other times I just wanted to play "Dikembe Mutombo's 4 1/2 weeks to save the world."

Here are the final ratings for each movie I reviewed out of 10.

Silver Linings- 8

Lincoln- 7.5

Skyfall- 9

Ps. If you have the strange urge to watch a Bruce Lee movie like I did yesterday it's probably because today is his birthday. So that's a fun thing to wind down your Tuesday evening if you don't want to check out any of these three flicks that I've told you all about in detail, and highly recommended to you.

What to see this Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving.

It's a holiday that may have more tradition than even Christmas in your family. We flock home to our families in a short work/school week through the insane airports so we can get home and see some old familiar faces. 

The night before it you go out to your local bar to see all those old people from high school that you didn't hate too much, and you run into the ones you did hate as well but it's okay because everyone is drunk and it doesn't matter. 

You wake up hungover in the morning and fast until the afternoon. Then you sit around feasting and drinking champagne until you literally pass out.

It's amazing.

It's a terrific way to celebrate our heritage and the slaughtering of thousands and millions of savage Native American Indians.

We all have different traditions on our turkey days so if you're not into staying in and napping intermittently during the football games due to the massive amounts of tryptophan you consumed, and taking a trip to the local theater to catch a flick is more your thing, it's important that you make the right choice.

Thanksgiving is a big holiday here and you don't want to tarnish the memories you have when you look back at all those awkward family photos in the future that you're wearing an ugly brown sweater in, by seeing a movie that sucks royal ass cheeks.

Sometimes it's fun to see bad movies, but with Thanksgiving generally comes a great variety of quality blockbusters and oscar bait that can challenge us as viewers and leave a lasting impression. The studios know that many people have the holiday off, and that they are spending the time with their families so they typically save some of their best stuff to release the few weekends before, and the Wednesday before. If you want to enjoy your experience at the movie theater this Thanksgiving I urge you to listen to this advice. I'll break it down into five thoughts.

1. Don't go fucking see a Twilight movie.

Just don't do it. Sure Breaking Dawn Part 2 came out this past weekend and it makes you smile thinking of Robert Pattinson's pouty face, and Kristen Stewart demon babies, but do you really want to tie one of these memories of family time to a Twilight movie? The answer should be no if you are a decent, worthwhile human being. 

I feel like with this final Twilight film hitting theaters this weekend we have pretty much seen the death of the franchise. Sure it made 141 million last weekend which is a very healthy sum of money to take in at the box office, but how are they going to accrue new fans? The answer is: they wont. 

Sure, Twilight will always have a lasting impression on the current generation of teenage and post teenage girls living today, but they will probably only look back that those times as "that time they were into Twilight." The themes in the movie are something that will always resonate with young girls as well, but the fact will always remain that the films themselves aren't all that special. Filled with shoddy special effects, poor acting, and flat dialogue I doubt that these films will be anything more than a distant back-shelved memory in 25-35 year old woman in the future.

And back to the 141 million that they took in domestically this past weekend; look for that number to drop handily this upcoming week seeing as most of the "twihard" fans (diehard fans of Twilight for you common folk) who really are into the franchise have already made it to the theater to check it out. The only business they'll get this upcoming week are the fans who hate extremely full theaters, people who had a life this past weekend, or assholes that want to see it again. Look for their weekend number to drop from 141 to 40 and below.

2. See something American.

The Steven Spielberg biopic Lincoln hit theaters last weekend in wide release and has been getting rave reviews. Speilberg had two films hit theaters before Xmas last year and both weren't all that well received. While War Horse garnered critical praise, I think I only knew two people who saw it. The Adventures of Tin Tin was fun but I immediately forgot I saw it until I just wrote the title there 4 seconds ago. This year Spielberg decided to take his talents to Thanksgiving and I think it will be a much better showing for Lincoln. The cast has been gathering great reviews, especially Daniel Day but that's no surprise as it is a rock solid cast with a very intelligent director.

