Golden Globe Awards

So the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards are upon us.  With less that 3 weeks away, they air live on NBC at 8PM (EST, that's 7 for me) on Sunday, January 16th, 2011.  That means I have only a few weeks left to watch the nominated films, excluding the nominated television series.  That means, however, I have less to watch once the Academy Awards nominations are announced just a week later on January 25th.  I have given a complete list of the Golden Globe nominations below and have marked the films that I have already seen with a * to help me keep track of my progress.

Best Motion Picture - Drama

Black Swan 
The Fighter 
* Inception
The King's Speech

* The Social Network

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Halle Berry – Frankie and Alice

Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone

Natalie Portman – Black Swan

Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

*Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network 

Colin Firth – The King's Speech

James Franco – 127 Hours

Ryan Gosling – Blue Valentine

Mark Wahlberg – The Fighter

Best Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical 

Alice in Wonderland   

Burlesque 

The Kids Are All Right 

Red 

The Tourist

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right

*Anne Hathaway – Love And Other Drugs

Angelina Jolie – The Tourist

Julianne Moore – The Kids Are All Right

Emma Stone – Easy A

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

Johnny Depp – Alice in Wonderland 

Johnny Depp – The Tourist 

Paul Giamatti – Barney's Version

 Jake Gyllenhaal – Love And Other Drugs

 Kevin Spacey – Casino Jack

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Amy Adams – The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter – The King's Speech

Mila Kunis – Black Swan

Melissa Leo – The Fighter

Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Christian Bale – The Fighter

Michael Douglas – Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

*Andrew Garfield – The Social Network

Jeremy Renner – The Town

Geoffrey Rush – The King's Speech

Best Animated Feature Film

Despicable Me 
How To Train Your Dragon

The Illusionist

Tangled

Toy Story 3

Best Foreign Language Film

Biutiful (Mexico, Spain)                                                                             The Concert (France)    

The Edge (Russia)

I Am Love (Italy)

In A Better World (Denmark)

Best Director - Motion Picture

Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan

*David Fincher – The Social Network

Tom Hooper – The King's Speech

*Christopher Nolan – Inception

David O. Russell – The Fighter

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

Simon Beaufoy, Danny Boyle - 127 Hours

*Christopher Nolan - Inception

Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko - The Kids Are All Right

David Seidler - The King's Speech

*Aaron Sorkin - The Social Network

 Best Original Score - Motion Picture

Alexandre Desplat - The King's Speech

Danny Elfman - Alice in Wonderland

A. R. Rahman - 127 Hours

*Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Social Network

*Hans Zimmer - Inception

Best Original Song - Motion Picture

"Bound To You" – Burlesque 

"Coming Home" – Country Strong 

"I See The Light" – Tangled
"There's A Place For Us" – Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader 
"You Haven't Seen The Last Of Me" – Burlesque

Best Television Series - Drama

Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Dexter (SHOWTIME)

The Good Wife (CBS)

Mad Men (AMC)

The Walking Dead (AMC)

 Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Drama

Julianna Margulies – The Good Wife (CBS)

Elisabeth Moss – Mad Men (AMC)

Piper Perabo – Covert Affairs

Katey Sagal – Sons Of Anarchy

Kyra Sedgwick – The Closer (TNT)

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Drama

Steve Buscemi – Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Bryan Cranston – Breaking Bad

Michael C. Hall – Dexter (SHOWTIME)

Jon Hamm – Mad Men (AMC)

*Hugh Laurie – House (FOX)

Best Television Series - Comedy Or Musical

* 30 Rock (NBC)

*The Big Bang Theory (CBS) 
The Big C (Showtime) 
* Glee (FOX) 
Modern Family (ABC)

Nurse Jackie (SHOWTIME)

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Comedy Or Musical

Toni Collette – United States Of Tara (SHOWTIME)

Edie Falco – Nurse Jackie (SHOWTIME)

*Tina Fey – 30 Rock (NBC)

Laura Linney – The Big C (Showtime)

*Lea Michele – Glee (FOX)

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Comedy Or Musical

*Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock (NBC)

