Let's Talk Movies! #21...Oscar Bait, Christmas Movies, "Bad" Movies You Loved......)

[Artemis@BC]

^ Seems a tad unfair on Condon, though. One could argue that ultimately the goodness or badness of a film comes down to the director ... but I'd say in Twilight's case it's all about the source material. There's only so far you can go with that kind of drek.

[Vash01]

Peoples Choice awards were on CBS tonight. Best picture: Silver linings playbook; Best actress: Jennifer Lawrence; Best actor: Robert Downey, Jr. (not sure why)

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207_162-...h-five-awards/

[michiruwater]

Most people who vote for those are quite young. That would be why, and also why The Hunger Games was the big winner.

[Buzz]

Spielberg got a best director nomination so I'm happy but a bit bummed for Ben Affleck.

[PeterG]

Four movie recommendations. I've decided to list them alphabetically as it's too tough to separate them according to which I liked best. They were all that good!

Drive (Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, etc.) - Very well paced, including slow moments that had a LOT of impact. And it's just a bonus that Gosling is so trim and wearing a sleak wardrobe which is VERY flattering!

The Experiment (Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker, Cam Gigandet, Fisher Stevens, Travis Fimmel and Maggie Grace) - So this didn't even get released to theatres! It has a decent 6.3 rating at imdb.com, but some of the threads there are pretty brutal in their criticisms. But I thought it was quite good and was glad I finally got to see it. It had a much better script than I expected from the preview I had seen a while back.

Pontypool (Canadian horror-thriller with Stephen McHattie) - McHattie makes this movie, he has charisma for days. But to be honest, I'm still trying to figure out exactly what happened, even after reading theories at imdb.com. This is probably a good thing, at least the movie wasn't dumbed down, I'm still thinking about the movie and figuring out what makes most sense.

Triage (Colin Farrell and Christopher Lee) - Another great movie that didn't get a theatrical release for some unknown reason. A great script and interesting on many levels. Bonus: Colin Farrell's hair. Yes, I'm very, very superficial....but it's so long and luxurious. I so want to have his babies...

[Grannyfan]

Powerhouse lineup on TCM tonight: Baby Jane, Streetcar, Little Foxes, East of Eden

[jenny12]

Powerhouse lineup on TCM tonight: Baby Jane, Streetcar, Little Foxes, East of Eden

Wow! Thanks so much for the heads up! I know what I'm watching after football.

[Anita18]

Bill Condon for worst director? Was Twilight that bad??

Halle Berry won the Razzie for Catwoman a few years after she won the Oscar for Monster's Ball. She even showed up to the Razzies to collect her award in person (Razzie in one hand, Oscar in the other), making fun of herself the whole time.

[Lacey]

Saw Zero Dark Thirty. Powerful.

Stupid idiot woman cough sneezed at least 40 times from two rows behind me. I kept turning around, and she kept apologizing. Pox on her.

[peibeck]

Caught up on some of the Oscar nominees today:

"Zero Dark Thirty" Taught, intense, well acted. My only qualm is that there are a LOT of characters in this movie but very few get the screen time to get developed into full characters, and although Jessica Chastain is great, even her character is a bit of an enigma. That being said, the movie certainly does not feel 2-and-a-half+ hours long; it flies along at a break taking tempo.

"Beasts of the Southern Wild" on the other hand... All I can say is I certainly don't get the love. The movie looks great, but I thought it was like watching those air freshener commercials where people are blindfolded and sit around in garbage but think it's pleasant because they don't know better. Except this movie lasts 95 minutes... and the actors aren't blindfolded...oh and they throw in a few fantastical elements.

[Buzz]

Saw Gangster Squad today and while I think the delayed release, plus reworking of certain scenes hurt it, I still think it was better than I expected. It is worthy of anyone who loves action movies but don't mind film makers who play loose with the facts. LOL

[jenny12]

Halle Berry won the Razzie for Catwoman a few years after she won the Oscar for Monster's Ball. She even showed up to the Razzies to collect her award in person (Razzie in one hand, Oscar in the other), making fun of herself the whole time.

I remember that! She was awesome! Made fun of herself for her Oscar speech where she crying.

[Vash01]

Saw Zero Dark Thirty. Powerful.

Stupid idiot woman cough sneezed at least 40 times from two rows behind me. I kept turning around, and she kept apologizing. Pox on her.

Some theaters here offer cough drops to patrons if they are coughing too much. Perhaps I should carry some with me, and if someone is coughing, sneezing, offer those.

Actually people who are sick or are about to get sick should not go to movies. Why spread the germs?

[PeterG]

Ohmigosh, this made me !!! (And you have to read the credits on the posters, not just the titles.)

Internet users invent accurate titles for Oscar-nominated movies

[Vash01]

Ohmigosh, this made me !!! (And you have to read the credits on the posters, not just the titles.)

Internet users invent accurate titles for Oscar-nominated movies

I liked "Life of CGI" the most.

[BigB08822]

There are a lot of movies I need to make time to see. I want to go see Django Unchained, The Impossible, and Silver Linings Playbook for sure. I also would like to see a few others but may wait until DVD including Texas Chainsaw (heard it was awful but I always see horror movies on DVD), Gangster Squad and This is 40. I wish I could find The Sessions playing somewhere but it was only around for a short time here. I was hoping it would get more Oscar love and might get picked back up in theaters because of renewed interest.

[Sofia Alexandra]

I'm going on a school trip to the Gothenburg International Film Festival in a couple of weeks, and I'm currently trying to decide which screenings I want to go to. I've already booked two, Bestiaire and a block of animated short films (Maximerat Animerat), but the school pays for 5 more, so now I have to figure out which other films to see. I've narrowed it down to these:

Headshot
Me Too
Searching For Sugar Man
The Expedition To The End Of The World
Dog Flesh
Taped
My Name Is Negahdar Jamali And I Make Westerns
The Deep
Bwakaw
Full Circle
Searching for Bill
No
Maquerade
Sleepless Knights
Nordic Short Films (block 1)
Fair Sex
Mad Buddies

Last year I wound up only watching films in English, so I want to mix it up a bit more this time. For some reason I really want to see Dog Flesh and My Name Is Negahdar Jamali And I Make Westerns, but I also really want to see Mad Buddies, Full Circle, and Bwakaw, but some screenings clash and ARGH I've spent three days trying to make a list with first and second choices and it's just about impossible! I might just end up buying myself tickets to more screenings when I get there, depending on how much film I feel I can take in... Either way, I'm sure it'll be awesome.

[emason]

I loved Searching for Sugarman. Go see that if it doesn't conflict with anything else.

[falling_dance]

Saw Gangster Squad today and while I think the delayed release, plus reworking of certain scenes hurt it, I still think it was better than I expected. It is worthy of anyone who loves action movies but don't mind film makers who play loose with the facts. LOL

One of my favorite Internet reviewers (see the sig line) said that it was "like a B-movie version of The Untouchables", and that if it had been "made in the Seventies, it would have Jack Palance in it."

[Vash01]

I just got back from watching 'The impossible'. Very well made movie. I am glad that Naomi Watts got the Oscar nom as best actress, but I don't think she will win the statue. Jennifer Lawrence seems to be on her way. I have still not seen ZDT though. May be Jessica Chastain is better, but the movie has not been around very long.

As a side note, I wonder if both Afflec and Bigelow were hurt in the Oscar noms by the fact that the movies they directed included some top security stuff? They both dealt with the middle east/war. Of course that did not hurt Bigelow in the Hurt Locker, but I don't remember that movie as having something top secret. The Oscars are the most political awards in the movie industry.