My mother tells me the first time I cried, I was watching The Wizard of Oz when I was 3 or 4 with her and my grandparents. The scene was when Toto got over the bridge and Dorothy shouted about him getting away from the Wicked Witch. My mom had to get me some tissues so I wouldn't blow my nose in the sleeves of my Batman pajamas
The first time my grandmother and I went to see a movie was Driving Miss Daisy. She loved it and I hated it because I was 8. When I watch it now though, I think of her. God Damn was that a dull movie for a kid to see. Could've gone to Free Willy, but nope, grandma couldn't watch a movie alone.
My cousins and I would spend summers together either at the Briar Queen neighborhood pool or inside watching movies when it was rainy. The two girls always picked Pretty Woman and Ghost. We three boys picked Total Recall and Escape From New York. When we couldn't agree, I would bike out to the nearest Blockbuster in the rain and pick out one I knew the girls liked and then one we boys would like. I can still quote whole parts of Pretty Woman
I remember my mother was struggling with life: working, going to school, raising me, and trying to keep her sanity. We would watch the Shawshank Redemption and I knew that she kind of loved it because it showed that there is a payoff. I think the last time we watched it together was a week before she graduated college at 36 years old.
Mom and I also watched a ton of French films. She loved Truffaut and Becker and the Meilies Brothers, Godard, etc. Sometimes a plot would be easy to follow and sometimes I would sit there at 12/13 years old and wonder what the hell was going on.
For the past 3 years I've been watching all of those movies your parents (or grandparents) probably grew up on. I love Jack Lemmon, Katherine Hepburn, Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Sidney Poitier, Gregory Peck, Joan Crawford, Jackie Gleason, Sophia Lauren, Paul Newman, Ava Gardner, Greta Garbo and so many more. I think The Apartment might be my favorite movie of all time.
ANYWAYS
The Oscars are this weekend. And in another instance of me being straight, but not making a very good case for it, I'll boil down the rest of this into who *should* win and who *will* win for each of the big categories.
Best Picture
Should: Life of Pi
Will: Argo
Comments: Not taking anything away from these movies, These are my two favorites for this. I didn't see Amour because I'm just not ready for it, but all of the other movies were great (except Lincoln, which was good) and not exceptional in what they wanted to do. Django was super entertaining but had very little depth; Beasts of the Southern Wild was enchanting but very one note; Les Miserables is a musical and while it has a chance, I think a few performances will kill it (Russel Crow); Lincoln was like Law and Order as a one act play; Silver Linings Playbook was beautiful but flawed because not all of the characters had a purpose (They wasted Jackie Weaver); Zero Dark Thirty felt too focused and had less character (like a documentary)
Best Director
Should: Benh Zeitlin
Will: Ang Lee
Comments: Some of these films felt like almost anyone with a few film school classes and a great editor could make them work. Beasts of the Southern Wild felt magical with a bunch of community theatre people and a 6 year old kid. I left that movie each time thinking, "holy shit, that was amazing." I avoided Life of Pi because it's a boy on a boat with a tiger. It feels like a dramatic Calvin and Hobbes strip. It's so much better than whatever you think. I can;t exactly explain it other than it's a universal movie. If you saw this and it were in Hindi or Swahili or Cantonese you would get the story and almost definitely love it. I still want to see it in 3D because it's so beautiful and I think the 3D actually would make it more immediate.
Should: Denzel Washington/ Joaquin Phoenix
Will: Daniel Day Lewis
Comments: I know these guys were pissed that DDL made a movie this year. Just hand the Oscar to him. It's not so much that he's better, but he's just a little more believable and I don't know why. Denzel is a close second because I can't imagine anyone else playing that role like him. I mean, imagine Matt Damon or Will Smith or Don Cheadle or George Clooney. It's not as believable. Part of it, I think, is that his age helps him in the role because he loks older but plays younger (he's almost 60). Joaquin gave a performance where you're like, "oh, this belongs on another planet." I really didn't like the movie, but I know it's good. Kind of like kale when you're a child.
