What Ever Happened To...

Michael Schoeffling.  Wait, who?  Michael Schoeffling.

You know, this guy:

Seriously, who?

Corey Burck in Let's Get Harry...

Nope, no clue.

Kuch in Vision Quest...

Still drawing a blank.

Matt in Sylvester...

Who?

Al Carver in Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken...

Ok, starting to sound familiar.

Joe in Mermaids...

Ahhhh...

Jake Ryan in Sixteen Candles...

OH, OH, OH! NOW I know who this is!

Tada, I knew you'd figure it out.


Born in 1960 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and raised in South Jersey, Schoeffling began a modeling career in the mid-1980's for GQ.  After attending acting classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Manhattan, Schoeffling found moderate success in Hollywood.

However, Schoeffling never duplicated the success of Sixteen Candles, and in various magazine and newspaper interviews stated the lack of roles and a growing family to feed, as his reasons for retiring from acting.

So after starring in 10 movies and one TV show from 1984 to 1991 the man known as "Jake Ryan" packed up after filming Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken in '91 and left Hollywood, with his wife and two kids, for western Pennsylvania and there he remains.... making homemade furniture.

I'd kinda wanted to know if he's still good looking with the great hair, but he's gone so far into obscurity, that I can't even find a "recent" picture (as in since 1991) of him.

On one hand I wonder, if he'd stuck it out a bit longer if he would have found the success he was looking for - he seemed to possess the talent.  But on the other, I give him kuddos for walking away, carving out a normal life for himself and making all the ladies wonder... what ever happened to him.

Modern Day Shakespeare

I really, really enjoy Shakespeare!  I've read many of his original plays and sonnets (though not all) and I used to be an actress in a company that performed a few of his works.

Another thing I really like?  When Hollywood takes one of Shakespeare's works and modernizes it.

(Make sure you click on the lighter text, it links up to previews and clips.)

Take for example, Hamlet.  And I'm not talking about the 1996 Kenneth Branagh version that runs 242 minutes and you need a pot of coffee to get through.  Even though I actually do like that version - it's spot on to the written word - the one I'm thinking of came out in 2000 and stars Ethan Hawke as the troubled Hamlet.

I am in the minority though of those who actually like it.  It leaves out a good portion of the actual play, mostly the graveyard scene if you're familiar, but I don't think it would have added any real contribution to this version.  Some of the actors don't seem to really know what they are saying, I struggle over the fact that Bill Murray was cast as Polonius and I can barely watch his scenes.  But then others, such as Liev Schreiber playing the role of Laertes, does an excellent job!  Really making you understand what he is saying in such old fashioned lingo.

My favorite part of this film is the famous "to be or not to be" soliloquy.  With the latter part of the dialog between Hamlet and Ophelia spread out over a few scenes and not all at one time, the more famous first part of the speech is done while walking up and down the aisles of a Blockbuster video store.

This movie is quirky and keeps you interested in way that most modern day retellings of Shakespeare's works don't.

For a time there was this huge surge of re-doing Shakespeare.

The most famous is the 1996, Baz Luhrmann, off-the-wall concept of Romeo + Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.
Other's include:
1999's 10 Things I Hate About You (Taming of the Shrew)
2000's Love's Labour's Lost (also directed by Branagh)
2001's O (Othello)

(In a side note: 10 Things I Hate About You, Hamlet and O, ALL star Julia Stiles in the female lead.)

But the whole reason I decided to blog about this was to introduce you to Coriolanus.

Who?  Coriolanus.


The citizens of Rome are hungry. Coriolanus, the hero of Rome, a great soldier and a man of inflexible self-belief despises the people. His extreme views ignite a mass riot. Rome is bloody. Manipulated and out-maneuvered by politicians and even his own mother Volumnia, Coriolanus is banished from Rome. He offers his life or his services to his sworn enemy Tullus Aufidius. Coriolanus and Aufidius march on Rome intending to destroy the city. Volumnia appeals to her son. He tries to reject her but eventually breaks. Aufidius, feeling bitterly betrayed, brutally murders Coriolanus.


Not one of Shakespeare's most famous works it has now been turned into a modern day piece by Ralph Fiennes.  I can't wait to see it, I think I've watched the preview a dozen times.  Not only does it look like a top notch cast of Academy Ward winner Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox, Gerard Butler and relative newcomer Jessica Chastain, but I think the cinematography will be superb and I already like the music they used to underscore it all.  


Follow the link for an excellent article about the story itself and the acting/directing behind it.
Hollywood Reporter- Review: Coriolanus


I hope that this post inspires you to learn more about Shakespeare or watch a film from one of his plays!  

Holy Previews Batman!

Ok, so I spent about an hour this morning watching movie previews. I should have been doing the dishes or the laundry. Or maybe cleaning the bathroom. But Baby was asleep and #3 was playing with his new birthday toys. So I ate some breakfast, watched some previews and had a grand time!

I now have a list of 20+ movies to see.  Some are showing now or have been out for a while, others are "coming soon."

Here's a few I thought worth sharing - they are broken down into ehem, "categories" for your consideration.  Enjoy!

(preview links are under the pictures)


The Family Film:

We Bought a Zoo

A well done film full of iconic British actors:

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Interesting tidbit-  the above is the 2011 film version of the 1979 mini-series starring Alec Guinness 

(an iconic British actor)

The action movie with a good storyline:

Machine Gun Preacher

The sequel:

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Seriously? Another one? How many times can they make the same movie.... :

The Three Musketeers

A Johnny Depp film:

The Rum Diary

A Tom Cruise film:

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

The artsy film:

Melancholia

The movie with some kind of robot:

Real Steel

The everything movie- romance, action, aliens, some branch of the armed forces, a beach, cheesy quotes, musicians who think they can act... :

Battleship

*sigh*

I've been in my new home town of Austin, Texas for a month now.  There is a theater 5 minutes down the street from me that has 6 screens or more and I've yet to go see a flick.....


