Off The Chain

I missed my movie-watching goal last year by about a million.  I kept the Movies page updated with every movie I saw, but it was way less than what I originally planned.  Honestly, I spent more time watching great tv shows: Downton Abbey and Homeland and Girls and Newsroom and Breaking Bad and Big Bang Theory.  And those were great and worth watching, so it's all cool, I guess.  I think I was inspired by several movie geek friends who watch 300-400 movies a year, but it's just not that high a priority for me.

Out of all the movies (few as they were) I saw last year, two really stood out.  The first was Midnight Son, an independent movie about a vampire.  I just happened to be walking through the room when my husband started watching it to review for his site and I got drawn in. It's spare and poetic, dark and beautifully shot, and it's not a typical vampire movie; it's realistic.  It's creepy without being terribly gory, and it's just... sad.  I enjoyed it tremendously.  Though it was pretty low budget, it's not hard to find, it's been on premium cable channels and it's available to buy or stream on Amazon.

The other was Finding Hogwarts.  I read about it and saw a trailer last summer on Mugglenet.com and pre-ordered it (which means my name is in the credits!).  It hasn't been distributed so it's only available on their site, and it's clearly very low-budget, even having a few obvious technical problems.  Having said that, I loved it.  It's a documentary about the Harry Potter fandom in general and a few friends in particular who go to Scotland in search of Hogwarts.  The interviews with people who have been inspired by the Harry Potter books were touching and I really found myself liking them, and obviously as a Harry Potter fan I can relate to the intensity of the emotions. This movie is probably only for Harry Potter fans, but I'm really glad I bought it and I know I'll watch it again. 

Today Greg and I got up relatively early (for a Saturday) and went to see a 9:30am showing of Django Unchained.

I absolutely love Quentin Tarantino.  I love his over the top dialogue, his pop culture and movie references, his strong female characters, his originality and his badassery in general.  I've loved him ever since I saw True Romance - twice - in the dollar theater in 1993.  Our little cat is named after the hero of True Romance: Alabama Whitman Worley.

Patricia Arquette as Alabama: "You call for a date?"

From Joe Morganstern's review in the Wall Street Journal:  Django Unchained is "wildly extravagant, ferociously violent, ludicrously lurid and outrageously entertaining, yet also, remarkably, very much about the pernicious lunacy of racism and, yes, slavery's singular horrors."  Ferociously violent is right, there were two scenes that were horrifically bloody and tremendously disturbing and I'm sure I wasn't the only one in the theater who looked away. For a long time. But there are also some very touching moments, and one truly hilarious scene that still makes me laugh when I think about it.

Overall it's a revenge movie, and despite the disturbing parts, it's fun, because it's over the top, intense, and truly BAD ASS.

So I am discontinuing my movie watching goal, however it does occur to me that it's been a long time since I've seen some of Quentin's movies.  Greg and I watched Jackie Brown not too long ago, but I haven't seen Reservoir Dogs or Natural Born Killers in years, and I never did get around to watching Kill Bill parts 1 and 2 together.  Maybe I should have a new Quentin Tarantino goal...

Red Wine > Steamed Broccoli

It's our Halloween tradition to watch a classic horror movie on Halloween night, and this year we watched Nightmare on Elm Street.  I had never seen it, and Greg hadn't seen it since the video store era (aka, somewhere in the 90s).

Johnny Depp was in it.  It took me the first half hour of the movie to figure out why he looked so different, but I finally placed it: ungroomed eyebrows.  He was 21 when NoES (as it's colloquially referred to in the horror community) was filmed, but looked about 14.  Now you've heard about the high points and don't need to actually watch the movie.

I'm kidding.  It does have an interesting plot; the idea of dreams being able to physically harm you is fascinating and genuinely terrifying. It's a pretty typical 80s horror movie with cheesy lines and bad acting, which I am given to understand is a selling point.

We don't have a lot of Halloween traditions, since we don't have kids and we don't live in a neighborhood that gets trick-or-treaters, so we do kind of look forward to our annual scary movie night.  We had popcorn with butter, which was a real treat.

We've been counting calories eaten/burned by using the Lose It app, and so far I've lost about 15 pounds and Greg has lost about 20.  I actually had to go shopping yesterday to buy new pants to wear to work, even my "skinny" pants are getting kind of baggy.  The good side of losing a little weight: new pants. The bad side: I also need to get new bras.