I have yet to see it specifically because I've been waiting to see it this week. It's a film celebrates what makes this country special and what better way to honor a holiday that celebrates the slaughtering of the savage Native American Indians than to see a movie about the ratification of the emancipation proclamation and arguably the greatest president this country ever had? If the Patriots weren't playing a football game this Thanksgiving evening, then I would say Lincoln is a slam dunk for the most Patriotic way you could spend your Thanksgiving. If for some reason you're a bad person and don't like the Patriots, then checking out Lincoln is probably a great choice if you didn't see it this past weekend.

3. See something British.

While it seems un-American to think that Bond movies are a staple during the Thanksgiving holiday but throughout my life every Bond movie has made it's way to theaters either right before or a few weekends before making it the movie that we always brought ourselves to see after the tryptophan wore off. Skyfall is no slouch in the Bond movie franchise and is pretty close damn close to as good as Casino Royale in this most recent Craig era of Bond's. 

This Bond film has probably the most talented group of filmmakers behind the camera working on it in the history of the franchise between director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, The Road to Perdition), screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator, Hugo), and cinematographer Roger Deakins (Shawshank Redemption, No Country For Old Men). Let me tell you, that they did not disappoint. They present a sharp, beautiful film that is as interesting as it is exciting.

I was amazingly excited when I heard they had signed Javier Bardem to play the villain because his performance in No Country for Old Men is one of the most haunting performances ever. I was wondering how he could reinvent himself as a villain and if he could cement himself in as one of the great Bond villains. It took his first screen appearance to establish himself as one of the greats.

The film is perfectly cast, looks sharp, and leaves the franchise in a great place moving forward. This entry is more than worth your time this Thanksgiving if you don't feel like sitting through a movie about Abraham Lincoln or watching professional team based sports.

4. See a movie with beautiful people in it.

Sure Skyfall has plenty of beautiful people in it so that also classifies as this category. I guess if you were 15 and had a vagina you could argue that the new Twilight movie also delivers on that front but hear me out. 

People's Sexiest Man Alive 2011 Bradley Cooper and the gorgeous newcomer Jennifer Lawrence have a new movie hitting wide release today, The Silver Linings Playbook. Sure the director David O Russell is an absolute asshole but he has made some great movies. Three Kings, and The Fighter are great films filled with terrific performances. He has effectively pissed off Hollywood good guy George "Cloon-Tang" Clooney to the point where he will never work with him ever again, and he also gave an extremely ridiculous tongue lashing to Lily Tomlin on the set of I Heart Huckabees. Nevertheless he continues to make solid features while attracting extremely talented actors.

Here's the David O Russell rant on Lily Tomlin.

The Silver Linings Playbook won the hearts of critics and fans at the Toronto film festival earlier this year and is gathering enough steam to grab some academy award nominees for acting, best picture and possibly directing. Jennifer Lawrence and B-Coop are said to be amazing in this dark dramedy about two characters who have been more than down on their luck lately. The subject matter is rather heavy in that Jennifer Lawrence's character has been troubled from the loss of her husband. B-Coop is troubled because he caught his wife cheating and has developed what seems to be a long line of mental disorders. Somehow these two fates intertwine and begin to work together to win a dancing competition. It sounds ridiculous but apparently they make it work.

Robert DeNiro, Chris Tucker and Julia Stiles are other notables in the cast. The critics are saying that it is a charming and heart warming film, that is not to be missed. Look for Julia Stiles to be the only thing that holds this movie back from being a classic. 

If a movie with good acting and beautiful people is your thing then this may be the thing for you to check out tomorrow on turkey day.

5. See a movie with lots of CGI in it that critics really like for some reason.

A movie that many people are saying is "highly anticipated" is Ang Lee's Life of Pi which hits theaters today and has gathered solid critical praise. I don't think this movie is "highly anticipated" but it's supposed to be a heartwarming epic tale about some Indian kid who survives a shipwreck and has to share a life boat with a lion. The film is supposed to be a beautiful use of 3D and CGI but none of it looks all that real to me and I'm not sure if I would enjoy 2 hours of some dumb kid on a boat with a Lion.