I'll be back soon with some new posts!

the grass is greener on the other side (metaphorically)

There will be no new posts for a bit as this chick is moving from a small pond to a big one.  I'm headed from Colorado to Texas (hence the metaphoric green grass.... it's pretty dry in Texas) and the packing is taking up all my time.  Well, what time is left after taking care of 4 kids and all the comings and goings of summer activities.

I am spending any of my "down time" actually watching movies and will catch up on my blogging after we get settled.

Comment below and tell me what movies you've seen this summer and what movies you can't wait to see!

I went to "Transformers, Dark of the Moon" just the other day and have my ticket for a midnight showing of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II!"  I can't wait!!!  I'm also looking forward to "Cowboys and Aliens" and "Captain America."

Tata for now!
Brynn

The First Movie Ever Made

A few weeks ago we were talking about movies (real shocker there huh?) and I overheard my daughter asking my mom what the first movie ever made was.  My mom didn't know and neither did I.  So after thinking about it and first remembering and then forgetting to look it up, I finally sat down today and did just that.

What I found out was interesting!  And a little bit confusing.  (I'm pretty sure I have all my facts straight, but if you find out something different please let me know as there was a lot of info to sort out.)

First up, the Praxinoscope.

Charles-Emile Reynaud was a French science teacher and was responsible for the first projected animated cartoon films.  Reynaud created the Praxinoscope in 1877.  The praxinoscope was an animation device, the successor to the zoetrope.  Like the zoetrope, it used a strip of pictures placed around the inner surface of a spinning cylinder.  The praxinoscope improved on the zoetrope by replacing its narrow viewing slits with an inner circle of mirrors, placed so that the reflections of the pictures appeared more or less stationary in a position as the wheel turned.  Someone looking in the mirrors would therefore see a rapid succession of images producing the illusion of motion, with a brighter and less distorted picture than the zoetrope offered.  In 1892 Reynaud projected the first animated film in public, called Pauvre Pierrot (aka Poor Pete) using the Theatre Optique, an improved version capable of projecting images on a screen from a longer roll of pictures.  Reynaud is the first to use perforated strips.  This allowed him to show hand drawn animated cartoons to larger audiences.  It was however soon eclipsed by the photographic film projector of the Lumière Brothers.

But we'll get to them in a minute.

First we have to talk about the Kinetoscope.

The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic projection before the advent of video: it creates the illusion of movement by conveying a strip of perforated film bearing sequential images over a light source with a high-speed shutter. First described in conceptual terms by U.S. inventor Thomas Edison in 1888, it was largely developed by his employee William Kennedy Laurie Dickson between 1889 and 1892. Dickson and his team at the Edison lab also devised the Kinetograph, an innovative motion picture camera with rapid intermittent, or stop-and-go, film movement, to photograph movies for in-house experiments and, eventually, commercial Kinetoscope presentations.  The trial, or camera test, of the kinetoscope was a series of movies called Monkeyshines.  Monkeyshines, No. 1 may very well be the first movie ever shot using a continuous strip of film.

We now come back to Auguste and Louis Lumière.

It was not until 1892 that the brothers began to create moving pictures. They patented a number of significant processes leading up to their film camera - most notably film perforations (originally implemented by Emile Reynaud) as a means of advancing the film through the camera and projector. The cinématographe itself was patented on February 13, 1895 and the first footage ever to be recorded using it was recorded on March 19, 1895. This first film shows workers leaving the Lumière factory.  The Lumières held their first private screening of projected motion pictures in 1895.  Their first public screening of films at which admission was charged was held on December 28, 1895, at Salon Indien du Grand Café in Paris. This history-making presentation featured ten short films, including their first film, Sortie des Usines Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory).  Each film is 17 meters long, which, when hand cranked through a projector, runs approximately 50 seconds.  It is believed their first film was actually recorded that same year (1895) with Léon Bouly's cinématographe device, which was patented the previous year. The cinématographe — a three-in-one device that could record, develop, and project motion pictures — was further developed by the Lumières. 

Though there were many other early cinematographers, film historians consider the Grande Café screening to be the true birth of the cinema as a commercial medium.

As interesting as all this might be (well to me at least) it doesn't really answer what the first movie ever made was.

So let's change it up.

The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 American action Western film by Edwin S. Porter. Twelve minutes long, it is considered a milestone in film making, expanding on Porter's previous work Life of an American Fireman. The film used a number of innovative techniques including cross cutting, double exposure composite editing, camera movement and on location shooting. Cross-cuts were a new, sophisticated editing technique. Some prints were also hand colored in certain scenes. None of the techniques were original to The Great Train Robbery, and it is now considered that it was heavily influenced by Frank Mottershaw's earlier British film A Daring Daylight Burglary. 

The Great Train Robbery is considered to be the first real full length movie - the first narrative Western film with a storyline - and the first real smash hit.

The movie was directed and photographed by Edwin S. Porter, a former Edison Studios cameraman. Actors in the movie included Alfred C. Abadie, "Broncho" Billy Anderson and Justus D. Barnes, although there were no credits. Though a Western, it was filmed in Milltown, New Jersey.

