The Oscars are coming, the Oscars are coming!!

Hello?

Yes I'm still here. Unfortunately, I haven't quite been getting advance screening passes (or at least being able to take advantage of the ones I do find) so I'm once again going to try and tweak what exactly I'm posting to this sight.

As the Oscars are coming up at the end of this month (Feb 26th, 7pm Central to be exact) I am in my push to see all of the best picture nominees before the awards are handed out. Currently I am sitting at 4/9 viewed so I've got my work cut out for me, but thankfully I've got a couple of movie gift cards burning a hole in my pocket so my goal may yet be achieved!

The four I have viewed so far have been:
Moneyball
The Help
Midnight In Paris
The Artist

And so far so good!

Here are my quick (or not so quick) hits on these four Best Picture candidates.

MONEYBALL
Moneyball was a movie I had been waiting for, not just because I was a baseball fan. I had heard back from my time in LA bits and pieces about Brad Pitt's passion for getting this film made and after reading the book I understood how making a movie out of a book about stats could be a tricky process.
As a film I enjoyed many of the parts and how they worked together, starting with the script. Aaron Sorkin (West Wing, Studio 60, Social Network) helped out with the script and while it wasn't his usual fast paced, mile-a-minute dialogue we're used to - what he did with the characters was brilliant. The score was very subtle yet very powerful (similar to Social Network) with sometimes just a piano or sometimes just silence playing an important part toward setting the tone. And it brought together some fine performances, namely out of Jonah Hill (who was recognized by the Golden Globes and the Oscars with nominations for his performance). Hill branching out from his comedic roots, holds his own next to Brad Pitt (who plays Billy Beane - the films central character).

THE HELP
I'll admit I'm probably the only person left who hasn't read The Help but I plan on it for sure after my viewing of the film. There are just so many incredible elements behind the story and the making of this film, it is hard to find a spot to begin.
Tate Taylor, the director, who had little much on his resume prior to his film had himself attached to the project from day one thanks in part to his relationship with author Kathryn Stockett and it paid off big time for all parties. As Taylor turned in a brilliant film and his direction has led to 3 of his actors to receive Oscar nominations (Viola Davis for Best Actress, and Octavia Spencer & Jessica Chastain both for Best Supporting Actress). Davis was recognized for her performance by winning at the SAG Awards, and Spencer for hers by also winning at the SAG Awards as well as taking home the Golden Globe for her performance. The SAG Awards also awarded Best Ensemble Cast to The Help.
The story itself takes you on an incredible journey and strong performances all around help drive this story and allow you to get wrapped up in it and carrying you through some very powerful moments and lifting you up with some terrific light moments.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
I have recently come to view more of Woody Allen's directorial works over the past couple of years, and he is definitely a director who does not cater to the masses with his work. However it is easy to see, in comparison to some of his other projects why Paris has been his most successful (in terms of box office) film to date.
This film speaks wonderfully to those that have ever encountered a creative roadblock. As the main character, as played by Owen Wilson, has run away from writing "successful" Hollywood fluff scripts and is working on perfecting his novel and trying to become a serious writer. Wilson also idolizes the 1920s calling it the "golden age" and ends up one night at midnight traveling back to the 20s and rubbing elbows with Hemmingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Picasso. It is also a great commentary on living in the moment and being content on where we are (a grass is greener-type metaphor).
Wilson is not your typical actor that you find starring in a Woody Allen movie (usually it is Allen himself!) but he was the perfect choice for this role and Rachel McAdams was the perfect compliment to his character as his "bitchy" fiance.

THE ARTIST
NOTE: this will be the only negative thing I have to say about The Artist and it has nothing to do with the film.
I don't like that The Weinstein Company snatched this film up because in my mind they are the worst at timing releases of films so that they have the right amount of buzz at Oscar season. It is so political and while I fully understand that certain films find greater financial success being released in the summer, winter, limited release, etc. it bugs me when you wait to release a film because you are playing the Oscar marketing game. /rant

With that said, Weinstein does know a good film when he sees one, and in my opinion (still having to view five films) The Artist is the one that should take home Best Picture this year.
This is one that you must see in theaters, don't wait to redbox it, netflix it, or wait until it is on demand... Go. To. The. Theater. (I fully intend on purchasing this to add to my personal collection but I have seen it once in the theater and hope to go back once or maybe twice before it leaves). The best part about seeing this in the theater is that it is a silent film. And it was so refreshing to have everyone in the theater so engaged in what is happening, no side conversations, no cell phones, (and in my experience) not even distracting candy wrappers being opened. Everyone was so focused in on the experience. I loved it.
The score, which won the Golden Globe, was incredible as in a silent film is as much of a character and any of the actors on screen as it is imperative in setting the mood for what you are viewing. And the style of this film, shot in black and white and in a full frame old style size were a great homage to the earlier days of film but also played in well to the story that was being told and was the perfect vehicle. Also, the fact that a silent film in the day and age of CGI and 3D shows the power of a well told story. (The last silent film prior to this was Mel Brooks' Silent Movie and was in the same genre with more modern elements worked in)
Now, I am not of the mindset that every film needs to go back to being silent, but it was a perfect choice for the story and was executed beautifully.

