The OSCARS and Other Notes

It is that time of season again and although this year wasn't an especially great year for films, a couple of interesting and outstanding "out of the box films" caught my eye: "The Artist", The Tree of Life" and "Melancholia".

On the other side of the coin, I'm grateful that the Harry Potter series has ended as they became painful to watch. And the Sherlock Holmes film was also very bad.

Some performances I would have like to have been honored but weren't would include: Michael Fassbender in "Shame", Kirsten Dunst in "Melancholia", Charlize Theron in "Young Adult", Carey Mulligan  in "Shame" (cannot give enough credit for her singing "New York, New York" as though she was standing on the edge of a cliff ready to fall at any moment), Christoph Waltz in "Carnage", and Albert Brooks in "Drive". 

Given the selected honorees by the academy, here are my picks for some of the categories:

• Best Picture: "The Artist"

• Actor in a Leading Role: Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"

• Actor in a Supporting Role: Christopher Plummer in "The Beginners"

• Actress in a Leading Role: Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"

• Actress in a Supporting Role: Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

• Cinematography: "The Tree of Life" Emmanuel Lubezki

• Directing: Michel Hazanavicius for "The Artist"

• Film Editing: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

• Adapted Screenplay: "The Descendants" Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash

• Original Screenplay: "Margin Call" J.C. Chandor

To all of you: Thank you for coming to my site and reading my reviews. The number of views has grown tremendously over this past year. There are now over 550 reviewed films and it is fun for me to post and read your comments.

May this new year bring on better films with new ideas tested and old ones enhanced. I know I'll be there in the 5th or 6th row center ready to suspend belief into someone else's story.

May you

Be Well...

Michael

Hairspray

First Hit: I was very pleasantly surprised. It is a good lighthearted romp.

It must confess that musicals are something I generally don’t like; however the last three I’ve seen have been good including this one.

The first one I liked was Moulin Rouge. The second was film, which is reviewed on this site, is Once and then there is this film Hairspray.

The songs worked, the period was brought forth faithfully and I immediately remembered my own local dance program that I use to watch. The film brought back good memories.

Nikki Blonsky was wonderful and believable in her role. Travolta had a more minor role and was good, although I keep seeing John Travolta playing a character versus the character.

Michelle Pfeiffer was funny as a bitchy controlling station manager and mother. Christopher Walken has been doing wonders with small interesting quirky roles and he doesn’t disappoint here as the husband. The scene he has with Michelle Pfeiffer was great.

I liked the that they dealt with segregation in the language and the feeling of the time. It was a good reminder of the power of Martin Luther King and what was wrong back then.

Overall: It was a wonderful romp and I had a wonderful time and left the theater feeling good.