So, there you have it. The Great Train Robbery could be considered the first real "movie" ever made.  I think...

Movie Review- Black Swan

Black Swan

Years ago when Myspace was THE thing, I filled out my personal profile and when it asked about movies, I said I'd, "Watch anything. I mean anything. Sometimes I regret that."

In my Christian walk I am terrible about the content I put in my brain when it comes to movies.  I really do watch just about anything and there are times where I wish I could get back the 2 hours of my life that I just wasted.  Such was the case Monday night....

I've been debating for MONTHS if I really wanted to see Black Swan or not.  I had heard that it was a crazy movie and that there was a lot of sexual stuff.  But I'd also heard that the dancing was really good and being a former ballerina who happens to love the ballet Swan Lake, I was excited to see that part.

I decided that I'd go ahead and see the film because I already knew about all the "bad" stuff and really, how much worse could it be seeing it, rather than just reading about it?

It was way worse.

Natalie Portman stars as 20-something Nina, the perfect little ballerina, who still lives in her childlike pink bedroom in the same house with bizarre-o mommy, played by Barbara Hershey.  After years of toiling in her ballet company, she gets the starring role in Swan Lake and it's all downhill from there.  Where as Nina is perfect to play the part of the delicate White Swan, Princess Odette - she's not suited to the more demanding role of the seductive Black Swan Odile and it's tradition that one ballerina plays both parts.  Convinced that the new girl Lily, played by Mila Kunis, is out to steal her role, Nina's mind slowly breaks as she becomes more and more in touch with her dark side to be the Black Swan.  It all comes to a head when Nina goes postal on herself in a strange twist of psychotic-ness.

Now I can handle girl-gone-crazy.  It's a Darren Aronfsky film and he doesn't do much that's tame - so I knew Black Swan would be "out there."  It's the girl-on-girl sexual action and all the other sexual innuendo's and such that were way worse than I thought it would be.  That I dislike.

To top it all off the dancing was sub-par.  There has been a huge amount of controversy about the use of dance doubles and who did what.  Though Natalie Portman does mostly all of her own dancing, American Ballet Theatre professional ballerina Sarah Lane acted as body and dance double.  These doubles shots involve complex en pointe work (fouettes, pique turns) and virtually all camera shots that focus below the waist on Nina's legs and feet.  There are 139 dance shots in the film.  Out of the 139, 111 are untouched shots of Natalie Portman and the remaining 28 are her dance double, Sarah Lane.  Of the shots in which Lane is featured, 26 of the 28 are wide shots and rarely appear on screen longer than one second.  The two remaining shots required digital face replacement so the audience sees Portman's face instead of Lane's.  The problem with this is that the film mostly focuses on Nina's face.  There isn't much that IS focused on her legs and feet.  I was really disappointed.

The one redeeming feature of the movie is that it's a great film. For all it's craziness, I thought the script was well written and the cinematography was awesome - a lot of close up facial shots a la Hitchcock.  And the acting was superb.  Ms. Portman really did deserve her Best Actress award at the Oscar's this year.

I still don't recommend seeing it unless you have a strong tolerance for well... a lot.

Original, A Musical & The Remake

Two of my favorite movies are The King and I (the 1956 musical) and Anna and the King (the 1999 remake.)  I didn't find out till today however that there is a third movie - the original - Anna and the King of Siam, done in 1946.  All three movies are based on the 1870 book The English Governess at the Siamese Court - written by English governess Anna Leonowens, a widow with two children. Based on her 6 years as a governess for the 64 children of King Rama IV (or King Mongkut) the book was a huge hit and a second volume of stories of her time in Siam was published in 1872 as The Romance of the Harem.  Unfortunately the "true story" presented in the movies has been denounced for its inaccuracies by the current government of Thailand.  When Mrs. Leonowens published her first book it is said that the King of Siam responded with the statement that she "has supplied by her invention that which is deficient in her memory."  So I see the movies as a little bit of fact, mixed with a lot of fiction.

Here are some fun facts about all 3 movies!

(no preview available)

Anna and the King of Siam

1946

Irene Dunne as Anna Owens

Rex Harrison as King Mongkut

This movie (as well as the 1999 version) was banned in Thailand because of what the Thai government said were historical inaccuracies about the King of Siam.

Rex Harrison's first American movie.

In the film, Linda Darnell (who plays Tuptim) - her character dies by being burned at the stake (in the subsequent versions, Tuptim is beheaded.)  This was a particularly difficult sequence for Darnell to film as she was terrified of fire.  What makes this a double irony is the fact that, 19 years later, she was killed in a house fire.

The King and I

("Shall We Dance" clip)

1956

Deborah Kerr as Anna Leonowens

Yul Brynner as King Mongkut

Deborah Kerr's gowns each weighed between 30 and 40 pounds, due to all the pleats, hoops and petticoats.  And baking under the hot lights on set, Kerr lost over 12 pounds and would often refer to herself as "The melting Miss Kerr."

Marni Nixon dubbed Deborah Kerr's singing in the film.  Nixon was hired on a six week contract and she was to be at the studio every day that Kerr rehearsed a scene with a song in it.  Nixon would actually stand next to Kerr and walk through the whole scene - both of them singing - and Nixon would be looking closely at Kerr's facial expressions to try to imitate her speech pattern in the songs.  Nixon said that she realized the keys of Anna's songs were very low for her - "very contralto keys" - and that she was really too young (just 21) to be able to sound "adult" and "womanly."  Hence, a modifier was placed in Nixon's microphone to make her voice sound deeper and more mature.  Nixon said she also had a terrible cold at the time and that probably helped in matching Kerr's voice.