One cool thing about the Lose It app is that it adjusts the daily calorie goal as I lose weight. I'm now down to 1,302 calories per day, which is pretty restrictive.  Well, it restricts stuff I want to eat, like bread and potato chips and red wine, I can eat pounds of steamed broccoli.  I do not wish to eat pounds of steamed broccoli, though.  I do have fresh strawberries and a baggie of baby carrots and low-fat yogurt ready to take to work with me tomorrow for lunch, which isn't bad.  Greg and I try to eat stuff we like, too, just less of it. We have beef stew cooking in the crockpot right now.

Of course, we are now entering the time of year that is the very worst for trying to count calories. I may go without eating for one entire day if it means I can have some eggnog.  Priorities, you know?

Speaking of Johnny Depp, how much does Adam Ant look like him in this photo?

Mr. Ant

Adam Ant's birthday was yesterday and he turned 58.  He looks great, as he always did.  I think the thing that scared me the most about the few pictures I saw of him during his highly medicated time was how boring he looked. Adam Ant not wearing something creative/strange/punky/weird is kind of unthinkable. He's now back touring the UK, his US tour having gone amazingly well with positive reviews and sold-out shows, and at his concert last night the audience sang Happy Birthday to him.

Breaking Up With Oscar

It makes me sad, because I am a huge fan of the art of movie-making, but the more I have found out about the Academy and the whole Oscar process the more offended I get.  I love the idea of having an Academy rewarding the best at the art of making movies, but I just don't think this Academy is doing a good enough job of it for me to care what they think the best movies are.

I've been looking into how it all works (which is often a bad idea, right?) and it turns out a movie making person can become a candidate for membership by being nominated for an Oscar, by applying and being recommended by two members, or by being endorsed by the membership committee or academy staff. Then the membership committee votes on who should receive an invitation to join.  A few years ago the Academy began publishing a list of invitees, although they have kept the membership list a secret.

Last year, the invitees were 90% white and 70% male.  WTF, right?  Just to put that in perspective, according to the US Census, 72% of the American population is white, and 12% is black, and exactly 50% female.

The L.A. Times did an investigation of the "secret" membership list of voting members of the Academy. They confirmed the identity of 5,100 members, which is 81% of the 5,765 total number of active members.  Of that 81%, they found that 94% are white, and 77% are male.  Of that 6% of non-white members, 2% are black.  Only 14% of Oscar voters are younger than 50.

This year, ALL of the nominated directors are white men, and ALL of the 21 producers of the best picture nominees are white.

In the 84-year history of the Oscars, only four women have been nominated for best director, and only Kathryn Bigelow has won (for the Hurt Locker).

That's a lot of numbers and percentages that all boil down to one truth:  The Academy is filled with old white men.  And it looks like they aim to keep it that way.

So I am officially breaking up with Oscar.  I'm not watching, and I don't care who those old white guys pick as winners.  I am still excited about seeing new movies and seeking out wonderful artistic gems, but I'll rely on my friends and my own instinct to find them.




I got my info here:
L.A. Times study of Oscar voters

Blog article on Indiewire

Census 

My Opinion Is The Only One That Really Counts

I've changed my mind about watching all of the movies nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award for two reasons.

1)  Several of the nine nominated movies are just not interesting to me.  There are a few I'd like to see (Moneyball, the Artist, the Help) but there are a few that don't appeal to me (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, War Horse), and then there's one that was made by a person who took naked photographs of his adopted daughter and later married her, and even if he wasn't ever convicted of raping the poor girl it is obvious to me that bad things happened.  I'm not making a political statement by boycotting his movies, I just think having knowledge of that amount of ickiness would stay in my head and distract me.  Last year I was excited to see nearly all of them (Black Swan and 127 Hours in particular), and this year things just seem a lot less compelling in general.

2)  I read an article about a nun. This article:  http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dolores-hart-nun-kissed-elvis-presley-276286.  It's about a young woman who had a promising acting career, including co-starring in a movie with Elvis (she was his first on-screen kiss) but then left Hollywood in 1963 to become a nun.  She's been living in a convent in Connecticut ever since.  From the article:  "Mother Dolores is still a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, receiving copies of movies to watch in her small room -- or cell, as they're known in the order -- to help select yearly Oscar winners."  Wait, what?  This elderly nun is one of the people who selects the Academy Award nominations?

