eight to go

As I mentioned in a blog post last week, I had ten movies to see before the Academy Awards. Now I have just eight! This week I watched four movies but only two of them were on my Academy Awards "must watch" list. You ready? Here is the rundown.

1. The Blind Side: In a very small nutshell, this is a movie based on a true story of a way-underprivileged African-American teenager in Memphis that is taken in by a well-to-do white family and thrives. Although it's one of the ten movies nominated for an Academy Award for best picture this year, it got average reviews. I resisted seeing it mostly because I thought it was "one of those sports movies" but really just didn't know much about it (also I'm not really a fan of Sandra Bullock). It's been four days since I've seen it and I have to say, I liked it. Sure it was a feel good movie but the true story part of it really hit home. Feel good movies can often times be cheesy and usually come around holiday time. If it wasn't based on a true story, I'd have a hard time believing it really happened. The New Orleans Times-Picayune review sums it up nicely:

• "The message, of course, is that a simple act of kindness can have a profound impact on the trajectory of a life. There's built-in potential there for overwrought emotion and cloying, movie-of-the-week formula, but Hancock [the director] deftly dodges it, and "The Blind Side" ends up being a tear-jerker, a heart-warmer and a thorough crowd-pleaser in one tidy package.

2. (500) Days of Summer: In a bizarre twist, this movie got better reviews than The Blind Side. Just goes to show that you never can tell... Ok, what was this movie about? Let's see, boy meets girl but it's not a love story, which is fine but what is it really about? Sure, I like romantic comedies every now and then but not this one. Maybe I'm not young and hip enough and/or maybe I've been married too long but this movie was not my cup of tea.


Ok, I've gone on long enough for tonight. I'll discuss the other two movies in a "part two" later.

food art

After the last post about the epicute web site, I decided to search more on food art just to see what I could find. For some, the purpose of life is to manipulate food into cartoonish items, which are also amusing and quite possibly tasty.


I found this and several other bits of food art on one web site:


Holy frijoles! I found this a post on one web site that has pretty amazing bento box-ish creativity:

Some of the food art is more literally art than food, like Condoleezza Rice:


Meat-based art:


That is all.

2010 Academy Award Nominations

Let's start at the same point - check out the 2010 Academy Award Nominations.

Ok, so now that we've both reviewed the list I can spout my opinions.

This is the first year that the Academy has nominated 10 movies for best picture instead of 5. Now 5 more movies can slap the "Academy award nominated" label on the front of their DVDs. I'm not clear on other reasons. I heard something about wanting to draw in more of the mainstream crowd (i.e. most of America that has never seen Precious or A Serious Man) by nominating some mainstream movies (e.g. The Blind Side and Up). That's not to say these "mainstream" movies don't have merit. It does confuse me how "Up" can be nominated for both Best Animated Feature Film and Best Picture.

I need to see about 10 movies to be up to speed by March 7th (the day of the awards show). Unfortunately 2 or 3 of the 10 movies are no longer in the theaters and are not yet on DVD. Since I haven't seen many of the movies in the running for one award or another, I can't properly judge them. I can, however, say that I'm pleased to see The Hurt Locker in the running for Best Picture. Conversely, I am not entirely pleased to see that Avatar is also in the running. Although Avatar is an innovative film in its presentation and concept, it doesn't seem like Academy Award quality. Do we really want a quasi-animated movie that tells the same old story of a white guy saving a tribal people representing the best film of our time? I'm not 100% that The Hurt Locker represents the best film of our time either but it does embrace an actual reality and makes us face it too. I'm sure many will disagree with me but oh well.

This year brings the fourth Best Director nomination ever for a woman: Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker. The three others were: Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties (1976), Jane Campion for The Piano (1993), Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation (2003). No woman has ever won Best Director.

This year also brings only the second Best Director nomination for an African-American: Lee Daniels for Precious. The other was John Singleton for Boyz n the Hood (1991). No African-American has ever won Best Director.

I'll have to return to this topic after I've seen a few more films.

Cute...yes, more

I bring you epicute! I'm pretty sure I haven't blogged about this particular web site before...but it's possible. There are so many cutesy web sites to keep up with. The difference between this particular web site and most of the cute web sites I share is that this one isn't focused on furry mammals. This goes more with cute food. Some of it borders on food art but it's not just vegetables with faces cut into them. I have to admit, a lot of it is way too cute but there are a few gems. See below.




Anyway, if you like cupcakes and little whoopie pies - this it the site for you.

District 9 Moon

This week I only watched two movies. We intended to see a movie today but couldn't quite get motivated - such a hard life...

1. District 9: This sci-fi movie about aliens who are marooned on Earth was disgusting at times and certainly not in my top 30 movies. However, it did make me think about injustice and how horribly we treat the things that we are not familiar with. Also, I was strangely touched by the father-son relationship and the wife-husband relationship. Although I like the movie, I was surprised to find that reviews were quite good.

• Entertainment Weekly gushed about the film (see bold, italicized section here): "Were they not tentacled, claw-handed creatures from another planet with bodies like steel-plated shellfish, the ghetto-dwelling underclass in the madly original, cheekily 
 political, altogether exciting District 9 would look much like any refugee population: They miss home, they're discriminated against, and they're driven by overcrowding, squalor, and hunger to acts of violence that make the local populace hate them even more and wish them good riddance."

