Where Oscar meets Food: a mashup of this year's noms and delectable foods

Couldn't resist posting these. This kind of stuff never fails to amuse me. All credit goes to photographer David Gartner. Check out his photostream here where you can find the District 9 Layer Cake, Avatunatartare, and Precious: based on a novel by Bombay Sapphire.

Photo courtesy of Serious Eats.

Oscar Big 10 Challenge: "Up in the Air"

Moving right along with my Oscar Big 10 challenge. Today is a major contender, Jason Reitman's Up in the Air starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, and Anna Kendrick -- all of whom have earned an Oscar nomination for this movie.



Thought I'd kick this review off with another tasty treat, just to go along with the theme of delicious desserts inspired by Oscar nominees. Just as you may remember those hilarious Avatarts for Avatar, check out the Up in the Air eclair, or the Up in the Eclair, another great recipe from Cakespy.

Up in the Air follows the life of Ryan Bingham (Clooney), a corporate downsizer and constant traveler. His closest relationship is with his frequent flyer miles membership card, and his biggest ambition is to pass the coveted 10 million mile mark. While on the road, he begins a casual relationship with another frequent flyer, Alex (Farmiga). At work, Ryan experiences a structural change in the company as a young entrepreneur and ingenue, Natalie (Kendrick) introduces a new business plan that eliminates traveling altogether. Feeling threatened as his whole life is turned upside down, Ryan is then forced to take Natalie on the road to teach her the ropes.

I. loved. this. movie. It had such a wonderful quality to it, a quality that is distinctly Jason Reitman. This movie is essentially a drama and it has so many depressing factors, but yet there's this funny, witty undertone throughout the whole movie that makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time. This movie is innately sad--at the core, it's about a man who travels from company to company just to tell people they're fired. He does the dirty work and as a result, he breaks apart families, relationships, and dreams. You then see this juxtaposed with his own sad life as he's unable to form any real relationships with other people. At the end of this movie, you can't help but wonder what you're doing with your own life and what kind of relationships you've kept and haven't kept.

I won't get too much into the story because I don't want to spoil it, but definitely go see this movie if you're looking for something thoughtful and thought provoking. I really think that's what makes a good movie--not the special effects, the stars, or the witty banter, but if what's at the very heart and lifeline of the movie makes you think and rethink.

Let me just also go on to say that the cast was fantastic. I really thought Jason Reitman cast this movie perfectly. I'm so glad he took that chance on Anna Kendrick, a little known actress most notably known for her supporting role in the Twilight saga movies, because she is absolutely amazing in this movie. She's hilarious and heartfelt, and alot of people can relate to that naivete, the kind that is so distinct of a freshly graduated, hungry, young professional, that she has at the beginning of the movie.

My final thoughts on Up in the Air: Definitely stiff competition with Avatar and The Hurt Locker, as those are the three movies I believe it will come down to, but I'm really pulling for this movie. Personally, Up in the Air is my best picture pick, and rightfully so because it is fantastic, not over the top, not super preachy, just a great look inside relationships and the places you go in life.

My previous best picture reviews:
Avatar
An Education

What's left:
A Serious Man
District 9
Inglorious Basterds
Precious
The Blind Side
The Hurt Locker
Up

Yikes. I've seen all of them, but I saw most of these when they were first released, which was quite awhile ago. May have to rewatch some of these to jog my memory. Better get to movin'--the Oscars are right around the corner on March 7.

Meanwhile, you guys go spend your money during this recession and watch these movies, because at least you know they'll be worth your dollars and cents.

Countdown to Oscar: The Big 10 Challenge, Today: An "Avatar" Review

With the March 7th Oscars coming up very soon, I decided to take it upon myself to watch all ten Academy Award Best Picture nominees, a daunting task so close to showtime and a little challenge I'd like to call The Big 10.