*Steve Carell – The Office (NBC)

Thomas Jane – Hung (HBO)

*Matthew Morrison – Glee (FOX)

*Jim Parsons – The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television

Carlos (Sundance C) 
The Pacific (HBO)

Pillars Of The Earth (STARZ)

Temple Grandin (HBO)

You Don't Know Jack (HBO)

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Hayley Atwell – Pillars Of The Earth (STARZ)

Claire Danes – Temple Grandin (HBO)

Judi Dench – Return To Cranford

Romola Garai – Emma

Jennifer Love Hewitt – The Client List

Best Performance by an Actor In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Idris Elba – Luther

Ian McShane – Pillars Of The Earth (STARZ)

Al Pacino – You Don't Know Jack (HBO)

Dennis Quaid – The Special Relationship

Edgar Ramirez – Carlos (Sundance C)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

 Hope Davis – The Special Relationship

*Jane Lynch – Glee (FOX)

Kelly MacDonald – Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Julia Stiles – Dexter (SHOWTIME)

Sofia Vergara – Modern Family (ABC)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Scott Caan – Hawaii Five-O

*Chris Colfer – Glee (FOX)

Chris Noth – The Good Wife (CBS)

Eric Stonestreet – Modern Family (ABC)

David Strathairn – Temple Grandin (HBO)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love and Other Drugs

So I had the pleasure of actually seeing a movie in the theater thanks to this cute little one near my apartment.  It only cost about 7.50 and the film was well worth it.  Love and Other Drugs, however, was only nominated for two Golden Globes; Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical (Anne Hathaway) and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical (Jake Gyllenhaal).  

Gyllenhaal and Hathaway prove they still have great on-screen chemistry, although this relationship is completely different, in Love and Other Drugs, based on the book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman by Jamie Reidy.  Hathaway mentioned in an interview that when they were filming sex scenes in Brokeback Mountain Gyllenhaal pretty much asked permission to touch her but while filming LAOD he just did what he wanted.  When she asked why he acted differently this time, he said he already asked permission and figured it still applied.  I thought that was a little funny.  Jake's so cute!  This genre was a little different than what director Edward Zwick is use to, directing such action films as Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, and Courage Under Fire, but I think he did a great job.  I am a little indecisive about this film.

  Everyone knows the story, playboy meets girl, they both try to keep it casual, boy falls in love with girl, they have a falling out and blah, blah, blah.  Love and Other Drugs does a good job of following the cliched romantic-comedy, love story, but there is some originality. Hathaway's character, Maggie, is a 26 year old with Parkinson's Disease and Gyllenhal's, Jamie Randall, is a pharmaceutical representative during the rise of Viagra.  Love and Other Drugs has a great cast and is definitely  funnier than most romantic comedies.  Most critics complain about too much going on during the film, but it didn't seem to take away from the main storyline so it didn't bother me. Of course I could have done without the nudity. It was, in my opinion, vulgar and tasteless, but I knew that going into the film so I wasn't caught off guard.  The amount of nudity made me wonder if the director put it in the film just to sell tickets, which the poster for the film verifies that as true.

Personally, with all the hype it received before it was released into theaters, I didn't think it needed the nudity, but what do I know? 

 I enjoyed the movie but the ending was a little unrealistic, that might be my bitterness speaking though.  Ask my opinion again in a couple of years.  I would recommend it to everyone, and I don't know if I would say that had the casting been completely different.  Sweet and cute are words used to describe most romantic comedies, and although it tries to be different (in some ways it is) it still has similar qualities of a romcom, but sweet and cute just don't do it justice.  Whatever adjective best describes this film, maybe inspiring or awe-spiring, it just makes sense.  Going into this blog I was indecisive about what I thought of the film, it took me over a week to write this review, but as I struggled and thought about the film I decided I liked it.  Because of these new found feelings I have for the film, I wish I could come up with a word that will make you want to see Love and Other Drugs, but I can't think of anything so just see it please.  Its worth the price you'll have to pay to see it in theaters, but its also worth the wait, your choice.  And don't worry, its not too much of a tear jerker.

