Oscar Big 10 Challenge: Mission Accomplished with "An Education"

The Big 10 challenge is finally complete! I've officially seen all ten best picture nominations, and just in time for the Academy Awards on March 7. This journey started early last year with The Hurt Locker, and this past weekend, I rounded it out with An Education. All I can say is that all the movies nominated in the Oscar best picture category this year are vastly different, thanks in part to the expansion of the category from 5 to 10, but mostly due to the fact that this year at the cinema has truly been something different. The nominees range from a charming, animated movie with a talking dog and a house of balloons, to a heartbreaking drama of a young, heavily abused girl growing up in Harlem.

Today: An Education.

This is a coming of age story of a young, 16 year old schoolgirl who lives a very ordinary, routine lifestyle and suddenly meets a wealthy, mysterious, older man who sweeps her off her feet. Jenny is a francophile, an intellectual, an art and music lover, and a girl who's confined by her own quaint lifestyle because of her overbearing parents. She becomes instantly charmed by David and the lavish lifestyle he lives. He takes her to concerts to listen to beautiful music and to Paris, so she can feel chic, French, and older than she really is. Throughout the movie she struggles with an education-- one that involves a flirtation with glamour and the finer things in life, and another that involves an Oxford education.

This movie was great on so many levels, but mostly it succeeded in its simplicity and relatibility. I think alot of people can relate to Jenny, particularly young women, who dream of finding their white knight, and being rescued from a life of boredom and innocence. What we learn from Jenny though, is that there are no shortcuts in life, and anything that makes us think otherwise is only temporary and illusory.

The cast was fantastic, and I really loved Alfred Molina as Jenny's father. The real standout in this movie though was most definitely Carey Mulligan's performance as Jenny. There's something so effortless about the way she acts, and the scenes in which David takes Jenny to Paris, you can feel her youthful effervescence, and you can't but help but be charmed by her close likening to Audrey Hepburn. I can definitely say that her Oscar nomination is very well deserved, and I'm crossing my fingers for her at the Academy Awards. I'd be so incredibly happy to see either Carey or Gabby Sidibe of Precious win in the best actress category. I'm saying this knowing fully well that either Sandra Bullock or Meryl Streep are favored to win. It pains me to say this because I do love my Meryl oh-so-much, but I can't say with certainty that her performance in Julie&Julia really deserves another Oscar win. As for Sandra, I think I've been pretty clear about her performance in The Blind Side. Great Friday night rental, and a great performance, but it's just that-- a great movie and a great performance to watch if you need suggestions for your Netflix queue.

Will An Education take home an Oscar for best picture? No, but it's truly great and worth a viewing. In all honesty, Carey's performance overshadows the movie, and because of that, it won't be getting an Oscar, but Carey may be getting hers.

My final thoughts on An Education: A simple, but beautiful coming of age movie about a girl who struggles with an education--one that involves university and a "boring" life of boys and books, and one that involves a life with a man and what seem to be the finer things in life. Watch and become impressed by Carey Mulligan's performance.

See my review of Avatar here.

R.I.P. Alexander McQueen

Early this morning New York Fashion Week officially kicked off, and sadly, the fashion industry has also been rocked with news of Alexander McQueen's abrupt suicide. What a tragic and great loss. Personally, I have loved McQueen for some time because of his shocking and innovative design. Today, I'm wearing black and I'm wearing McQueen.

Alexander McQueen 1969-2010

Albert Exergian's Minimalistic, Reimagined TV Posters

I'm a huge fan Albert Exergian and I love, love, love these minimalistic TV posters. Ridiculously clever and ridiculously awesome. I kind of love them more than the original ones.

Check out more posters as well as other amazing pieces here.

United States of Tara Season 2 Sneak Peek

Ridiculously, ridiculously excited for March! Two of my favorite shows are coming back: Breaking Bad and United States of Tara.

Season 2 begins March 22 and I. CANNOT. WAIT. Viola Davis guest stars! Check out the trailer and behind the scenes featurette below.

Trailer:


Behind the scenes:

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.

Puppy Bowl Sunday

It's Superbowl Sunday--Saints vs. Colts and what am I watching? That's right, Puppy Bowl VI on Animal Planet! Pretty exciting stuff. My favorite players have been Yums and Wrigley--both adorable french bulldogs. I'm their cheerleader--cheering them on and watching them faithfully like a true fan.