To remind you all, the 10 best picture nominees are: An Education, Avatar, The Blind Side, Up, Up in the Air, A Serious Man, District 9, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, and Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire.

Now I've been a diligent girl, and I'm very close to the finish line. How close? Just one more movie to go--the final stretch! The last movie yet to be crossed out on my list is An Education. That's right folks, I've been watching up on my movies and I'm very serious about watching them all this year. Every year I tell myself that I will watch all the best picture nominees, but I've never actually gotten around to watching all of them. Keep in mind normally the best picture category usually only includes five nominees, but this year it has been expanded to ten. Why I decided this was the year to watch all ten? Well, because I'm a girl who loves movies and as a girl who loves movies, I should definitely watch the ones that are (supposedly) most worth watching.

That's not to say I won't be watching my usual fluff: I'm gearing up to see Valentine's Day with my very own valentine on Saturday. I figure if I'm going to get my money's worth, I'm going to watch a movie with everyone in it.

To kick off my big 10 challenge, I'm starting with the movie I saw most recently: James Cameron's Avatar. (Behold, the Avatart! Original image courtesy of Jesse Oleson. Check out the cakespy's recipe here.)
Now let me preface this review with a little side comment: Avatar was at the bottom of my list for a couple of reasons. I kept putting off watching it because: a) the run time: 3 hours. Good god, does James Cameron love filming 3 hour movies or what? b) the trailers and sneak peeks were putting me off--too much cheese, and c) I'm not much of a sci fi buff at all.

With that said, I felt I was already biased going into it. However, I didn't want to make up my mind before even seeing it and I definitely wanted to finish my challenge, so I attempted to clear my mind, and gear up for a 3 hour long trip into James Cameron's mind.

I wanted so badly to like this movie because I can appreciate James Cameron's dedication to this movie and if there was ever a passion project, this would be it. This movie has been shelved for over 10 years and conceptualization for this movie started nearly fifteen years ago. I can also appreciate the fact that Cameron created his own technology to shoot this film-- a 3D camera he invented just to film this movie. I can also appreciate his dedication towards this film's special effects and character details--including the invention of the Na'vi language.

However, I just can't forgive some of the major components of the movie. For example, the story and the characters are incredibly reminiscent of movies we've already seen. Hell, let's face it, this movie is about the history of America. If I wanted to watch a movie about the history of America, I'd watch Pocahontas again. I don't know who James Cameron thinks he's fooling, but we've all witnessed the magic of Disney; the jig is up, James. That's not to say that I don't already realize that half of Hollywood's movies are remakes or reimaginations of one another, but if you're going to reconceptualize an idea, please have the courtesy to do so with a worthy script. If it took over ten years to polish this script, why was I, along with my movie companion, cringing at awkward, forced dialogue throughout the movie?

I suspect this movie fell victim to the yes man syndrome. Studio execs must have figured this was James Cameron, the king of the world, and who were they to step in his way and ask for a rewrite?

One last gripe: the length. This movie was just far too ambitious, there was too much crammed into one length of time, and as a result, I found myself constantly checking the time. I'm not just complaining for the sake of complaining because I already knew the movie was this long going in, but it simply just dragged on forever. I mean I saw Titanic, which we all know was also 3 hours, and I wasn't obsessively wondering when the climax of the movie was (no pun intended with Leo DiCraprio's famous hand on the window scene involved). Right when I thought I was at the home stretch during the last half an hour, a war suddenly erupted. 2.5 hours later, and a war erupts? Jesus, save me now.

With all that said, how can this be the the world's highest earning movie in history, best picture Golden Globe winner, and serious Oscar contender? Could it be that the majority of the world happily trades quality content for shiny, pretty special effects? Why, yes, that sounds about right.

My final thoughts on Avatar: kudos to James Cameron for his contribution to science fiction and for creating a hyper reality complete with 10 foot CGI blue natives of a distant planet, but I'm sorry, I can't forgive the dragging length and the nearly painful dialogue.