2015 Oscar Nominated Film Review

So.. I know I am in the middle of telling of my trip to Salvador but since the Oscars are right around the corner this post is time sensitive so I will sneak it in here.  Hope you enjoy. Comment and let me now your thoughts.

OK.. I have officially finished watching all of the 2015 Oscar nominated movies. I must say that this is the first year that when the nominations were publicized I had not seen any of the movies. Before I spoil my review I will get right to it.
BOYHOOD.. The story of a boy growing up.  Just an ordinary boy with with a mom who attracts dead beat men and his sister.  It never got deeper then that and I never quite got a purpose for the movie.  I did find it interesting how the kid grew up in the movie almost as if they had been filming it for years but I did not even find the acting believable and .  I have no idea why this was nominated.

BIRDMAN. This was the first movie of the group I watch and again I have no idea how it got nominated.  Although the acting was good I actually never got into the movie, stopping it to go to sleep and reluctantly finishing it the next day.   I found it to be depressing and was not impressed with the story.  I don’t see a purpose to the film and I am left wondering if I missed something but I will not go back and put myself through it again to see if I did.

THE IMITATION GAME.. The third movie in the list I watched and after the first two I began wondering if something was wrong with me.  This movie was a little better as it was a good story and one worth telling.  However,  once again nothing about the knocked my socks off. I think the relationships in the movie were shallow and underdeveloped.  At times I found it slow and I just wanted it to end.. I never got into the movie 100%.

SELMA ..Finally,  I had heard some good things about this film and was excited to watch it as the first three I had not heard of prior to their nomination.  Maybe that is what was wrong?  Of course a good story about Dr Martin Luther King should be told over and over again.  But half way through I realized that I was not impressed with the acting and once again the story line did not grab my attention.  I guess in the end I compare it to 12 years a slave and for me it was so inferior to that movie.. again.. isn’t there anything else out there with some wow.

AMERICAN SNIPER. Of course only those who do not watch tv and have no internet have not heard of this film.  With so much posturing going on, I was anxious to see what it was all about.  In the end the movie was good, very patriotic I guess if you believe war is justified. Not making a comment on my commitment to that issue. I did not think it dove in deep enough to explore the moral struggle the sniper went through. The story toggled between his family and deployments and never really made me understand who he was.  I felt like it needed to tell more but I would also not be willing to sit through more. Again, another movie that I just did not see why it got an Oscar nod for best picture.

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL..quirky and I expected it to be funny from the trailers I had seen.  The only suggestion I have about not really loving this move is that maybe I was not in the right mood.  I thought it was supposed to be funny and only a couple of time did I catch myself laughing out loud but I had done that in some of the previous movies.  I had a hard time following and maybe it was a little to a.d.d. for me.  The story was predictable and nothing real earth shattering.  

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING ,, again .. nice story.. I felt the main actor did a great job portraying Steven Hawking but again.. something was missing for me. Nothing about the story of the film wowed me.  It spent some time developing the relationship between his wife and his caretaker but then that just felt like it dropped into nothing.  Again,  maybe I have different expectations this year than previous years but the so many movies from previous years so outshine this one.  

WHIPLASH ..believable story.. again maybe I am just over all the story movies in the group when I saw this one as it was the last one I watched. I found it slow in spots and never really got involved in the story. I ended up turning it off late one night because I was tired and watched the rest the next day.  Previous years I would have never done with the other Oscar nominated films as I seemed to get involved and then would not have been able to sleep wondering what was going to happen next.  

In the end I am not sure it was worth my time to do my Oscar run this year.  I was not impressed with the movies the academy has put forward as contenders.   This past year there were movies like Big Eyes, Gone Girl, Into the Woods, The Hobbit, Hunger Games.. heck even Maze Runner had a better developed story then some of these films and they all kept my attention better.  Honestly,  I felt the movies I just listed  were more entertaining, better stories, and better movies than any of the films nominated.  I guess I am not a member of the academy for some reason.  

Comment and let me know what you think.. Did you see any of the movies?  Have a different perspective that I missed?  Have another movie you would have picked for a nomination?

Movie Review -- FLIGHT --

The other night a friend asked if I would be interested in attending a showing of the new Denzel  Washington movie "Flight",  I had not heard of the movie as I live under a rock in regards to what is showing at the theater but figured it was a good opportunity to socialize a bit and I like Denzel.
The movie is the story about Denzel's character "Whip" who is a commercial pilot.  It begins a little shockingly with full frontal nudity (not Denzel) and Denzel snorting a line of coke and  downing some vodka as he and his flight attendant girlfriend get ready for their morning flight.  One of the friends who went with us to the showing was an actual pilot and it was interesting to hear his reaction to the behavior.  I had not heard anything about the movie so it seemed a little harsh to me.  It then continues on with Whip carrying on, drinking and eventually the plane he is captain of has to make a crash landing in the middle of a field.  He is seen as a hero because of the miraculously job he did which saved many lives.  Only loosing four passengers and two crew members (his girlfriend included).
Soon though,  information about the alcohol and drugs come forward and it the story follows Whip as he works with his attorney,  the union, and the airline to cover up the drug and alcohol use.  The story seemed to drag a little and lacked continuity.  There was another character: Nicole who is an addict trying to be free of her addictions.   Nicole's life is shown parallel to his at the beginning and soon the two meet coincidentally,   They paired up for a while and then she just kind of disappeared.  I felt like her story could be a large part of the movie but it went undeveloped and her exit from the story was anticlimactic and unsatisfying.  
The camera follows as Whip struggles within as to whether he should tell the truth or not and grappling with his own addictions.  I don't want to give it all away in case you want to head and see it.  It was surely entertaining and an OK movie to see.
Overall I would give it 3 out of 5 stars (***00)  