• The New York Times summarizes the movie fairly succinctly: "Once a terrible accident befalls [the main human character], we are at his side and under his skin, and 'District 9' subtly shifts from speculative science fiction to zombie bio-horror and then, less subtly, turns into an escape-action-chase movie full of explosions, gunplay and vehicular mayhem"
  

2. Moon: Yet another sci-fi film about one guy stationed on the moon because we (earthlings) are harvesting fuel (or something extremely useful) from the moon. The movie was written and directed by Duncan Jones who is the son of David Bowie. I feel that this is relevant. It seems to make a lot of sense in some way that this movie with this look and feel would be the output of the progeny of David Bowie. This is not to say it's a glam or superficial movie even if the computer in it is extremely reminiscent of Hal in "2001: a Space Odyssey."

• It was refreshing that this was a compelling movie that didn't go over the top. As the New Orleans Times-Picayune review puts it, "there's not one fiery explosion, not one transforming robot, not one spider from Mars. This is old-school sci-fi, a psychological thriller built on suspense, meaning and strong performances." The flip side is a review by the San Francisco Chronicle, which says, "The film has intelligence...But 'Moon' is boring. Agonizingly, deadeningly, coma-inducingly, they-could-bury-you-alive-accidentally boring."

I side more with the Times-Picayune.

Interestingly, both of these movies are connected by the sinister big corporations and corporatism that is ever-present.

Gorey

Edward Gorey fascinates me, well his art mostly. His art is sinister, whimsical and, at times, absurd - awesome. There is so much to say about Gorey his work can be abstract and confusing or slightly pornographic or adorable and satisfied...depending on which book you find. As a person, he was an odd, alone, fur-wearing man that I am unsure of.

Here are some examples of his work:





This is Gorey with cats:


So odd.

Sure, I could be doing more useful

But instead I find stuff on the interwebs that amuses me and brings cheer to the blah life. Today I have found the Epic Win site. It isn't amazing but there are a few chuckles to be had. These are two of my favorites:

"Ice Cube"
Building error
Yep, that's what I have.

Bent Object

I looove this Bent Object stuff! Most of it takes me off guard and actually laugh out loud. Sure, some of it is silly and cutesy but it can be saucy. I'm not afraid to admit it - I like silly and I like cute. But I also enjoy wit above all. I hope you visit the web site and enjoy it and I hope you enjoy my saucy selections..



This one is called "deflowered"...

Julia's Hurt Locker Hangover

I'm not sure what draws me to movies. I know that I'm drawn to movies more than TV because of my addictive personality. I mean I watched four TV shows (the entire series) between 2000 and 2009. Each one of the showsI devoured quickly. My life tends to go by the wayside as I spend hours each evening in front of the tube watching one episode after another. Movies are different - there is a defined beginning and ending and it generally doesn't go longer than three hours. This is not to say that I look down on those who watch TV. On the contrary, it usually means they have something resembling self control.

So, this week I've watched three movies:

1. The Hurt Locker: My expectations were high going into this one because I had heard good but vague things. It certainly was intense and covered a facet of modern war that isn't usually touched upon - teams that are called in to handle IED (improvised explosive devices). David Denby of the New Yorker says, "The specialized nature of the subject is part of what makes it so powerful, and perhaps American audiences worn out by the mixed emotions of frustration and repugnance inspired by the war can enjoy this film without ambivalence or guilt. 'The Hurt Locker' narrows the war to the existential confrontation of man and deadly threat." I agree with that, I was enthralled by the gear, the protocol and the technique of defusing these bombs.


2. The Hangover: I'm not trying to be uppity here but, I don't generally find that many "comedies" that funny. I went into this one expecting the typical one chuckle film but braced my self with a few glasses of wine. Life is all about expectations. I expected crap but got something not quite crap. There were definitely cliches in the movie (like the expected Las Vegas midnight marriage) but I did like the random chaos - e.g. crazed Asian guy jumping naked out of a trunk and the way the hotel room looked (not the tiger but the chicken, which was a nice touch).


3. Julie & Julia: No expectations going into this one actually. I found it to be a fun movie with interesting commentary on the perceived role of women in the fifties, personified by Julia Child looking for something to do with herself (should it be hat making or learning bridge?). Similarly, the modern theme of blogging and the struggle for success and how to define success in our modern world (for women or men). Both Meryl Streep and Amy Adams were compelling, Streep slightly more so.


Bon apetit!

Hundertwasser

More art/artists I like! Hundertwasser is another one that I don't know how I found but as soon as I laid eyes on his work, I loved it. He was both an architect and an artist. Although I enjoy his paintings, I have been increasingly drawn to his other-worldly architecture.

This is one of Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s final creations, Waldspirale (Wooded Spiral). It was finished in 2000, a year after Hundertwasser died. And yes, this is a real residential apartment house with real people living in it.

Some other architecture examples of Hundertwasser


Interestingly, I have just discovered that his work has been compared to Gaudi's, which I profess a love of in our blog.

One web site indicates that, "The common themes in his work utilized bright colors, organic forms, a reconciliation of humans with nature, and a strong individualism, rejecting straight lines." This is appealing.