Rambling Film

So ends the 83rd Academy Awards. Anne Hathaway shined as a host, but James Franco fell short. The Orchestra was the best part for me, I love hearing familiar scores. 'Hand Covers Bruise' from The Social Network sounded better from them than it did in the film. But now..onto the winners. My thought as always will be in green . The Honest Oscar Poster is from Oh No They Didn't Best Picture: The King’s Speech At the beginning of the Awards season, I would've sworn The Social Network would win. Over the last few weeks it's been obvious that The King's Speech was going to take home the price. It was a good film, but it actually rated quite low in my list of how I liked the nominees. That was 1) Inception 2) The Social Network 3) The Fighter 4) Black Swan 5) The Kids Are All Right 6) 127 Hours 7) The King's Speech 8) True Grit 9) Toy Story 3 10) Winter's Bone Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan Again, predictable. After seeing Blue Valentine I t...

Not everyone gets their 'Happily Ever After' Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) were once a happy couple in a whirlwind relationship. Now they are married, have a young daughter and are no longer happy. They are missing the spark they once had. After a failed night at trying to regain that, our couple just grow further and further apart. Devastating, Tragic, True. Those are a lot of words that people have used to describe the film. It's absolutely correct, this is not a happy love story, this is a story of a relationship (like so many) that crash and burn. The movie intertwines between the times that Dean and Cindy first met, fell in love, and eventually fell out. That's what makes it even more interesting to watch. We see what they once were, and are pained at what they've become. I've been on Natalie Portman's bandwagon all Oscar season. She killed it in Black Swan, but after seeing Blue Valentine, Michelle Williams deserves that Oscar t...

Aron Ralston knows what its like to have guts. It's no spoiler what happened to Aron Ralston. (James Franco) In 2003 he left to go hiking in the middle of the night, he didn't tell anyone where he was going. He ends up falling in a canyon with a giant bolder crushing his arm. He tries to free himself, but he cannot. 5 Days later, he's out of water, and out of ideas. He has to cut his own arm off to survive. Franco plays Ralston to perfection. We see a fun-loving, easy going, maybe even a little bit of an arrogant guy at the beginning of the film. When he gets stuck, we see this quick thinking hiker slowly turn from slightly panicked, to angry, to down right horrified. He's aware of his fate, he's video taping his good bye's to his family to pass the time. Danny Boyle was the perfect director for his film. His signature quick cuts really add to the beauty of the film. Partnering back up with his Slumdog Millionaire composer A.R Rahmen also adds catchy music to...

Guests, Ravenswood, Power Surge..    Those were all working titles for this little Aussie film at one point. I've always found the process of naming a movie interesting. It's pretty neat to see what they started out with, then ultimately what they landed on. Restraint follows Ron (Travis Fimmel) and Dale, (Teresa Palmer) a young couple on the run. Ron has just murdered two people, in an attempt to dump their car they happen upon a secluded house. This house belongs to Andrew, (Stephen Moyer) an agoraphobic who becomes their hostage. He offers them a way out, but everything is not as it seems. Moyer gave a fantastic performance. He's wonderful on True Blood and it was nice to see something else he's done. He has the acting chops to back it all up. Teresa Palmer is lovely as usual, she's one of my favorite up and coming actresses. Moyer plays Andrew with fear and kindness while Palmer's Dale is obviously very conflicted, this leaves us with Ron. Travis Fimme...

I haven't written a birthday post since 11 November. So what better actor to get off my lazy ass and honor? My favorite, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Will this post be incredibly bias? Probably. I can't get enough of this guy. One of the things I like the most about him is his creativity, which he shows in his various roles, and on his website hitRECord Let's get on with it..Happy Birthday, JGL! My Favorite Film: Brick Easily one of my top 5 favorite films, Brick is a detective story/noir about a young man named Brendan and his mission to find out who killed his ex girlfriend. The rapid fire dialogue gets you hooked right away, and JGL keeps you interested throughout. (fun fact: He's making a new film called Looper with Brick director Rian Johnson) My Least Favorite Film: Havoc  Havoc actually had a few good actors in it and probably sounded really good on paper. As amused as I was to see JGL play a wanna be gangster the film didn't really come together that well. ...

Here's my final list of who I think will win. Let's see how I do come Feb 27th. Best Picture: The King's Speech (although Inception winning would rock) Best Actor: Colin Firth - The King's Speech Best Actress: Natalie Portman - Black Swan Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale - The Fighter Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo - The Fighter Best Director: David Fincher - The Social Network Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network Best Original Screenplay: Inception Best Animated Film: Toy Story 3 (even though HTTYD deserves it) Best Foriegn Film: Biutiful Best Documentary: Exit Through The Gift Shop Best Original Score: Hans Zimmer - Inception Best Original Song: If I Rise - 127 Hours Best Cinematography: Inception Best Costume Design: Alice in Wonderland Best Art Direction: Inception Best Make Up: Barney's Version Best Sound Mixing: Inception Best Film Editing: Black Swan Best Sound Editing: Inception Best Documentary Sho...

Whoever has the money, has the power. Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) was once a promising high school athlete. He excelled in hockey and had lots of friends until one night a car accident changed everything. Now his passengers are dead and Chris is left with a brain injury that prevents him from remembering things both short term and sometimes long. He keeps a notebook to help remind him. He lives with a blind man Lewis (Jeff Daniels) that helps him and works the overnight shift at a bank as a janitor. A group of men plan to rob this bank, and once they learn of Chris's situation the befriend him to gain easy access. When Chris finally figures out what they are going to do he plans to stop it if he can hold on to this memory. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the heart and soul of this film. He seems disoriented, but at the same time you can tell that Chris is really trying hard to rise above his condition. Both Levitt and Daniels did a lot of research for their character's disabi...