and the oscar goes to...

we were graced with the presence of a production/direction duo of nyc hipsters (stephen and hadleigh) on sunday night when amy and i held our first ever oscars party...it just randomly happened that they were out filming a documentary on the weekend of the oscars and we were lucky to find them at our house during the oscar night magic.

as the kids slowly went to bed one by one upstairs, i printed out the ballots and we fast-forwarded through much of the red-carpet hoopla to more award show hoopla.

our ballots can be seen below. a circle indicates one's preferred winner and a check indicates a prediction of whom the academy will choose. we will compare our award show to that of the academy...


the tick marks at the top of the page indicate the number guessed correctly. the night was tense as we vied for the top predictive position, but it soon became apparent that stephen was pulling away on the strength of his guesses in the shorts and documentarys. i barely pulled from last place to a tie for last with my wife amy (who had only seen 4 of the 9 best picture nominees.)



one caveat before we unveil the winners from our own prestigious academy, 3 of us had seen eight of the nine best picture nominees. amy had seen four. stephen is vowing not to see king's speech on some undefined, undecipherable moral stance. and the winners are...

on the strength of hipster voting, major discrepancies were found. winner of best picture to social network and best director david fincher (also social network.)

i voted for king's speech as best picture and amy voted for toy story (although she cynically predicted that black swan would win the academy's hearts.)


for best actress natalie portman was the unanimous winner in our balloting (although amy abstained not having seen any of the actresses ply their wares.)

and lastly, on the strength of resident highland voters colin firth took home the top male acting prize while the hipsters split for jesse eisenberg and jeff bridges (with a nod to 'the dude'.)

and there you have it. the moment you've been waiting for. do you agree? did the academy get it right. one of the best moments of the night came when trent reznor won an oscar for his score in the social network. it was sad to see the social network flounder so thoroughly. it was a unique and fascinating look at the rise of facebook and its founder that was probably deserving of a few more accolades...

that being said, the king's speech was the best movie i saw all year (followed closely by 'how to train a dragon')

best films of 2009...

why 2009 you ask? well, with 4 kids and a job where i often work evenings, it's just easier to watch films on netflix streaming or video.

the idea of a top 10 list is to both confirm with others your shared love for movies that 'everybody' saw and to alert others to lesser known films that perhaps they should see...i'll attempt to do both. some of the films i mention may need to be viewed in an edited format.

i will attempt to keep my 'top' list to under 15 and then i'll add in a few honorable mentions etc.

my criteria for a top film? if it made me want to cry, made me laugh, moved/inspired me or made me think.

top 15 movies of 2009...

15-Sunshine Cleaning

amy adams shines in this story of a struggling single mom, her sister and life's vicissitudes. includes laughs and inspiring moments...

14-An Education

carey mulligan allows this movie to work. she is a smart, attractive and fun 17 year old ready to take on the world. a twist ending makes you rethink and step back from what you've been enjoying to that point. the movie held plenty of lite moments, but held gravitas as well.

13-Duplicity

a chance to watch two great actors. one of the better opening scenes of the year. mild suspense, plot twists and a great love story.

12-Whip It

good clean fun in drew barrymore's directing debut. enjoyed jimmy fallon in his few shining moments...

11-Trucker

michelle monaghan is intense and moving in this story of a trucker mom whose son re-enters her life.

10-Zombieland

laugh often in a graphic movie with impressive titles, captions and scripting. i especially enjoyed their time in bill murray's home.

9-Fantastic Mr. Fox

probably one of the first wes anderson movies i have enjoyed... clooney was great and the unique animation was enjoyable. not really a kids movie--although i showed the final scenes to my kids and they hung in there for 10 minutes or so.

8-The Hangover

i am a little embarrassed at how hard i laughed through most of this movie. clearly one of the funniest and best comedies of the year...

7-Inglorious Basterds

this too may be the first tarantino film i have enjoyed. the iconic moments in pulp fiction were too few and far between, but this film had just the right mix of absurd comedy and earnest plot to keep me hooked. as my brother said, 'a nice little revenge flick.'

6-Sherlock Holmes

at this point i start to diverge from the critics because there were too many great movies with action, suspense, romance that weren't depressing. and i guess those are my kind of movies.

5-Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

if you hadn't heard. i love harry potter

4-Star Trek

what a great flick. time travel, fighting, science fiction, smart dialogue, romance, great characters. hopefully you saw this one.

3-Up

i thought i might cry after just the opening sequence recounting the love story between the man and his deceased wife. the rest was icing on the cake. i need to watch this again with the kids. soon.

2-Hurt Locker

a justly deserved academy award winning show. intense, heart felt, instructive, disturbing and exciting. and what a great addition to aj's bachelor party.

1-Avatar

hopefully everyone saw this on a really big screen. yes, it is a movie i'll remember when and where i saw it the first time (in vegas with jonny) just like the first time i saw return of the jedi (opening week with my dad.) and it should probably have won the academy award...

Honorable Mention
-Up in the Air: i felt i spent too much time with a man i didn't like--waiting for him to get a clue... still it was unique and a movie i still think about.
-The Young Victoria
-Princess and the Frog: kids and i have seen it twice. great songs. great strong female character.
-500 Days of Summer: it didn't take too long for me to feel like summer didn't deserve him anyway. drop it and move on.
-The Messenger
-The Invention of Lying: ricky gervais as a prophet? jennifer garner in anything...
-Julie and Julia: good date movie.
-District 9: unique but i didn't find it compelling.
-The Blind Side: great show.
-Adventureland: bella breaking out of her mold a bit.