I poked around on the internet, and apparently, this is a frequent complaint about the Oscar process, that so very many votes are given to people who were in the movie industry decades ago, but now appear to be, to at least some degree, out of touch.  At the very least, a lot of the voters are people who don't have much in common with me.

My desire to see every one of the Best Picture nominees was based on the idea that the nominees represented the very best in the art of moviemaking, and now I'm not so sure that is actually the case.  There are many types of movies that are historically under-represented anyway, such as horror films.  The Shining is one of my very favorite movies, and it was not even nominated for any Academy Awards.  That year, Kramer vs Kramer won Best Picture.  I've seen both movies, and Kramer vs Kramer had many fine qualities, but I wouldn't put it on the same level of memorable movie art as The Shining.  Guess what other movie was at least nominated for Best Picture that year, but lost?  Apocalypse Now.

So screw the Academy, I'm just going to focus on the ones that appeal to me, and the ones that get good reviews from people that I feel have tastes similar to mine.

Here's the list of the major categories, the only two I've seen out of all the major nominees are The Girl With The Dragon Tatto (nomination for lead actress) and Bridesmaids (nomination for original screenplay). 

How many are you interested in?

BEST PICTURE

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

LEAD ACTOR
Demián Bichir, "A Better Life"
George Clooney, "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy "
Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"

LEAD ACTRESS
Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis, "The Help"
Rooney Mara, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"

BEST DIRECTOR

Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"
Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
"The Descendants," Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon; Jim Rash
"Hugo," John Logan
"The Ides of March," George Clooney; Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
"Moneyball," Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
"The Artist," Michel Hazanavicius
"Bridesmaids," Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
"Margin Call," J.C. Chandor
"Midnight in Paris," Woody Allen
"A Separation," Asghar Farhadi

The Watch More Movies Initiative of 2011

Halfway through the year I started to feel like posting about movies I'd seen was getting boring, as I am not a movie reviewer.  I compiled a (hopefully complete) list of all the movies I watched in 2011 and put it here, on its own page.  


My goal for last year was not specific, just to watch more movies, which I definitely did.  For some reason I had just gotten out of the habit of watching movies, and watched very few in 2010.

One cool thing I did in 2011 was focusing on watching the movies that were nominated for a Best Picture Academy award, and watched most of them (excepting, embarrassingly, the actual winner: The King's Speech, which I do still want to see).

My specific goals for 2012 are to watch 52 movies (one a week should certainly be doable), to watch every movie nominated for Best Picture, and to see at least 6 movies in the theatre (last year we only saw 2 in the theatre, which is pitiful given how much we love the theatre experience).


Here we go, 2012!

I'm Pretty Sure Casey Anthony Caused My Migraine

Another migraine!  Gads.  When I was younger I'd get migraines more frequently, but they only lasted one day.  I get them less often now -- it's been about seven months since my last one -- but they seem to take forever to go away.

This one started last Saturday, and was held at bay somewhat through use of pain pills/frozen washcloths/sleeping in a cool dark quiet room/massage.   It never completely got its hooks into me (by which I mean I never puked and was able to move about for at least a little every day) but it was bad enough to basically ruin a perfectly good weekend.  I went back to work on Monday, and probably shouldn't have.  

 

I did have to go a few days without writing, and I broke my streak.  That's okay, I'll just have to start a whole new streak now that it's finally gone.

 

Despite the migraine setback, I have still managed to re-watch all of the Harry Potter movies, from the Sorcerer's Stone through the Deathly Hallows part 1, and I also re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

 

I've never done the midnight movie release thing, but since this is the last one ever I decided to go for it, and I bought my tickets weeks ago for the 12:20am show tonight/tomorrow morning.  Woo hoo!   I'm hoping to see a lot of kids (maybe some adults?) dressed up in costumes.  I'm ridiculously excited about it.  I've already warned Greg that I will need at least a half an hour immediately after the movie to explain to him everything they left out or screwed up in the movie.

If the movie starts at ~12:30 and runs for 2 hours and 5 minutes, it'll be nearly 3:00am by the time we get home.  I am so going to take a nap this afternoon...

Halloween Tradition

My husband, who likes horror and horrifying movies (see his website here, and it is occasionally NSFW), and I started our own little Halloween tradition a few years ago; on Halloween night we watch a horror movie.

The year before last we watched the original Halloween, which was very good, and very scary, and though I closed my eyes during a few extra scary parts, it didn't bother me too much.  Last year we saw Paranormal Activity in the movie theatre, and I am not exaggerating when I tell you that every time I get up in the middle of the night to go pee I am afraid I might run into a demon.