The Fourth Kind

A UFO sighting is considered the alien encounter of the first kind.

Collected evidence is the second kind.

Contact with the extraterrestrial is the third kind.

And the fourth kind.......abduction.

Sometimes I like to multitask while watching movies that I'm not really into so I can say I watched it and not have to sit there in complete agony or boredom while trying to finish a not very good movie.  I thought The Fourth Kind would be one of these movies so I planned on wrapping presents while watching.  Well surprisingly, the movie was actually good.  It definitely kept my eyes glued to the screen.  The Fourth Kind was released in 2009 and written and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi who makes an appearance in the film interviewing the real Abbey Tyler.  Osunsanmi hasn't really directed any major or popular films but he has done various crew jobs on other films.  I honestly think he did an amazing job, but I'll get to that after the background.

The Fourth Kind is based on the true story of supposed alien abductions in Nome, Alaska that took place in October of 2000.  After her husband's murder, psychologist Dr Abigail Tyler begins videotaping sessions with her patients when she learns that they've all had similar problems with sleeping and seeing an owl at night.  The videos often become distorted.

Even though I'm a skeptic on all things supernatural (great show though!) and extraterrestrial related, I still feel a little eerie talking about this.  What I enjoyed about this movie is the comparison between the dramatization and the archive footage.  I love it when movies try to scare you by using actual footage, but this was really cool.  At times they even had the real people talking at the same time that the actors portraying them were talking.  Some people may find the split screen confusing or annoying but I love watching comparisons.  Its nice to watch how accurate people try to be.  Now I watched this with my sister who is also a psychologist so it was nice having the scientific view of things as well.  She kept commenting on how crazy Dr. Tyler was during the footage of her actual interview with the director of the film.  As mentioned earlier, I myself am a skeptic and "non-believer" as you can call it because I believe there's a scientific or reasonable explanation for everything.  For those Nicholas Sparks fans out there, one of my favorite characters has to be Jeremy Marsh from his book True Believer.  Read it and you'll understand why.  Anyway, I almost believed that it was real, which meant the director did a great job making the actors (not just the characters) believable.  If the actor portraying a character isn't believable it can ruin the whole movie, trust me.  Well my sister's final thought was that it was all a hoax and the crazy lady made it up.  She even tampered with her tapes which in 2000 can be done pretty easily.  Whether this was true or not, I still found the movie quite entertaining.  Releasing at the same time as the overrated Paranormal Activity made me a little nervous as to how it would do but it made over $12 million opening weekend, while Paranormal Activity made only about $77,000.

All in all it was a good show, I probably would have paid to see it in the theater.  I don't think it got as much hype as it deserved, but maybe that's why it was good because I was expecting less.  Anyway, its not an amazing Academy Award winning film, but I do recommend watching it if you want to be freaked out or a little spooked.

High Fidelity

I recently watched an adorable movie directed by Stephen Frears called High Fidelity.  What makes it so adorable you ask?  Isn't every John Cusack movie adorable, or does it seem adorable because he himself is the epitome of TATH (too adorable to handle).  Now John Cusack was in many adorable movies in the 80s so I was under the impression that this movie was one of his classic 80s movie which didn't bother me at all because I love the 80s (the music, the movies, the fashion) everything about it makes me wish I lived longer to remember it.  Anyway, it had a very 80s style to it, then I saw that it was made in 2000, and I was surprised.  It has the potential to be a John Hughes movie or even a Cameron Crowe.  Then I saw it was directed by Stephen Frears who also directed The Queen and Dirty Pretty Things.  Both these movies are in a completely different genre than High Fidelity which is a cute romantic comedy.  Well its not really that comedic, but Jack Black is there for his annoying comedic relief.  Frears also directed Dangerous Liasions which I've never seen so I don't know what genre it would fall under.