Best Kids Movies
-Up
-Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
-Princess and the Frog

Movies I tried to Rent/Stream more than 5 times and wasn't feeling it...
-Precious
-A Serious Man
-The Road
-Public Enemies
-Coraline
-Invictus

Movies on other top ten lists that I didn't enjoy
-Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans: i couldn't stand cage's character, but that was the point right?
-A Single Man: after the 4th or 5th time he began to kill himself i started to wish he'd get it over with...or that the movie would end.
-Julia: I had no desire to continue watching this woman live her life--regardless the plot twists ahead.

A great documentary:
-The Cove: instructive and interesting regarding the whaling industry. i feel like i should care more, but there was some beautiful footage of dolphins and it was a bit of a caper flick. all told, i don't think we should eat dolphins.

did i miss a 'must see' from 2009? do you agree with my list?

dance party...

guess who's here from new york!?

the night before hillary and stephen arrived michael kept waking and coming to the top of the stairs to ask if they were here...what we didn't tell him is that after he ultimately fell asleep granpatty came by the house (thanks mom!) so that amy could pick me up from work enroute to the airport. we then attended the 12:45 am harry potter premiere! i love the books, but my brother refuses to read them. it was definitely a coup that he accepted our invitation! i dressed up and there were not as many people dressed up as when i went to the star wars premiere as darth vader. but, what would life be without the people that dress up for movie premieres?

oh, and stephen loved it...

friday was the main event--andrew wright's wedding--congratulations andrew!

when the wedding festivities finished, the nyc hipsters made their way again to our house and the kids were able to bask in their energy as you can tell from the dance party photos and video!



we are dancing to bekah's latest favorite song...

best movies of 2008...

so it's half way through 2009, but with kids it's hard to get to movies sometimes...

regardless, i've seen a few from last year and thought i'd post a 'best of'' list and compare notes with you.

1-gran torino








-emotional for me. great characters. thought provoking.

2-milk









-fascinating, based on true events in san fransisco. amazing the parallels in relation to the arguments made on either side of prop 8... sean penn played a subtle and powerful gay man. i thought a lot about david during the movie.

3-dark knight









-heath ledger and christian bale. ledger's performance was mesmerizing. sad to know his powerful acting in this role will not be seen again.

4-kung fu panda













-on one trip home from california we watched this 4 times with the kids and every time i laughed throughout jack black's opening monologue. and crane? (the never-nude from arrested development...) subtle and very funny.

5-slumdog millionaire









-a nice mix of period costumes, culture, history combined with a great leading man, humor and music. my favorite scene at the outhouse.

6-frost/nixon









-thanks to peter i saw this last night. amazing that the final session of a political interview with nixon could get my adrenaline going. great history. great characters.

7-high school musical 3








-don't laugh. don't think less of me. we have had more hours of musical/singing enjoyment all year with our kids from this show than any other. who doesn't feel like singing and dancing about their high school years..?

8-quantum of solace













-daniel craig is the most realistic and enjoyable bond yet. gritty, realistic and tough. this installment was not as good as casino royale, but it was still very good.

9-speed racer







-the wachowski brothers haven't been able to please critics like they did with their first matrix, but this colorful and fun movie has some inventive, fun and suspenseful race sequences that are interspersed with great characters. on the whole the movie falls apart at several points, but always picks up again with the races. you may need to jump forward at several points to keep your interest, but there are some great comic and dramatic moments in this one...just cheer for speed and have fun? (and michael loves it...i can't resist)

10-wall e






-the animation of the obese earthlings plays often in my mind as i deal with the obesity epidemic in the ED. a fun show.


also ran:
incredible hulk-ed norton. beautiful international shots.
be kind rewind
bolt-super fun with the kids.
horton hears a who
indiana jones
iron man
mama mia-watched it with amy? i may have like it more than her..:O

didn't see:
frozen river-which stephen tells me is outstanding.

gran torino tears...

i haven't cried at the movies in a long time...

use clearplay for sensitive ears...

the story follows Walt Kowalski, a recently widowed korean war veteran. this movie has powerful things to say about race sensitivity, religion, friendship, family, fathers, sons and the meaning of life.

intense, emotional and very good.

into the wild...

magic bus (stampede trail, alaska--c. july 1992)

'into the wild' as written and directed by sean penn with soundtrack by eddie vetter is compelling, poignant and thought-provoking.

i happened upon this movie through blockbuster browsing and rotten tomatoes confirmation of quality. it was not a movie i had heard much about. i have read zero krakauer books (though i plan to) and knew little about the plot. for that i am glad. it was to be a a coming of age tale by a stellar director, screenwriter and original novelist. because i knew little about the movie's plot before giving it a try i would rather not reveal much of the storyline.

the story is based on krakauer's meticulous biographical research into christopher mccandless' experiences. krakauer is drawn to extraordinary people and events. he has spent much personal time in the outdoors. mormons reading this blog may be aware of his book 'under the banner of heaven' that chronicles the lafferty brother murders...

regardless, that story has little to do with this movie. mccandless is disenfranchised with the lives of those around him that he sees as hippocritical, shallow, materialistic and degrading. his journey for meaning takes him through beautiful american and mexican landscapes where he meets people and experiences things that broaden his view of the world. the movie allows you to feel the freedom, discovery and exhilaration that seem to have been his through this time period. his journey is deepened by his love of literature--his reading informs his journey of discovery. authors like tolstoy, london and thoreau inform his world view.

i particularly enjoyed the infusion of literature in the movie as i experienced similar feelings when touring the philippines after my mission while reading tolstoy on dirty buses. some of mccandless' ultimate discoveries at the end of the movie come through tolstoy's writings and they are moving.

as always, i give you the 'r rated' clearplay warning. there elements of the movie not suitable for some and a suitable editing device may serve to help you enjoy the movie.

anyone seen it already? did you like the movie?