Still look for this movie to be a crowd pleaser in the sense of Slumdog Millionaire. I'm not being racist because it's about Indians, I'm just saying the movie is getting very similar reviews. Like the story is a little too romantic and westernized. That while even though a lot of the dialogue and scenes seem convenient, it's still a great story. The thing that separates the movies, is Life of Pi is a CGI driven picture and that's not enough for me to be excited for it.

Lots of blogs and websites have listed this as a sure fire best picture nomination film and I just don't see the appeal in it. If a boy on a small boat with a computer generated lion sounds cool to you, check this movie out. If you don't think that sounds cool, go see one of the three previous films I recommended.

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That's really it for this weeks entry. It's really a toss up this week if you haven't seen Lincoln, Skyfall or The Silver Linings Playbook but all of them are worth your time and if you don't get to see them this week because you're too busy, I urge you to try and get out to see them as soon as possible.

Hitchcock, the movie about the classic british filmmaker comes out on Fridays but isn't getting as much critical praise as they would like. I think the makeup on Anthony Hopkins looks absolutely ridiculous so I'm not sure if I'll be able to take the movie seriously or not. I'll see it at some point but it's not near the top of my list.

Rust and Bone, a foreign film with Marion Cotillard and Mathias Schoenaerts the guy from the academy award nominated foreign film from last year, Bullhead also comes to select cities this week. I wouldn't rush out to see this one because there is a lot of talk that these two have the chance to be nominated and like most foreign films that get nominated, it is probably really depressing.

Another movie that wasn't even worth mentioning above because it's going to tank in the box office and looks absolute awful is the remake, Red Dawn. It looks like a movie meant for 13 year old kids who don't know what good movies are yet and still play with G.I. Joes. Although I would've probably hated it at 13 and I did still play with G.I. Joes then so who knows.

In other news check out this awesome photo of Matt Damon from next summers highly anticipated film by Neill Blomkamp, Elysium. Hopefully a trailer for this one comes soon.

What to see: 11/16-18

So I've been an asshole and didn't tell you what to see last weekend or this weekend.

Last weekend Skyfall absolutely dominated the box office and with good reason. The Sam Mendes directed film, beautiful, sleek, cheeky, and suspenseful. It also offers one of the best Bond villains in the whole 50 year running franchise played by the perfect Javier Bardem. It's an unmissable fall treat that you have to see if you have yet to see it.

Another release that hit the theaters limited last weekend and moved wide this weekend is Spielberg's Lincoln. So far the film, and Daniel Day Lewis' performance has garnered tons of praise from critics and is sure to be a big player in the academy awards come this February. It's probably playing around you now, and if you're brave enough to wait in line while surrounded by Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2 fans than you should go check it out. It might be a great thing to catch with the family on Thanksgiving though. If you're like me then you'll probably see Skyfall on Thanksgiving though (even though I've already seen it twice), because it's a tradition to see Bond movies on Turkey day.

Another notable film that is playing in select theaters and moves wide next week, is The Silver Linings Playbook. The David O Russell (Asshole) film won the hearts of the people at Toronto and also seems to have lots of Oscar potential. Bradley Cooper and the beautiful Jennifer Lawrence star in this film and are Oscar candidates as we head deeper into the season. I would wait until it's widely released before I saw this one though.

Other than that there's nothing else new hitting the theaters. There's plenty of things to see out there and if you haven't seen it I highly recommend Skyfall. Tomorrow I will write an in depth review of the film to convince you neysayers who "just don't like Bond movies." Yeah I met some moron a few days ago who said that. Needless to say I didn't like their presence.

If you want to stay in and honor a living legend tonight and the rest of the weekend, throw in a Scorsese flick because the icon turned 70 today. The man may be the greatest living American director and throwing in Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York or The Departed is a great way to pay tribute to the legend.