Should: Christoph Waltz
Will: Tommy Lee Jones
Comments: Everyone in Django stole the show, but the movie was all attitude. Christoph Waltz is the only one to get a nomination and while sometimes you can get wins very close together (Tom Hanks, Walter Brennan), mostly you don't. Regardless, the guy was made to read that Tarantino dialogue. Aln Arkin is great at being Alan Arkin. Honestly, he's great in everything. If he, Pacino, and Christopher Walken made a movie about them in a retirement home complaining about bowel movements and hitting on the ladies in the east wing, I'd watch it in a minute. I like that DeNiro has been doing characters that aren't Fockers or shitty NYC cops, but it's not enough. Philip Seymour Hoffman always does great stuff. I mean, he was great in Boogie Nights, and as the obnoxious guy in Twister, and as the obnoxious guy in the convertible in Talented Mr. Ripley, and he was in that crappy Ben Stiller movie where he movie-coined the term "sharted," but he just won a few years ago and this wasn't his best role. It's gonna be Tommy Lee Jones because Spielberg is a one-note director and this movie has a great emotional payoff in the 3rd act that makes the rest of it make sense. Spielberg had his QB (DDL) and Tommy Lee Jones is his running back.
Should: Jennifer Lawrence
Will: Naomi Watts/ Emmanuelle Riva
Comments: I feel like this is a split race where there are such great performances that some fluke like age (very old or very young) or uniqueness may push it over. I really liked Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook. I think she's young, which may hurt her. I mean, why do you think Pacino didn't win for Godfather 2? Because he was young and still had time. I liked Quavenzhane Wallis in Beasts, but it might be too easy to award a 6 year old an award for being an AMAZING 6 year old. Jessica Chastain is super talented and this is kind of her movie, but she plays one of a series of lynchpins. I thought she had strong moments of proving she knew her shit and then vulnerable moments where the overwhelming pressure was too much. I thought Naomi Watts was great, but after the first quarter of the movie she does very little. Everyone else does a good job to round out a great movie. Not having seen Amour, I feel like I know the story from the synopsis and *really* don't want to see it. I hate leaving movies heartbroken at the end. I'm sure it's one of those movies that digs in your guts and makes you feel all of the feelings, but I just can't go to a movie and feel like I'm doing homework.
Should: Helen Hunt
Will: Anne Hathaway
Comments: I said it earlier, Jackie Weaver was wasted. If you want to see her being awesome, see Animal Kingdom. She kills it so much in that movie. I like Amy Adams a lot. She's like that girl you knew in college who was in every theatre production and was good in them. I just have no idea what her role was in this. I think she's good in everything, but in this movie she's like this weird emotional enforcer. I don't get it. Sally Field is good in Lincoln, but suffers a bit by being underwhelming in this movie. I wish the movie was better for her to do something in. Anne Hathaway will win it because musicals always get a weird award or two. I think she'll get it because she was strong and has a lot of presence. You know how Amy Adams is the theatre kid you know? Amy's the understudy, Anne is the lead. She has too much jazz hands, but she's always good. In Les Mis she was great. Helen Hunt should get it (by the way, John Hawkes should've gotten a nomination too). There was a lot of depth and heart in that movie. I felt like these were people I could relate to in a completely untranslatable situation.
Should: Zero Dark Thirty
Will: Django Unchained
Comments: I'm losing steam. Basically, Django is good enough to be nominated, but I think The Academy will want to give it something. I think this will be the award. Tarantino can create a world and write within it. Zero Dark Thirty boiled down 15 years of effort into 2.5 hours. They're both bold things to be able to do, but I think ZDT is much more concise
Should: Lincoln
Will: Beasts of the Southern Wild
Comments: Beasts may not win anything else, but I think this will win a nod because everyone knows it's a great movie and will want to give it something. Lincoln did a great job of making a policy fight into something (long-winded and) watchable.
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I wish I was into editing and sound design and set design and production, because they're definitely huge parts of putting together a movie, but it's hard to write so much during lunch.
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