Movies

[danielh41]

Only one week before the Oscars, and I realized that I had only seen one of the Best Picture nominees (Slumdog Millionaire), and I usually try to see all of them before the award ceremony airs. So I went to the big 30 screen theater at Grapevine Mills mall on Sunday and tried to catch up.

The first thing I saw was The Reader. It was better than I expected it to be. Knowing what it was about, I kind of expected to be repulsed by Kate Winslet's character, but it wasn't bad. Winslet did give a fantastic performance, baring her emotions and her body (which is perfectly fine by me).

Next up was Milk, since I would have had to wait an hour for any of the other nominees to start. Sean Penn does totally become the character of Harvey Milk, but I found myself not caring much about the movie. I never could get through Good Will Hunting or any of Gus Van Sant's other movies, so maybe there is something about his directorial style that just doesn't grab me. After Milk gets elected to the city supervisor spot (another problem is that I pretty much knew how the movie would end), I looked at my watch and realized that Frost/Nixon was about to start next door. So I left Milk just as he was watching Dan White's baby christening.

I did like Frost/Nixon, mainly because of Frank Langella's performance. I've always liked him from 1979's Dracula to his role as the President's Chief of Staff in Dave. I certainly don't think it is Best Picture material, but I wouldn't mind seeing Langella take home an Oscar for Best Actor.

At this point, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was the only Best Picture nominee that I hadn't seen, but I had over an hour to wait for the next showing. The Wrestler was starting right then, so I went in to see that. Mickey Rourke does give an outstanding performance, really bringing out the character's bleak loneliness (which is the main theme of the movie). I cringed during the hardcore match he has in the first half of the film (it involves barbed wire and a staple gun). But it was a very well done movie, and I would have put it in the Best Picture category over any of the other three movies I had seen that day.

So my pick for Best Picture is tentatively Slumdog Millionaire, although I still have yet to see Benjamin Button. Best Actor is one that's difficult to pick for me. Sean Penn does give a great performance even though I have a strong dislike for the man and I didn't like the movie very much either. Frank Langella is very good, and as much as I'd like to see him win, I would probably vote for Mickey Rourke for the award.

We are going to try to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button this Saturday...

[Catfish]

Thanks for the summary. We finally got a chance for a date night and chose Gran Torino. I get home and check a list of Oscar nominees. WTF?!?! Clint totally shut out?!?! What's that all about? It was one of the best movies I've seen in ages.