Marni Nixon was the voice double for many movies.  

An Affair to Remember, character Terry McKay's singing voice (Terry McKay was played by Deborah Kerr)

West Side Story, character Maria's (played by Natalie Wood) singing voice

My Fair Lady, character Eliza Doolittle's (played by Audrey Hepburn) singing voice

The Sound of Music, Nixon plays Sister Sophia 

The reality of the "Shall We Dance" sequence was that Deborah Kerr suffered continual bruising from the hoops in her skirt and Yul Brynner - a chain smoker who had already lost a lung to his habit - had to take oxygen in between takes.

Yul Brynner won the 1952 Tony ward for Supporting or Features Actor in a Musical for "The King and I" as the King of Siam and recreated his role in the movie version.  Brynner is also the only man to have played a lead role in a Rodgers and Hammerstein production both on the stage and on the screen.

In real life the King died of malaria, not a broken spirit as portrayed in the movie.

Anna and the King

1999

Jodie Foster as Anna Leonowens

Chow Yun-Fat as King Mongkut

This version was filmed in Malaysia due to the fact that Thailand still felt that it was historically inaccurate and refused to let them film on location in the country.

Bai Ling completely shaved her head bald for her role as Tuptim.

If you turn on the French audio track on the DVD, you can hear Jodie Foster dubbing her own character's voice.

The real King Mongkut was paralyzed on one half of his face, a fact that has apparently been dropped from the movies.

Movie Review- The Brothers Bloom

The Brother's Bloom

Starring Adrien Brody (The Thin Red Line, The Village, Academy Award winner for best actor in The Pianist) as "Bloom" and Mark Ruffalo (View from the Top, 13 Going on 30, The Kids Are All Right) as "Stephen" - it's a story of brothers who have been con artists since they were little!  After years in the business Bloom wants out, but Stephen ropes him in for one more con.  Bring in Rachel Weisz (The Mummy, Enemy at the Gates, About a Boy) as "Penelope" the eccentric, bored heiress they are out to dupe.  As they travel around the world you never know what is real and what is make-believe! With a supporting cast consisting of Robbie Coltrane, Maxmilian Schell and Rinko Kikuchi who stars as "Bang Bang" the brother's primarily silent explosions expert, this is a tale that keeps you guessing.

Undoubtedly one of the quirkiest movies I've ever seen, I nevertheless laughed almost all the way through!  

Rated PG-13 for violence (just a bit,) some sensuality (yeah, there's a short scene or two that was unnecessary) and brief strong language (very brief.) 

Fun Trivia-

Rachel Weisz learned how to play the piano, violin, accordion, the banjo, to break-dance, juggle, do karate, play Ping-Pong, ride a unicycle and even skateboard for her role as the eccentric Penelope.

The Year of the Comic...

...Comic BOOK that is.  I knew there were a few movies based on comics coming out this year, but when I looked them all up I was surprised at how many there actually are!

I know nothing about comics.  Lucky for me I married a guy who, when he moved in, came with an entire trunk full of comic books.

When a movie based on a comic comes out, I've learned to NOT ask questions.  (Questions like, are the characters in the movie same as the ones in the comic book or is the story accurate?)  Because IF I do, I get a back story so involved, it'd make your head spin.  I was watching the previews for some of the movies posted below and Jason watched Priest with me.  After it was done, he walked away muttering, "That's not the Priest I remember."

I didn't even know Priest was a comic....

For your viewing pleasure I present previews for the entire 2011 list of comic-books-turned-into-movies (plus my comments, because I have to comment!)

Enjoy!

January 14 - The Green Hornet

This is out on DVD already I do believe.  I've heard it's not bad!

May 6 - Thor

'Cause who doesn't want to see a smokin' hot Aussie in a movie? Well... I mean what chick doesn't want to see that...

May 13 - Priest

Because we really need another vampire movie...

June 3 - X-Men: First Class

I liked the first set of X-Men movies. I dislike that they have to do all of these prequels to movies. (Though I must admit... the Star Trek prequel was pretty darn good!)

June 17 - Green Lantern

I thought this preview looked stupid.  There was no comment from Jason.

July 1 - Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon

I look forward to seeing who they got to replace Megan Fox.

July 22 - Captain America: The First Avenger

I thought this looked a lot better than The Green Lantern!

July 29 - Cowboys & Aliens

As I've said before... Daniel Craig AND Harrison Ford in a movie. I'm there.

August 19 - Conan the Barbarian

Why? What in the world made them think to remake this film...

What's at Liberty...

What's at Liberty?

Friday, May 6th - Tuesday, May 10th

Soul Surfer

SOOO excited this is in town!  I've read nothing but rave reviews and heard nothing but praise for this movie!!!

Rated PG for an intense accident sequence and some thematic material

106 minutes

Liberty starts new hours this Friday!!!

Open Friday through Tuesday

Closed Wednesday and Thursday

Monday is Local's Night - all tickets $5 with a valid ID

Soul Surfer Times:

Friday- 6pm

Saturday- 6pm

Sunday- 1pm Mother's Day Special, all seats $5

Monday- Local's Night, all seats $5 w/ valid ID

Wednesday- SPECIAL EVENT at 6pm - Youth Appreciation Night, all seats $5 (sponsored by local churches)

Thursday- closed

Life...

No, I've not lost the password to the blog, nor have I forgotten how to type... I've just been very busy over the last month.

