Oscars

I was wrong on the best picture winner and I am very happy about that. Very glad that Argo won and was very happy for Ben Affleck who has often been marginalized during his career. He is a talented filmmaker and deserves to be treated as such. As for the show itself there were way too many musical performances. The 2013 Oscars apparently thought they were the 2013 Grammy awards. The length of the show was astronomically long! The presenters were mostly boring, lackluster and completely out of place. The Oscars needs to generate some more interest in some of their awards because watching a show for almost four hours to see essentially five big awards is quite a terrible way to do things. In regards to Seth McFarlane, he was witty, crude, and downright sensational. He was able to put some life into this awful telecast and make the host at the very least seem relevant again. He will never be allowed to host this show again because his humor was too accurate and biting. The man is a genus and in my opinion was the best Oscar Host since Bob Hope. Thoughts?

Best Picture

Just so it is once again on the record Les Miserable is winning the best picture tonight though it may not be announced until 1:00 AM. This oscar telecast is borderline unwatchable with and endless parade of awards that no one cares about and time begin wasted to promote all of the 10 best picture nominees simply to sell the films. That is what the Oscars are about selling the films pure and simple. The true artistic and great films of the year hardly ever win the best picture award. Notice how long is spent showing previews for the best picture nominees and also notice how the awards are being spread out amongst different films so that the films can sell themselves as academy award winning films.  I will explain this further in class during our next meeting. Seth McFarlane remains the only good thing about this telecast.

Oscars

Seth MacFarlane's opening monologue was brilliant! Funny, edgy, and just brilliantly put together. Including William Shatner as Captain Kirk was a nice touch as was incorporating Channing Tatum, Charlize Theron, Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gordon Levitt. He also showcased his brilliant singing voice and demonstrated how effortlessly he was able to transition from comedy to music. The song choices were great and give credit to the above named stars who participated in that opening. Truly excellent.

Best PIcture Winners

http://www.indiewire.com/article/watch-a-retrospect-on-all-84-best-picture-oscar-winners?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Indiewire+Awards+Season+Roundup&utm_content=#.USpWLYstiyU.facebook

My Week With Marilyn

Looking at a specific time period in a persons life is a great way to focus a screenplay and create a highly entertaining Hollywood film. So many stories have been told about Marilyn Monroe and yet this film seems fresh, fun, and as such a hint of sadness to it. The film follows a young British man named Colin who is trying to break into the movie business. Thanks to his family connections he is able to get a job as a third assistant director on Laurence Olivier's new film which also stars Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn Monroe takes a special shine to Colin and the two spend a week together. Kenneth Branagh is one of the most underrated actors of the last thirty years and he is great as Sir Laurence Olivier. Eddie Redmayne is also excellent in his role as Colin the naive boy who falls in love with Marilyn Monroe only to have his heart broken. Of course it is MIchelle Williams who steals the show as Marilyn Monroe. Although Williams does not look exactly the same as the real Marilyn Monroe she is able to capture her star persona and mix it with an excellent portrayal of letting us see how severely damaged of a person Marilyn Monroe was. . As such it is Williams who anchors the story and is able to leave the audience once again awe of what Marilyn Monroe was really like. Emma Watson also takes a small but pivotal role in the film in which she proves that her role to stardom is already underway. It is a very tight and engaging period piece that should have gotten more recognition that it got. Check out My Week With Marilyn.

American Pop

This animated feature film was released in 1981. It was an animated feature with adult orientated content. Very much like the movie Heavy Metal. Essentially it was R rated content in the animated world and for that alone it is worth watching to see how a Hollywood animated film would handle making an animated film for adults. This was before Japanese anime really took hold in the American film market. The animation is also very crude and lacks background depth that we take fro granted in animation today. It weaves together a great story of how an immigrant comes to America escaping great peril and how despite his talent suffers several tragedies that essentially leads him to adopt a life of crime. It then follows his son, his grandson and his great grandson over the course of a roughly forty year period. There are times when the film's story works remarkably well and then there are times when it falls flat on it's face. The film is anchored but it's soundtrack which does serve as a great historical account of how American music developed into Rock N Roll even if some of the song choices are spotty at best. However, other song choices work remarkably well. The film's plot does serve as a good anchor of American history leading us through early European immigration from the turn of the twentieth century through the prohibition movement to World War I and World War II as well as into the 1960s Hippie generation. What is very strange about the plot is that eventually the film's heroine achieves his success by being a drug dealer and this is how he is able to transition to another life. All I can say is that there are many strange themes that Hollywood tackled especially in films from the 1960's onward through the early 1980s. This film is worth checking out for a variety of reasons even though at times the plot does fall flat on it's face. This film despite these flaws does hold a special place in my heart because as a boy I vividly remember seeing the film advertised on several tapes that I rented from Blockbuster video and as such it become a film that at some point in my life I had to see because the visual imagery I saw in the previews as a kid fascinated me. Check out American Pop.

Oscar Night

I will be blogging during the Academy Awards on Sunday. As such I will make a few predictions right now which will probably prove that I know Hollywood better then most people or that I have no clue about how Hollywood actually works. Prediction one Les Miserables sweeps every major category it is nominated for. Jennifer Lawrence wins best actress. Hugh Jackman wins best actor. Anne Hathaway winds best supporting actress. More thoughts coming!