And I get up every night to go pee.

And I don't even believe in demons!

This year my husband is really super excited about the new remastered blu-ray of The Exorcist.

Well, you can see where this is going, right?

Okay, when I was a teen I read the book, and it made me so nauseous and upset in certain parts that I actually had to put the book down until I could be sure I wasn't going to puke.  A couple of years later, I did see the movie -- on network television, edited for tv.  And it still scared the crap out of me.

Honestly though, it is a brilliant movie, and quite possibly the scariest movie ever made.  A classic!  And it's Halloween.  Our Halloween TRADITION.

What do you think?  Should I watch it?

Me + Harry Potter = Love

** Warning -- Harry Potter movie and book spoilers within! **

So many books just suck, right from the beginning, and I bail immediately. Life is too short and there are too many good books to waste time slogging through badly written junk. Some start off promisingly, but then let me down with lazy plot devices, unrealistic dialogue, not fully-realized characters behaving in ways that are psychologically inconsistent. But the HP books, in my humble opinion, are all completely wonderful, perfectly crafted from beginning to end. I loved the characters, I loved the wizarding world, and I love JK Rowling.

Of course, the movies must disappoint, given the industry's inclination to make movies that are less than 10 hours long. (sigh)


Worst Movie Omissions/Inaccuracies:

1) Mad-Eye Moody not saying "CONSTANT VIGILANCE", even once.

2) Who Moony, Padfood, Wormtail and Prongs are, and why they created the Marauder's map. That just broke my heart! Don't even get me started on how the patronuses often just looked like shields instead of animals.

3) The detail about the Weasley family in general. I feel like Percy's betrayal has not been shown adequately, poor Bill has been completely ignored (as well as his engagement to Phlegm), and Charlie has only been mentioned briefly (in relation to the dragons at the Tri-Wizard Tournament).

4) The house wizards in Hogwarts never having been shown in any movie, especially poor little Winky (sob!) and Hermione's SPEW initiative. I feel like house elves and their rights and powers are an important theme in the books and are a factor in the end, and at this point they'll have to take it out completely or show it in a way that lacks the depth and meaning of the books.



Best Movie Moments/General Movie Coolness:

1) The neato swirly smoky effect when wizards zip around, particularly with the Death Eaters. There is nothing like that in the books, and honestly, what is it? They are not apparating/disapparating, they are not flying, so... But still, it looks awesome, and I won't question it too much.

2) The appearance of all the characters. Pretty much every single character looks exactly like I pictured them in the books, especially Voldemort's weird snake face. Eeeek. My one nitpick is how Hagrid's size seems to be inconsistent, even within each movie.

3) The moviemakers really did justice to Fred and George's amazing departure from Hogwarts. Fred and George are rock stars, their leaving was legendary, and it looked GREAT in the movie!

Most Embarrassing Personal Harry Potter trivia:

I made my own Harry Potter t-shirt to wear to the last two book release parties. And if I do say so myself, it's SUPER. I took the lovely Mary Grandpre drawing from the first page of the first chapter of the first book, with the title under it: The Boy Who Lived. I added a tiny bit of color in Photoshop and used CafePress to have it made, and it's so cool. Stop laughing at me!

How to read a 900 page book overnight in one sitting:

1) Sit at a desk or table. 900 page hardback books are heavy after the first 8 or 10 hours.

2) Have plenty of caffeine handy. I prefer Diet Mt. Dew or Coke Zero. Actual energy drinks are bad, as most will cause you to crash at some point, and you need to be awake for the duration (up to 12 hours or more, depending on how fast you read).

3) Snacks are important, but any snacks that are going to leave ook on your fingers and get on the pages (like Cheetos) are bad. This is not the time for the fried chicken leftovers. Maybe some nice saltines... but make sure not to drop any crumbs in the book.

4) Your spouse/family/friends will try to talk you out of it. They'll say it's silly, that you are actually hurting yourself by depriving yourself of sleep, that you probably will be too tired to fully understand what you're reading. Do not listen to these "helpful" people. Persevere!

5) Know that you will need the next day, and possibly two, to catch up on sleep and recover. Give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back, and bask in your superiority! Think of all those other silly people out there; why, the book was released almost 15 hours ago and they haven't even read it yet. Tsk.


“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” - Albus Dumbledore


Oh, the terrible dark future of a life with no more new Harry Potter books to read, EVER. :(