I do see some time to sit and reflect coming my way.  Probably has something to do with the fact that I'm 34 weeks pregnant and was just put on bed rest...

I have a lot of time to sit and do nothing.

My kids are home for Spring Break this week, so I might not have as much time as I think to be able to post.  But next week - if baby doesn't make an appearance this weekend - I will definitely try to catch up.

I foresee having something to blog about "Tangled."  Considering I've seen it twice in 3 days and the girls are home for the rest of the week, I'm sure we'll be watching it at least once or twice... probably at least three times more.  It's cute, so I don't mind.  I do however keep getting the songs stuck in my head and that is slightly annoying as I don't know all the words... yet...

For now though I'm signing off.  Hopefully it won't take me another month to get back...

Oscar Wrap Up

There were few surprises during Sunday night's telecast of the 83rd Academy Awards.  As expected, Colin Firth took home Best Actor for his role in The King's Speech and Natalie Portman took home Best Actress for her role in Black Swan.  Melissa Leo DID come away with the win for Best Supporting Actress, she also gets the "prestige" of being the first person the drop an F-bomb on the Oscar stage.  (I'd rather be known for the first part, not the second.)  And Christian Bale won Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Fighter, showing some emotion during his acceptance speech that we haven't seen this year.

The biggest bomb of the evening (except for Melissa Leo's) were the hosts.  Franco seemed stoned and poor Hathaway tried to overcompensate and was a little too happy.  It's not good when the biggest laughs come from 2 former hosts, one of whom has been dead for many a year and is digitally inserted on the stage.

In one area there was a surprise, Tom Hooper took home the Best Director award for The King's Speech.  The majority of critic's and regular folk, pegged David Fincher of The Social Network to take this away from him.  I however did not.

When it comes to my other choices, I did fairly well!  18 out of 24 correct.

As always there were a couple of areas that I was kicking myself over.  When I'm making my picks, I take a piece of paper and write down who I instinctually think should win.  Then I read other critic's choices and I watch previews and I inevitably change some of my choices.  That's what happened this year in the areas of sound mixing and cinematography.  I originally wrote down Inception to win both of those categories.  I changed my mind because I really thought that True Grit was beautifully filmed.  And Roger Deakins has been nominated 9 other times and not won.  This was Wally Pfister's first ever nomination and I didn't really think he'd win.  Not because it wasn't a spectacularly filmed movie (it was!) but just... because.

Now, in sound mixing I really should have stuck with Inception.  Inception took home almost every technical award given out this year leading up to Sunday night, but I changed it up at the last minute and picked The Social Network, which had a lot of challenging sound effects to deal with, but was apparently not as difficult as it's rival.

The other 4 areas I missed- Best Foreign Language Film, Best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short, and Best Documentary Short -I'm not too upset about.  I was barely able to watch previews for all of the nominees and when reading others picks for the winner, I had mixed results over all the categories.

All in all I'm happy about my choices this year!  I enjoyed the telecast for the most part.  The highlights being the opening film montage and Billy Crystal's bit with Bob Hope.  I also liked hearing Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi sing I See the Light from "Tangled."  I could have done without Randy Newman and I frankly couldn't understand what Florence Welch was saying.  And someone please tell Gwyneth Paltrow to stick with acting.  She looked so terrified to be up there singing, she barely even opened her eyes.

I look forward to the year ahead with all of it's great films to come and for this time next year, when I once again go through the agony and ecstasy of who-will-win and who-won-what!

The Oscar's

It's that time of year again for the annual Academy Awards Ceremony.  For the last two years our local theater has held a contest to see who can correctly pick the most Oscar winners.  I'm quite disappointed that they are not having it this year, but I was told that hopefully it would be back next year.  The first year they decided to hold the contest, I won!  (Oscar)  Last year, ehhh I came in second.  But that's ok because I really didn't choose wisely and ended up not doing so well.  You can read about THAT experience here- Oscar Follow Up.

This year I decided that instead of reading every blog I could and analyzing what every critic had to say (and putting myself into a panic about it all) - I was going to pick who *I* thought should win and stick to my guns.  I'd rather go with my gut and mess up, than follow everyone else's lead and be wrong because I relied too much on their opinions.  So, if come Sunday night I totally bomb, at least I can feel good about myself and the fact that I made my own opinions and stuck to them.  But I'm kind of hoping that doesn't happen....

Two years ago, "Slumdog Millionaire" pretty much stole the show.  They won everything it seemed.  Last year everyone thought that "Avatar" would sweep the field, but "The Hurt Locker" took quite a lot of the glory.  I don't see any one film making a sweep this year and my opinion is pretty much the opposite of everyone else's.  A lot of people think that "The King's Speech" will take top honors and thus, because of the momentum of that, will sweep up a lot of the lesser awards, such as costume design and original score.  With 12 nominations it's poised to do so.  Usually the film with the most nominations, takes the most awards including the top ones.  But I see the love being spread around a bit more than usual!

I am pretty confident in most of my picks.  However Best Supporting Actress is sort of a toss up due to some controversy. And when it comes to the Best Foreign Language films or the Best Short films, etc., I never really know who to pick as I only get to see the previews online.  I usually guess there.

Feel free to leave comments and your choices for Sunday nights winners!  It's always fun to see who gets the most correct!

Here are the nominees and my picks for the 83rd Academy Awards!


Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem in "Biutiful"
Jeff Bridges in "True Grit"
Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network"
Colin Firth in "The King's Speech"
James Franco in "127 Hours"

Who Will Win?  Colin Firth.  It's his time.  If Jeff Bridges hadn't been nominated for "Crazy Heart" last year, Firth would have won for "A Single Man."  And since Bridges did win last year, I don't see him winning again this year for True Grit.


Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale in "The Fighter"
John Hawkes in "Winter's Bone"
Jeremy Renner in "The Town"
Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right"
Geoffrey Rush in "The King's Speech"

Who Will Win?  Christian Bale.  There is some speculation amongst other critic's that Rush will take it in an upset if The King's Speech sweeps the Oscar's this year, but frankly I don't see that happening.  Rush already has a Best Actor Oscar from "Shine" and I think Bale deserves this one.


Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening in "The Kids Are All Right"
Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone"
Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"
Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine"

Who Will Win?  Natalie Portman.  Why?  Because she's won everything else... all year... Annette Bening could steal it, but I highly doubt it.


Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams in "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter in "The King's Speech"
Melissa Leo in "The Fighter"
Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit"
Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom"

Who Will Win?  Melissa Leo.  Again, there is speculation that the votes will be split between Adams and Leo and that Steinfeld (who was really the lead in True Grit) will slip in for the win.  But all 3 were nominated at the Screen Actor's Guild in the same category and that didn't happen, Leo won.  I am going ALL the way against the grain with my choice of Leo as the winner. Steinfeld, while she was superb, should see the nod as a great achievement and go on to make more films, that garner more nominations and an eventual win.

*I just saw a news story this Friday morning that Leo ran ad's in the paper to garner herself votes - which has angered many academy voters.  (It's kind of taboo to toot your own horn.)  I'm going to stick with her as my winner, BUT her "vanity" could really hurt her and Steinfeld might take this go around.*


Animated Feature

"How To Train Your Dragon"
The Illusionist"
"Toy Story 3"

Who Will Win?  Toy Story 3.  Duh.  I can't stand the fact that it was allowed to be nominated for the Best Picture award as well - I don't think it should be in both categories.  But I don't think animated films should be nominated AT ALL in the Best Picture category to begin with.


Art Direction

"Alice in Wonderland"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"True Grit"

Who Will Win?  Alice in Wonderland.  Why?  Because Tim Burton is famous for the look of his films and this one is really spectacular.  Inception could be the surprise winner in this category.


Cinematography

"Black Swan"
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"The Social Network"
"True Grit"

Who Will Win?  True Grit.  Cinematographer Roger Deakins has been nominated 9 times for his work.  I think this year he will win.


Costume Design

"Alice in Wonderland"
"I Am Love"
"The King's Speech"
"The Tempest"
"True Grit"

Who Will Win?  Alice in Wonderland.  Colleen Atwood has been nominated 9 times for the Oscar in this category and won twice.  I see her winning again.  Look for The King's Speech to possibly be the upset here.


Directing

"Black Swan" Darren Aronofsky
"The Fighter" David O. Russell
"The King's Speech" Tom Hooper
"The Social Network" David Fincher
"True Grit" Joel and Ethan Coen

Who Will Win?  Tom Hooper.  In the 63 years I believe the Director's Guild has been giving out their best director award in their individual guild, the winner of the DGA has gone on to win the Best Director Oscar all but 5 or 6 times I think?  IF there is an upset, it will come from David Fincher for The Social Network. Again, I go completely against the grain by picking Hooper.


Documentary (Feature)

"Exit through the Gift Shop"
"Gasland"
"Inside Job"
"Restrepo"
"Waste Land"

Who Will Win?  Inside Job


Documentary (Short Subject)

"Killing in the Name"
"Poster Girl"
"Strangers No More"
"Sun Come Up"
"The Warriors of Qiugang"

Who Will Win?  Killing in the Name


Film Editing

"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"The King's Speech"
"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"

Who Will Win?  The Social Network



Foreign Language Film

"Biutiful" Mexico
"Dogtooth" Greece
"In a Better World" Denmark
"Incendies" Canada
"Outside the Law" Algeria

Who Will Win?  Incendies


Makeup

"Barney's Version"
"The Way Back"
"The Wolfman"

Who Will Win?  The Wolfman


Music (Original Score)

"How to Train Your Dragon" John Powell
"Inception" Hans Zimmer
"The King's Speech" Alexandre Desplat
"127 Hours" A.R. Rahman
"The Social Network" Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Who Will Win?  The Social Network.  And it should win.  Look for The King's Speech to possibly pull an upset here if some predictions hold true and they "sweep" the field Sunday night.


Music (Original Song)

"Coming Home" from "Country Strong"
"I See the Light" from "Tangled"
"If I Rise" from "127 Hours"
"We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3"

Who Will Win?  We Belong Together


Best Picture

"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"Inception"
"The Kids Are All Right"
"The King's Speech"
"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"
"Toy Story 3"
"True Grit"
"Winter's Bone"

Who Will Win?  The King's Speech.  My husband thinks that the votes will split between The King's Speech and The Social Network allowing for True Grit to sneak in.  The critic's are pretty evenly split between The King's Speech and The Social Network as well.  They are also split between their respective directors.  David Fincher (The Social Network) can't win best director and The King's Speech win best picture or vice versa. You don't have a best picture in my opinion, with out having the best director.


Short Film (Animated)

"Day & Night"
"The Gruffalo"
"Let's Pollute"
"The Lost Thing"
"Madagascar, A Journey Diary"

Who Will Win?  Day & Night


Short Film (Live Action)

"The Confession"
"The Crush"
"God of Love"
"Na Wewe"
"Wish 143"

Who Will Win?  I don't know. I can't find all the previews and the 3 articles I read, from 3 different critics, had 3 different winners....