I liked this movie quite a bit because I could relate to it for two reasons.  Reason number one being that Cusack's character Rob constantly looks at the camera and talks to the audience more than other characters.  I think Frear did this as a reason so we can relate to Rob and sympathize with him.  Of course, its John Cusack, who doesn't feel bad for him when something bad happens?  He's just too adorable!  Also, the talking to the audience seemed more to me like he was talking to himself, which I do quite frequently.  The movie starts out with him being dumped by longtime girlfriend, and through out the movie he gets a little crazy about it and dwells on it.  Sounds like me.  Which brings me to reason number 2, the Top 5 Break Ups he discusses at the beginning of the movie.  I think we all have somewhere in the back of our mind a top 5 list for breakups, I know I do.  Top 5 seems to be a consistent theme throughout the film as he has a top 5 list for pretty much everything.  What I enjoyed, is that Rob decided to figure out his breakup by communicating with his top 4 as to why they broke up with him in the first place.  Most of them he finds results, some he didn't really care anymore.  So everyone likes a character they can relate to, and that's why I like Rob.  I think asking my exes questions is a great idea.  Of course there needs to be enough time in between the break up that its not just me trying to get him back.  Rob also made a comment about music telling how you feel.  I agree with him 100%.  He makes tapes for different situations to help say how he feels about that particular situation.  I myself have done that too.  He even informed me how to properly make a break up tape, what should be expressed in the music.

 This movie was good, but I didn't like the ending.  Maybe its over my head, but to me it just didn't add up.  Most of it ties in together, him DJing again, the success of the hoodlums and Jack Black's band, but I didn't understand why he got back together with Laura.  I thought he made great progress in realizing what was wrong with their relationship and getting over her, but then she takes him back because it just seemed like the right thing to do.  And he's okay with that?  After flirting with a writer from The Reader he then has a heartfelt conversation of wanting to marry Laura and never growing tired of her.  I know this is suppose to be like a Coming of Age genre, but what does he realize?  In a way he's back where he started.  I guess the time apart made him realize he's ready to be 100% committed to her because he admitted to not being fully committed to her the first time they were together.  Maybe I just answered my own question, but if anyone can help me out with my confusion it would be greatly appreciated.

Okay, I'm almost done with this review, but first I must list things I liked and didn't like about this film.  Like:  The different alternative reactions of Rob when Tim Robbins' character Ian comes into the store.  I myself try to think of the best way to react to a sucky situation and these alternatives showed me different outcomes.  Dislike:  Jack Black, does anyone not see how annoying he is?  Does he ever play different characters? Maybe that's why lovable Seth Rogen and geeky Jonah Hill are now the token fat funny guy in every comedy.  I did however like his character in Shallow Hal.  I'm starting to think Frears wrote him in the movie so he could make more money.  "Hey Jack Black, he's a funny, fat guy, lets put him in our movie and make millions on the idiots that love every movie he's in"  Like: Drake Bell playing a young John Cusack.  Clearly Frears wants us to know Cusack has been adorable at least since 7th grade.  I felt angry that John Cusack was dumped but then I felt angrier that Drake Bell was dumped.  That was good casting, you're almost forgiven for the Jack Black casting debacle.  Dislike:  The beginning of the last club scene.  While Rob was playing music the background noise of people talking was just too unrealistic.  Anyone can tell the talking was recorded separately from the club scene.

Finally, little fact I learned about John Cusack.  He's from Evanston, IL, the next town over!  He's like my neighbor.  I know this wasn't the review to The Fourth Kind, like I stated previously, but are you really that disappointed?  The movies probably not that good. 

Update 5/16/2011:

I've decided that since I live in Chicago, I will visit locations in every film I review that took place in Chicago.  This is the location of the record store from High Fidelity.

Awaiting the 83rd Academy Awards/Children of the Corn

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011.  Televised on ABC, the award ceremony will be held at the Kodak Theatre.  I am patiently waiting for the nominees to be announced, which won't be until Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 5:30AM at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater.  From January 25th until February 27th, I will be watching and reviewing ever nominated film in my blog.  Of course I will let you know the nominees once I find out and will be giving you my opinion on who should win and who probably will win.  Leave comments and let me know your opinion too.