Big box office news this weekend--Dear John beats out Avatar's #1 spot, which finally ends its 7th week reign. Very surprised at Dear John's opening, especially since they opened up much bigger than expected with $13.8 mil on Friday and $12.4 mil on Saturday.

Based on a Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook, A Walk to Remember) novel, Dear John is about a soldier who falls in love with a girl while he's at home on leave. Their relationship is then put to test as he goes back on duty.

With all the promotion and now surprising success of the film, will Amanda Seyfried be Hollywood's new sweetheart?

I guess we'll see.

Saw Avatar this weekend. More on that later. #9/10 of the best picture nominees I've seen. Just one more to go: An Education. Almost at the finish line.

Anybody else up for watching all 10 best picture nominees before the March 7th Oscars?

2010 Oscar Nominees

Finally! The Oscar nominees are finally here! Check out the full list of nominees below.

A couple of thoughts:

• Very surprised at The Blind Side's best picture nomination--seriously, what's up with that? It was an enjoyable film, but not best picture material, just a good rental for a Friday night. Also keep in mind that the movie hasn't been recognized at ANY other awards shows-- Critic's Choice, Golden Globes, nada. I get that the category has been expanded to include movies like this, but there were just so many more to choose from.
• Tired of the overhype of Sandra Bullock: as much as I love this woman, I simply can't understand why she's sweeping awards. Someone please make me understand. Did we all watch the same movie? Was there something I missed? I swear I only took one bathroom break during the movie. Did I miss the big Oscar worthy moment while in the little girl's room? Thoroughly confused. Would love to see Gabourey Sidibe or Carey Mulligan win.
  
• Nine best picture snub-- very surprised as well. Would have thought it would have gotten a nomination. Would have liked to see this nominated over The Blind Side. Or how about A Single Man? Lovely Bones? Crazy Heart? Star Trek? Invictus? Anyone out there listening? Throw me a bone here.
• BIG time nods for Tarantino: best screenplay, best director, best picture! I was worried about what kind of presence Tarantino's fiercely violent and hilarious Nazi killer film would have at the Academy Awards, but it's good to see it's so well represented.
• Biggest snubs: (500) Days of Summer for best original screenplay (it was pretty much believed to be in the bag, so I'm really heartbroken over this), Julianne Moore for A Single Man, Diane Kruger for Inglorious Basterds, Peter Jackson and The Lovely Bones for best director and best picture, and Bright Star for, well, anything and everything. Ouch.
  
• One last note: CONGRATULATIONS to the venerable Meryl Streep for her 16th career nomination for Julie & Julia at the Academy Awards. Kudos!

Tune in on March 7th for the 2010 Academy Awards hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin! Can't wait!


Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Best Animated Feature
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

Best Foreign Language Film
Ajami, Israel
The Milk of Sorrow, Peru
A Prophet, France
El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Argentina
The White Ribbon, Germany

Best Adapted Screenplay
An Education, Nick Hornby
District 9, Neil Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell
In the Loop, Jesse Armstrong & Simon Blackwell & Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, Geoffrey Fletcher
Up in the Air, Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner

Best Original Screenplay
The Hurt Locker, Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino
The Messenger, Alessandro Camon & Owen Moverman
A Serious Man, Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
Up, Pete Docter & Thomas McCarthy & Bob Peterson

Best Director
Avatar, James Cameron
The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow
Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, Lee Daniels
Up in the Air, Jason Reitman

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
George Clooney in Up in the Air
Colin Firth in A Single Man
Morgan Freeman in Invictus
Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
Helen Mirren in The Last Station
Carey Mulligan in An Education
Gabourey Sidibe in Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon in Invictus
Woody Harrelson in The Messenger
Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Penelope Cruz in Nine
Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air
Mo'Nique in Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

Best Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Best Art Direction/Set Decoration
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Best Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Best Film Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

Best Sound Mixing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Sound Editing

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Best Makeup
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Best Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Best Original Score
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

Best Original Song
"The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart
"Take It All" from Nine
"Loin de Paname" from Paris 36
"Almost There" from The Princess and the Frog
"Down in New Orleans" from The Princess and the Frog

Best Documentary Feature
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home