Sound Editing

"Inception"
"Toy Story 3"
Tron: Legacy"
"True Grit"
"Unstoppable"

Who Will Win?  Inception


Sound Mixing

"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"Salt"
"The Social Network"
"True Grit"

Who Will Win?  The Social Network.  Sound mixing is also known as "sound design," this is the category that creates the space that our ears sense around the characters.  The Social Network had to create intricate conversations in challenging locations.



Visual Effects

"Alice in Wonderland"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"
"Hereafter"
"Inception"
"Iron Man 2"

Who Will Win?  Inception.  As Roger Ebert said, "It rolled up an entire city."


Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

"127 Hours" Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simeon Beaufoy
"The Social Network" Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
"Toy Story 3" Screenplay by Michael Arndt (and a bunch of other people I don't want to list!)
"True Grit" Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Winter's Bone" Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Who Will Win?  Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network.  I've posted Roger Ebert's thoughts on this as I couldn't say it any better. "Here “The Social Network” will win its one major Oscar, although deserving more. “Adaptation” often means “loosely inspired by,” and Aaron Sorkin's brilliant dialogue and construction were wholly original (as were apparently many of his facts). You have to ask yourself what, precisely, the nominated “Toy Story 3” was adapting, apart from the continuing plight of the toys."


Writing (Original Screenplay)

"Another Year" Written by Mike Leigh
"The Fighter" Screenplay by a whole bunch of people...
"Inception" Written by Christopher Nolan
"The Kids Are All Right" Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
"The King's Speech" Screenplay by David Seidler

Who Will Win?  The King's Speech.  Again, there is speculation that Inception will take this win.  In the world of truly original screenplays, you don't get much more original than Inception.  But in the year of the King, sometimes the love rains down in the lesser categories and it should come out on top.

Award Show Info

Ok, so one of the things I wanted to do with this blog was share my never ending supply of previously known and recently learned Hollywood info.  Today I bring you some information on the difference in award shows.

There are two types of award shows - those put on by critics or reporters and those put on by the film industry members themselves.  (Top film festival honors are a different area.)

- The Critics' Choice and Golden Globes (the GG winners are determined by the Hollywood Foreign Press) are examples of the first type.

- The Screen Actor's Guild (SAG), The Director's Guild (DGA), The Eddie Awards (film editing), etc. are industry types of awards.  Actors vote for actors, director's for the "best" director, editor's for the "best" editing job on a film, etc.

At the end of "awards season" the industry members come together, all the individuals and guilds represented at once, for the Academy Awards* - also known as the Oscars.  The BAFTAs, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, held before the Academy Awards, are the British equivalent of the Oscars.

*Note: Voters must be members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.  Initial voting is restricted to members of the Academy branch concerned.  For instance, when the first wave of ballots is mailed to all members of the Academy (there are around 6,000) only directors may nominate other directors.  Once the first round of voting is done and the field has been narrowed to no more than five nominees in each category, except the Best Picture category, then all members of the Academy are allowed to vote for a winner in most categories, including Best Picture.

Unless a critic or reporter is an actor/producer/director, etc. or vice versa and in the voting academy, they don't vote in the other's ceremonies.

I'm explaining all of this for a reason.

This year there are two films that have been widely acclaimed and yet are very different.  They have each won in distinct areas and are the leading films for winning the Best Picture award on Sunday night.  "The Social Network" has won almost every critic award this year and "The King's Speech" has won most all of the industry awards.

I believe there is a reason for this.

Both are critically acclaimed films.  But I feel that The King's Speech doesn't hold the same "clout" as The Social Network does with critics.  Most critics and reporters see The Social Network as a leading edge movie, right at the forefront of modern film making with an edgy cast, brilliant script and fabulous director.  The King's Speech is more of your "typical" film.  A period piece if you will, with the costumes and accents and witty banter that you find in a British piece.  This is not to say it's not fabulous, it's just different.

The King's Speech however has won quite a few of the top guild awards, such as the DGA, SAG award for best ensemble cast and other various awards.  Though The Social Network has won some of the numerous industry awards out there as well.

Now, these differences by themselves don't really matter, BUT when you are trying to determine who will win the various academy awards - it makes all the difference in the world.

Since the academy voters are made up of the different areas of the film industry, they are the ones who will be voting come Oscar night.  The critics might give all the top awards to one film, while industry members vote for a completely different one.  You don't usually see that, most of the time everyone seems to agree and you get one film that takes the top honors almost all season.

Roger Ebert has another way of looking at how votes are being tabulated this year that I find interesting and that also applies to my thoughts on the differences in voting between the critics and industry members.

"If I were still doing “If We Picked the Winners” with Gene Siskel, my preference for best film would be “The Social Network.” It was not only the best film of 2010, but also one of those films that helps define a year. It became the presumed front-runner on the day it opened, but then it seemed to fade. Oscars often go to movies that open after Thanksgiving. It's called the Persistence of Memory Effect.

There's another factor. A lot of academy voters don't choose the “best” in some categories, but “the most advantageous for the movie industry.” Hollywood churns out violent crap every weekend and then puts on a nice face by supporting a respectable picture at Oscar time. I mean that not as a criticism of “The King's Speech,” which is a terrific film, but as an observation. A British historical drama about a brave man struggling to overcome a disability and then leading his people into World War II looks better to the academy than a cutting-edge portrait of hyperactive nerds."

