Deserve or entitle

So the Oscars are this weekend, and I’m approaching it with a little more fanfare than the NFL Pro-Bowl. At least there’s a potential for injury at the Pro-Bowl… Leo Deserves a dislocation more than Drew Brees…

I’m usually not this way even in slow years. honestly I think it’s because it recently became less about merit and more about entitlement. I speak specifically about Peter Jackson and the mere possibility of Martin Scorsese winning the Oscar for Best Director. I’m not going to say Scorsese hasn’t deserved an Oscar in the past… But this film is not only undeserving of the honor due t the fact that it’s a remake of a recent foreign film, but it’s also nowhere near as good as other films both nominated and snubbed.

But it has been a slow Oscar year for me. The biggest cinematic highlights for me that come to mind An Inconvenient Truth, Who Killed the Electric Car, Running with Scissors and The Prestige… I’ve seen 3 of the 5 Best Picture nominees (Departed, Sunshine, Queen) and The Queen is the best among them by far. I have a feeling that the other two are better than The Queen…

The only category I’m truly passionate about and want to see the outcome of is for Best Documentary. I hope An Inconvenient Truth wins because of it massive social importance and impact that it has already had.

So I’ll be watching, and I may respond here – but I doubt it’ll really warrant the time and energy when I could just as easily blog about something more entertaining like the humping dog…

Movie Review – The Last King of Scotland

Finally got out to see another Oscar contending film… It’s a film that takes place in the early 70’s in Uganda during the rise to power of Idi Amin. It’s a great movie. Not only is it well done in many aspects, but it’s a still socially relevant portrait in how people can be swept in by the charisma of a leader only to be taken down the wrong path in the near future. The acting is solid in every aspect with the crowning achievement being Forest Whitaker’s portrayal of Amin.

Every other performance was exactly what was needed, but none of them defined the movie or required as much effort and talent as becoming Idi Amin as Whitaker did so greatly. Given that I’ve only seen 2 of the 5 films nominated for best actor this year, I’m 99% sure I can tell that it should come down to Gosling or Whitaker with Whitaker winning in the end. I’m a little surprised that this isn’t nominated for more, but the more I think about it, the more I understand why it’s not. There’s nothing spectacular about anything except Whitaker who makes this film. It’s otherwise a biopic of sorts showing what it was like during the Ugandan coup and rule of Amin of the early 70’s. Nothing writing, music, or filming stands out like Whitaker. He would have my vote – if I had one.

Anyway, I’m glad I saw this movie… But it’s not a flick that you must see in the theater. There are two gruesome scenes, and it’s a straight drama otherwise. I give it a strong 6 of 10 on the whole – and the aforementioned performance makes this film very worthwhile.

Movie Review – The Pursuit of Happyness (+ Pre-Oscars)

So it’s been about three weeks since my theatre experience, and it’s time for another jaunt into unimportant land of movie reviews.

This time it’s the Will Smith Oscar vehicle The Pursuit of Happyness. Yes, it’s spelled correctly. You know what it is from seeing the trailer. A fatherly tale of triumph in the face of tall odds. And it delivers just that. No surprises…

While I felt the performances were strong, I think I saw too much pre-release material (I did catch some of the Oprah episode with both Smith and the real person his character is based on while decorating the xmas tree last year). Therefore it wasn’t nearly as powerful as if I went into seeing the movie completely blind. I give it a weak 6 of 10. It’s stronger than all other 5’s I’ve seen this year, but the weakest 6.

Now for the whole Oscar thing… I personally think Smith has two competitors in this category – Ryan Gosling (in Half Nelson) and Forest Whitaker (in The Last King of Scotland). Sure, DiCaprio is a dark horse of sorts, but it’ll really come down to either Whitaker or Smith in my opinion. I hope that Whitaker wins because showing an emotional performance as Smith does in Happyness nothing like playing such a demanding role as Idi Amin in terms of emotion and the irrational nature of playing a delusional dictator. But I really won’t be that surprised if any of the actors nominated win. And even though I’m not a huge Sacha Baron Cohen fan, I think the ask of acting in a relatively unscripted film in his manner is a larger feat of acting excellence than any of the nominated actors. I’m not that excited about the Oscars this year. I may have to write a small post about the fact that the relatively normal incidence of nominating children (that girl from Little Miss Sunshine) should either end or there should be a child category. When I’m most interested to see who wins best documentary (An Inconvenient Truth!), then it’s not a great Oscar year.