So far so good
In anticipation for the Oscars (with the fall of pirate bay I was behind and didn't get to watch anything before the globes), I have now seen several nominated or potentially nominated films, and I have been pleasantly surprised. Last year, most of the movies were, for lack of a better word, dull. Yes, Into the Woods was weird and boring, but some of the others have been fantastic. And don't get me wrong, I love musicals as much as the next person - actually, I love musicals more than the next person. Rent, Chicago, Cats, Phantom, Book of Mormon, you name it, I usually love it. But Into the Woods was just bizarre. I saw a televised stage production of it with Bernadette Peters in college and loved it, so I assumed the movie would be that much better. But apparently college me was stupid and thought the songs were good when they were actually terrible. Sondheim rules, but not this time - the lyrics are ridiculous and sound like a third grader wrote them. And I'm telling you, the repetition of "into the woods into the woods into the woods" made me want to scream. That said, Meryl Streep, as always, was incredible. I don't think she can do a bad job, no matter the role. Anna Kendrick, on the other hand, yikes. She should stick to college movies.
And also, one of my biggest pet peeves is when an actor or actress is billed as the star of the movie but barely shows up. Case in point, Johnny Depp. He's in about five minutes of the movie and has just enough time to sing an atonal song and slur his words, but he was on the cover of Entertainment Weekly and they made a big deal about it. It's like Drew Barrymore in Scream. She was on the cover of the movie jacket, for crying out loud, and only was in the first five minutes of the film. Ugh.
Not to be deterred, I watched Still Alice next. I'm not usually a big Julianne Moore fan, but I can admit that she's usually excellent in everything. This was a film about a woman who gets early onset Alzheimer's - the films that seem to only be about making you cry don't usually do it for me, but this one was different. It was really honest and brutal and there was no excessive string music in the background talking about "the days of our lives" and blah blah blah. Kristen Stewart is always a bad casting choice, but she played kind of a bitchy character so it worked. I was very happy Julianne Moore won the Golden Globe because she did a great job. And yes, I cried. When she gave the speech to the Alzheimer's association, it was bananas. And Alec Baldwin was awesome.
Next up was Boyhood, which I didn't remember anything about before I started watching it. About twenty minutes in I remembered an article I had read about it where they filmed the movie over like fifteen years using all of the same actors. That part was neat and I think a lot of the issues they dealt with were very relatable and accurate to how you're treated as you get older. Unfortunately, the filming and direction was very choppy and looked like I could have spliced it together. Just because you film every few years doesn't mean you abandon transitions completely. The funny thing about that is Boyhood won the globe for best direction, so maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about.
Last night I watched The Imitation Game, not really because I wanted to but because the copy I got of The Theory of Everything was really bad. And I'm really glad we watched it because Benedict Cumberbatch is incredible. I only yelled "Khaaaan!" once, which shows restraint. Although I wish they hadn't hit the homosexual part as hard as they did, it made more sense once you saw what happened to him at the end. Keira Knightly seriously tried her hardest to completely ruin the movie, but she can't even do that right, so it worked out and was fantastic despite her horrible face and acting. The script, direction, cinematography - everything was incredible and I can't believe he didn't win a best actor globe. But I will wait to call shenanigans until I see the others. Seriously, you should see this movie. It wasn't preachy or annoying and he was basically a WW2 Sheldon Cooper. And yes, I cried like a baby at the end. I don't mind crying when a movie is THAT good.
And also, one of my biggest pet peeves is when an actor or actress is billed as the star of the movie but barely shows up. Case in point, Johnny Depp. He's in about five minutes of the movie and has just enough time to sing an atonal song and slur his words, but he was on the cover of Entertainment Weekly and they made a big deal about it. It's like Drew Barrymore in Scream. She was on the cover of the movie jacket, for crying out loud, and only was in the first five minutes of the film. Ugh.
Not to be deterred, I watched Still Alice next. I'm not usually a big Julianne Moore fan, but I can admit that she's usually excellent in everything. This was a film about a woman who gets early onset Alzheimer's - the films that seem to only be about making you cry don't usually do it for me, but this one was different. It was really honest and brutal and there was no excessive string music in the background talking about "the days of our lives" and blah blah blah. Kristen Stewart is always a bad casting choice, but she played kind of a bitchy character so it worked. I was very happy Julianne Moore won the Golden Globe because she did a great job. And yes, I cried. When she gave the speech to the Alzheimer's association, it was bananas. And Alec Baldwin was awesome.
Next up was Boyhood, which I didn't remember anything about before I started watching it. About twenty minutes in I remembered an article I had read about it where they filmed the movie over like fifteen years using all of the same actors. That part was neat and I think a lot of the issues they dealt with were very relatable and accurate to how you're treated as you get older. Unfortunately, the filming and direction was very choppy and looked like I could have spliced it together. Just because you film every few years doesn't mean you abandon transitions completely. The funny thing about that is Boyhood won the globe for best direction, so maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about.
Last night I watched The Imitation Game, not really because I wanted to but because the copy I got of The Theory of Everything was really bad. And I'm really glad we watched it because Benedict Cumberbatch is incredible. I only yelled "Khaaaan!" once, which shows restraint. Although I wish they hadn't hit the homosexual part as hard as they did, it made more sense once you saw what happened to him at the end. Keira Knightly seriously tried her hardest to completely ruin the movie, but she can't even do that right, so it worked out and was fantastic despite her horrible face and acting. The script, direction, cinematography - everything was incredible and I can't believe he didn't win a best actor globe. But I will wait to call shenanigans until I see the others. Seriously, you should see this movie. It wasn't preachy or annoying and he was basically a WW2 Sheldon Cooper. And yes, I cried like a baby at the end. I don't mind crying when a movie is THAT good.
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