So if you're betting at work, or at home, to see who-gets-what on Oscar night, you might want to take into consideration that The King's Speech has been winning lately where it apparently counts.  Amongst it's peers, it appears that The King's Speech is deserving of the top honors Sunday night.  Feel free to choose The Social Network as best picture, but make sure you keep it in the back of your mind that The King's Speech could come away with the win.

What's At Liberty?

What's At Liberty?

Week of Friday, February 25th - Thursday, March 3rd

The King's Speech

The story of King George VI of Britain, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it.

I cannot wait to see this movie and will be seeing it sometime this weekend!  You're all welcome to join me!

Brynn's Theater or Not? Rating:

See it on the big screen!

Rated R for some language 

118 minutes

Showing in town:
Fri. 8pm
Sat. 8pm
Sun. 3:30 matinee only (all seats $5)
Mon. closed
Tues. 8pm, family night (all seats $4)
Wed. closed
Th. 8pm

The Green Hornet

Following the death of his father, Britt Reid, heir to his father's large company, teams up with his late dad's assistant Kato to become a masked crime fighting team.

I've not seen this yet, but from all my friends who have, I heard it's a fun and entertaining movie!

Brynn's Theater or Not? Rating:
See it on the big screen!

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violent action, language, sensuality and drug content.
119 min.

Showing in town:
Fri. 5:30pm
Sat. 5:30pm
Sun. 1pm matinee only (all seats $5)
Mon. closed
Tues. 5:30pm, family night (all seats $4)
Wed. closed
Th. 5:30pm

Quick Update

Life has been busy lately and I've been way behind in regular things like laundry and grocery shopping.  So since I have 4 other people here who are tired of in-siding out their underwear for a clean pair and don't want Ramen noodles 3 times a day anymore, the blog has fallen to the wayside as I get caught up on mom stuff.  :)

BUT, the Oscars are THIS Sunday night so I'm trying to get it together to post my picks for who will win what.  Keep an eye out for that later in the week.

AND I've also not kept up with "What's At Liberty" the last couple of weeks.  A link to the web site will have to suffice for now.  http://pagosamovies.com/  "Country Strong" starring Gwyneth Paltrow is finishing out the week and I can't even tell you if it's a theater or DVD "see" as I have been spending all my "extra" time reading critic's blogs and watching Best Foreign Language Film and Best Animated Short, etc. previews.  So you'll have to decide for yourself if you want to head downtown to check it out or wait.

That's all for now!  Got to head off for one of those "mom" things and pick up a kid from school!

What's At Liberty?

I'm posting a little late this week.  But here's "What's at Liberty?"

What's At Liberty?

Week of Friday, January 28th - Thursday, February 3rd

True Grit

A tough U.S. Marshal helps a stubborn young woman track down her father's murderer.

This is an excellent movie!  And it's one of the best book to film adaptations that I have ever seen.  It has a few scenes that differ, but I basically felt I was watching the book come to life.

Wide release (3047 screens) opening weekend debut of #2 at the box office w/ $25 mil. weekend total

Brynn's Theater of Not? Rating:

See it on the big screen!

Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of western violence including disturbing images.

110 minutes

Showing in town:

Fri. 6pm

Sat. 6pm

Sun. 1pm matinee ONLY, seats $5

(Mon. "Waiting for Superman")

Tues. 6pm (family night, seats $4)

Wed. closed

Th. 6pm

Waiting for 'Superman'

This documentary follows a handful of promising kids through a system that inhibits, rather than encourages, academic growth and undertakes an exhaustive review of public education, surveying "drop-out factories" and "academic sinkholes," methodically dissecting the system and it's seemingly intractable problems.

Go see this if you can (I'm going to try and make it!)  I've heard it's excellent.

Rated PG

102 minutes

Showing in town:

ON NIGHT ONLY!

Monday, January 31st @ 6pm

ALL seats $5

What's At Liberty?

So I'm going to blog about the weekly movies at Liberty Theater here in town for a month and then get feedback to see if the blogs were helpful or not in your decision to see a movie in town or to pass.  Just look for the "What's At Liberty?" post title!

What's At Liberty?

Week of Friday, January 21st - Thursday, January 27th

Yogi Bear

A documentary filmmaker travels to Jellystone Park to shoot a project and soon crosses paths with Yogi Bear, his sidekick Boo-Boo and Ranger Smith.

From all the reviews I've read, this is a harmless movie that you can easily take your kids to.  

(Parents are advised to not expect much.)  

Wide release (3515 screens) opening weekend debut of #2 at the box office w/ $16 mil. 3-day total.

Brynn's Theater or Not? Rating:

wait for DVD

Rated PG for some mild rude humor

83 min.

Showing in town:

Fri. 6pm

Sat. 6pm

Sun. 1pm matinee ONLY, seats $5

Mon. closed

Tues. 6pm (family night, seats $4)

Wed. closed

Th. 6pm

Burlesque

A small-town girl ventures to Los Angeles and finds her place in a neo-burlesque club run by a former dancer.

Generally reviewed as a "decent movie, well received by audiences" and noted mostly for it's costumes, make-up and lighting as well as some well choreographed dance routines.

Wide release (3037 screens) opening weekend debut of #4 at the box office w/ $12 mil. 3-day total.

Brynn's Theater or Not? Rating:

wait for DVD

Rated PG-13 for sexual content including several suggestive dance routines, partial nudity and some thematic material.

 119 min.

Showing in town:

Fri. 8pm

Sat. 8pm, date night, all seats $5

Sun. 3:15pm matinee ONLY, seats $5

Mon. closed

Tues. 8pm (family night, seats $4)

Wed. closed

Th. 8pm