So those are the four nominees that I have seen so far. I'll check back in when I get some more under my belt, but if I had to rank right now it is #1 The Artist, #2 The Help, #3 Midnight in Paris, and #4 Moneyball.

Thanks for stopping by,
-Dav3

THOR

So, despite the fact that I scraped ice off of my car yesterday before going into work, summer movie season is upon us, and hopefully more advanced screenings are upon us! My first advanced screening of this summer came thanks to KDWB and was for the movie THOR (which was a part of Marvel's character movies leading up to THE AVENGERS the much talked about supermovie coming out in 2o12).

For those who don't know or leave before the credits end, THOR was the character/film that was teased at by the final scene in IRON MAN 2. And before we go any further in my review I must say this: I have no serious knowledge of this world from the comics...all that I know of the connections come from watching IRON MAN 1 and 2, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, and now THOR. (The next film leading up to it CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER will be out July 22nd.)

But enough about other movies...let's get to THOR.

I liked this movie a lot more than I thought I would. Having no background and with my limited knowledge I went into it because I had liked Iron Man and Incredible Hulk but they are a little more popular main stream characters that I had heard of. Thor I didn't know of but figured the others were good and it would be good to know how he fit into the Avengers' world.

The advanced screening was shown in the fad "3D mode" (yes, it's a fad and I refuse to believe otherwise) which surprised me, in a good way, that the movie chose that way to show the films. Usually for advanced screenings you don't get a "premium" like that, which impressed me. And while it was shot for 3D and so the 3D didn't look cheap but my personal objections to 3D aside - it really didn't do anything to benefit the movie. No, Thor's hammer flying right at the screen or anything like that. Will people still see it in 3D? No doubt. But you're not going to lose anything by choosing the 2D version. In fact treat yourself to something nice with the money you are saving.

It took me a little bit to get into the story in Thor's home of Asgard, but it was necessary character background and info and was worth going through, it just took a few times into that part of the story for the flow of the movie to really hit its stride.

I thought this movie was perfectly cast. Chris Hemsworth played the title character and was a great selection. Most will recognize him as Captain Kirk's father in the opening scene of JJ Abrams' STAR TREK (2009). And I loved Kat Dennings (Nick and Nora, Charlie Bartlett) who provided absolutely stellar comic relief and while in a smaller role, knocked her character out of the park and seemed to have a lot of fun with the role. Another great choice was Natalie Portman, fresh off of her best actress win, who again seems to just be having a lot of fun with her role in this movie. And the more I saw of Tom Hiddleston's role as Loki (Thor's brother) throughout the film the more that performance grew on me. And the rest of the roles were cast just as good.

I can't speak to if they truly represented the characters as they were portrayed in the comics but as for this film things were about as good as they possibly could have been.

The film was extremely fun and I ended up liking the balance between seeing the action on Earth and Asgard. Like watching Iron Man, with a touch of 300 or another "ancient epic" type movie blended in. Also it follows along with a theme that I've liked in the previous movies of ordinary people becoming heroes, and it is very fun watching Thor's journey. However, at the end I was left wanted more (surely the intention of the movie) so its a good thing that we can enter into another chapter of the story with CAPTAIN AMERICA in a couple of months.

Very fun, see it in 2D but definitely see it.

THOR is in theaters this Friday, May 6th

4/5 stars

-Dav3

THE MECHANIC

Its been awhile since I've gotten some advanced screening passes but I just saw THE MECHANIC at the Theaters at MOA this past Monday.

I almost didn't make it in to this screening as I stepped out of line waiting for my friend to make it through the traffic and snow to get to the Mall of America, however, he got lost and ended up in a neighborhood nowhere near the mall, and I made it into one of the last remaining seats.

Despite being a Minnesota resident for 20 years of my life, this was only my third movie at Mall of America and I haven't really figured out where the best viewing areas are, but then again my choices this time around were limited and I ended up in the middle section about halfway back which wasn't that bad considering my options when I wandered in.

This was my first Jason Statham movie I'd really had exposure to (I have been aware of his films but just never have ended up at one). So, I have nothing really to compare this to, however I don't think fans of his will be disappointed in this film.

Personally, I felt like the beginning of this film wandered around a bit, and didn't really have much of a sense of direction. I felt like the film could have gone any number of different directions in regards to story and style.

However, once the film finally found its legs I was on board with it. There was definitely plenty of action, and a number of very cool explosions - which one would expect from this genre - but it certainly did not lack there. There was also an added layer of conflict which drove the story when Statham takes on the adult son of someone who he had just killed because the son wants to be trained to become a mechanic (one who is hired for assassinations is trained to make them look like accidents and their presence is ideally never discovered).

I liked how it ended, but once again the pacing issues I had with the beginning of the movie resurfaced as I felt it all sort of wrapped up too quickly. And it made me wish that some of the time that I felt stretched out the beginning could have been used to let the end breathe it little bit more.

All in all, THE MECHANIC brings what Statham fans are looking for with some good action and an interesting idea behind the action, but I felt the film was designed around the action sequences and what would look cool and then a story was almost an afterthought.

But there isn't that much out there right now in the action/adventure genre so this should definitely satisfy your need for cool explosions and guns.
2.5/5 stars

The Mechanic is in theaters tomorrow 1/28/11


-Dav3