 I've recently watched both versions of Stephen King's Children of the Corn.  I usually don't care for remakes, but I've learned its easier to get permission to rewrite someone's idea than it is to think you've written an original piece only to be sued by someone who insisted they wrote it first.  I always expect remakes, however, to be completely different from the original.  Children of the Corn was no exception.  Neither was very good.  The original Children of the Corn was made in 1984 and starred Linda Hamilton, most famous for her role in the Terminator movies.  The remake was a made for TV movie.  Released in 2009, it apparently follows the short story by Stephen King better than its predecessor does.  I haven't read the book yet so I can't comment further on that.  One thing I know for   sure though, the remake was far more disturbing.  The movie starts with a cute little boy preaching to children about having to kill their parents, not as creepy as the beginning of the original where the children just randomly show up to a diner and start slaughtering all the adults.  They were led by a creepier looking child who was actually 25 when the movie was made and went on to other creepy roles as Cousin It in the Addam's Family and the voice of Chucky from the Child's Play movies.  That was pretty much the only scary part of the movie.  And of course the main adults survived.  John Franklin's Growth Hormone Deficiency actually helps him to play a more believable Isaac than 99s remake Preston Bailey.  He's just too adorable to be an evil preacher boy.  Maybe they should have brought Franklin back for this role.  Side note: The original Malachi (Courtney Gains) played the sheriff in Sweet Home Alabama.  Anyway, one major difference was the bickering married couple.  The couple in the original weren't married and Hamilton's character Vicki kind of hinted towards a proposal in the beginning.  What was interesting was that the couple in the remake was biracial, even though it was the 70s and biracial couples weren't very common.  They were also very annoying, constantly bickering at each other causing viewers to wonder why they were even together or how they got together in the first place.  In my experience with horror movies I've noticed the director usually makes the viewer relate with the main character or feel bad for them so that you don't want them to die, but I found myself so annoyed by this couple (mostly the woman) that I was routing for the kids.  I was happy in the end when they both were sacrificed for He Who Walks Behind the Rows, apparently that's how the King's story ends too.

I'm going to talk mostly about the remake now because it was so disturbing, and I have no idea what people were smoking when they not only let this movie air on television, but funded it to be made at all.  Something that bothered me were the young girls that walked around pregnant.  I guess this is pretty common in today's society with teenage pregnancy on the rise, but maybe Ruth should have been played by someone that didn't use to be on Nickelodeon's show Zoey 101.  I don't care that she's 18 and considered an adult, she'll still be Zoey's sweet and innocent 13 year old friend to me.  Of course none of this is as disturbing as the child sex scene.  It made me want to vomit.  It starts out with Isaac saying "Now is the time for harvest".  Well little did I know that harvesting equals child pornography.  All of a sudden these two children get on the altar and start having sex.  Full on nudity.  There were boobs and moaning involved.  To make matters worst, younger children got in a circle to watch and cheer.  It's disturbing to even talk about it.  I'm still doing research to figure out exactly how young these two actors engaging in sex are.  I read on another blog that the girl is still not 18, so she was definitely too young to do that scene.  As for the male procreater, well I found his facebook, but none of his websites state his age, but I'm attracted to him so he's probably young.  So that part pretty much turned me off the movie.  Call me a party pooper, but I'm not a huge fan of child pornography even if it was adults playing children.  Stephen King is a very talented author, I don't know why he let them associate that scene with his name.

In conclusion, if you want to watch Children of the Corn, I recommend only the first one from 1984.  Unless you're a wierdo that likes disturbing things then feel free to watch the remake because it is totally different from the original and based more on the short story, but the acting is terrible.  No surprise there.  If you like disturbing movies like Clockwork Orange, then you might like Children of the Corn.  Don't let me stop you, but you have been warned.  Ironically enough I'm now going to watch Children of the Corn 3: Urban Harvest made in 1995.  I couldn't find Children of the Corn 2:  The Final Sacrifice anywhere.  I don't think it made it onto DVD.  I figured I'd give all the corn children a chance because so many movies were made, and I can't just watch one movie in a series.

Continuing with the suspense theme, my next review will be 2009s The Fourth Kind.  I've heard its really scary so I can't wait to watch it.

Thanks for reading!