Cast:
Denzel Washington as Whip Whitaker
Kelly Reilly as Nicole
Brian Geraghty as Ken Evans
Bruce Greenwood as Charlie Anderson
Don Cheadle as Hugh Lang
John Goodman as Harling Mays
Nadine Velazquez as Katerina Marquez
Melissa Leo as Ellen Block
Tamara Tunie as Margaret Thomason
Garcelle Beauvais as Deana
Dylan Kussman as Two Beer Barry
Kwesi Boakye as Knuckles
James Badge Dale as Gaunt Young Man

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

50 / 50 movie review

"50/50" The movie starts quite shallow as Joseph Gordon - Levitt's character Adam is diagnosed with cancer and his girl friend (Bryce Dallas Howard) obviously has no ability to give him comfort or the support he needs.  His best friend Kyle (played by Seth Rogen) catches her kissing another man and Adam tells her to leave. Kyle becomes the sole support for Adam and I found myself frustrated with him as he is so self centered and awkward in dealing with the reality of Adam's diagnosis.  Kyle doesn't seem to be the support Adam needs either, as he makes jokes and attempts to use Adam's cancer to score with women.  At this point I found little value in the movie.  The tone quickly changes as  Adam begins chemo and meets his therapist (Anna Kendrick) who is beginning her career.  New to therapy she is learning how to comfort someone who is in Adam's situation which adds another relationship to understand and some additional awkward situations.  He soon meets two older guys who are dealing with their own mortality as they are battling cancer and taking chemo.  They provide a missing link for him to discuss the fear he has.  We get introduced to his care giving mother (played by Anjelica Houston) who he attempts to keep at an arms length.  She is dealing with a husband with Alzheimers and Adam eventually changes his attitude towards her after direction from his therapist and realizes how letting her support him is what she needs.  Throughout the movie,  Adam deals with family, friends, and learns to look at life from a new perspective.

HMM?? A cancer comedy???  I believe the movie will be appreciated even by people who can't imagine wanting to see a comedy on cancer.  As I have recently walked through chemo with a friend and the death of a relative due to cancer.  I was not sure what to expect of the movie.  It allowed me to meditate on morality and grapple with some difficult, scary questions in a soft and light way.  I found it to be a great balance between heart and humor.  I personally laughed a lot, cried a little more, and contemplated life more then anything.  Joseph Gordon - Levitt is remarkable in his role as Adam and I if I had anything to do with Oscar nominations,  the movie would get a couple nominations for sure. 

I would encourage anyone to go and see this remarkable balance of comedy and tragedy. 

Check out the ... Movie Trailer

The Movie Rio -- review

This was a spectacular film with roots in Minnesota (not too far from where I call the ultimate home) and the characters travel to the heart of Rio de Janeiro (not too far from where I currently call home).  Over the years, animated musicals have become classics. Rio could easily become one of those films. The song and dance numbers here are really enjoyable since you don't need lyrics to enjoy good music.  Even the story finding love in unexpected places seemed really good and well thought out even it typical for animated stories.  We went to see it in Portuguese and although I could not understand a lot of the conversation,  the story was easy to follow and the animation was simply beautiful.

The story begins about 20 years ago, when Blu (Jesse Eisenberg), a blue macaw was smuggled from the Brazilian rain forest along with other birds, to be sold in the exotic pet trade.  Blue falls off the truck I will just leave you with an introduction so you can head to the theater to see the rest of the story.  It was simply beautiful and appetizing to the eyes.  While at the theater we found that they are showing it in English one time and night so it is a definite "thinkg to do" some evening. I am anxious to see it again in English. I enjoyed it so much in Portuguese that I believe  the voices of Ann Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, George Lopez, Jamie Fox and the rest will put it over the top of my expectations.  I am positive it will be a true treat and wonderful show.

Two thumbs up for this animated wonder and a must take the kids to.  It will surely boost the excitement of the city of Rio and put it on more peoples places to go in their lifetime.  I will be heading back to Rio as well sometime soon and now have a couple of things to see.

Movie Review - Slumdog millionaire

EXCELLENT - Deserving of any award it recieves. This movie is brought to life by the acting of some great kids and brings life in the poorer contries or areas of foreign countries to life. We cannot begin to understand what life is like there. The brothers story is wonderful -- I would encourage everyone to see this movie and on my list of must sees I think this ties with MILK for my favorate movies of the year.

Movie Review - Love in the time of Cholera

Ok - this move gets 2 stars in my book -- the story is good but the move is slow and there were several time towards the end I just wanted it to end. It finally did and I left the theator. The scenery was beautiful but I would recommend this for a rental.