Oscars 2012

Tonight is the 2012 Academy Awards. I always look forward to awards season, and the Oscars is definitely my favorite of all of the award shows. Here are the movies/ people that I would like to see win tonight in the big six categories.

Best Picture
Last year when the nominations were announced, I had seen 8 of the 10 movies nominated and had seen the last two before the award ceremony. This year I had not seen any of them. My goal was to see as many of them as I could before tonight and I saw 7 of the 9 films nominated. I still have not seen Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close or War Horse, but I really have no interest in seeing them anyway. Of the ones I have seen, there were some that I really liked, and some that I didn't really care for. My favorite films of the ones nominated for Best Picture were The Artist, Hugo, and Midnight in Paris.

I really loved all three of these films, and would be pleased if any of them won. Chances are, though, that it is going to be The Artist.

Best Director
Tough choice for me between Martin Scorsese and Michel Hazanavicius, but I'm going to have to go with Scorsese.

Best Actor
I'm still really pissed about Michael Fassbender not being nominated in this category. He was definitely better than Brad Pitt and Damien Bichir. Although they both gave solid performances, I really didn't think that they were anything special. I just think that the Academy voters liked the movies they were in and nominated them because of that. As for who I think should win of the people nominated, I'm going to have to go with Jean Dujardin. I love Gary Oldman, and think that it is a travesty that this is the only film he has been nominated for, but Dujardin's performance as a silent film actor really stuck with me.

Best Actress
Such a tough choice!!! Glenn Close, Michelle Williams, Viola Davis, and Rooney Mara all gave excellent performances this year. I have not seen The Iron Lady, but I think that it is safe to assume that Streep was great as well.  I am kind of bummed that Charlize Theron wasn't nominated. I thought she was great in Young Adult. Okay, so now I'm going to make a choice. I'm going to exclude Streep because I haven't seen that movie and I'm also going to exclude Glenn Close because although she was great, her performance didn't stand out as much to me as the other three. So that leaves Michelle Williams, Viola Davis, and Rooney Mara. If I absolutely had to choose, I would have to say that my favorite performance of all three was Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe.

Best Supporting Actor
I loved Christopher Plummer and I thought that he was great in Beginnings, but I would love it if Kenneth Branagh won for playing Sir Laurence Olivier. I love Laurence Oliver and have seen tons of his movies and read his autobiography. I think that Kenneth Branagh was perfect as one of my favorite classic movie stars.

Best Supporting Actress
I don't even have to think about this one. I literally just watched Albert Nobbs and thought that Janet McTeer was amazing as Mr. Pierce, a woman living as a man. I will be very surprised if she doesn't win.

My Review: My Week With Marilyn

Michelle Williams looks absolutely stunning as Marilyn Monroe. She doesn't really look all that much like her, but she is so great in this movie that that doesn't even matter. I've seen The Prince and the Showgirl so it was really cool to see the scenes where they are working on the movie. It isn't my favorite of Olivier's movies, but it is an entertaining film. Although Williams is great as Monroe, my favorite thing about this movie was Kenneth Branagh as Laurence Olivier! He really was the obvious choice to play Olivier, and he was perfect! He has his voice, and even looks like him in this movie (although not quite as handsome). He definitely has his upper lip...or lack thereof. It just made me really happy to see him as Olivier.

Branagh as Olivier definitely made this movie worth watching. I didn't really care for the story. It is about a young man named Colin Clive who falls in love with Monroe while working as 3rd Assistant Director to Olivier on The Prince and the Showgirl. The whole movie Marilyn is trying to be a great actress, and Olivier has to deal with her method acting, which he hates because he is a classical actor. I thought it was really funny when Judi Dench's characters says that acting is more than just false noses, because Olivier used a lot of false noses while acting in the theatre. Anyways, everyone has to deal with Marilyn being late to the set all of the time, and with her mood swings. It is basically about a young man who wants to take her away from the hard life of being a star. Emma Watson has a part in this movie as Clive's love interest prior to falling for Monroe. She looks lovely in this film, but her character was pretty unimportant to the overall story. Anyways, don't see this film expecting an interesting story, but go to see the amazing performances by Williams and Branagh. Perhaps Branagh will follow in Cate Blanchett's footsteps and win an Oscar for playing an Oscar winner... My rating: 7/10

Just Finished Reading: Confessions of an Actor

Laurence Olivier is one of my favorite actors, so I was really curious to read his autobiography. To be honest, while there were some interesting parts, it isn't really the most entertaining book ever. I love Olivier for his work in films, but he barely talks about the movies he made. He mentions movies passingly and mostly talks about his work on the stage. The only movies that he goes into any detail about are the ones that he directed, like Henry V, Hamlet, and The Prince and the Showgirl. The best parts were definitely the parts about his personal life. Like when he talks about how he wanted to get married so that he could have sex because he was raised super religious, so premarital sex was just a no-no. There are also some good tidbits about his relationship with Vivien Leigh.

Spotlight On: Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick has directed some of the most interesting, original, controversial, and groundbreaking films in history. His films are all very memorable and unique and you often see other directors try to mimic his work. He has directed some of my favorite films and is one of my absolute favorite directors. It is a travesty that he has never won an academy award for best director!!! Here are my favorites of his films...

Spartacus

I was really surprised when I found out that this was a Stanley Kubrick film. Looking at his later films, this doesn't really seem like his type of movie. I do love this movie though. It features actors that I like, such as Kirk Douglas, Jean Simmons, and of course the amazing Sir Laurence Olivier. It is a long movie that didn't seem very long because I was getting so into it. The first time I saw it I actually got really mad when the DVD started skipping!  (stupid Netflix...) There are tons of great scenes in this film, like when Spartacus has to fight the big guy with the triton, Laurence Olivier trying to seduce Tony Curtis (which was actually cut out of the original film), but the most memorable scene in the film is of course the "I am Spartacus scene." It is such a great scene because it shows how much he is beloved...



Lolita

"How did they ever make a movie of Lolita?" Pedophilia is a touchy subject, and considering that this film was made under the production code, I think that it was done very well. It is definitely not as risque as the 90s version, but I like this one much better. What is interesting about films under the production code was that they had to be sneaky and suggestive instead of straight forward. Like in the scene at the hotel with Humbert and Lo, it doesn't show anything, but you know what happens next...



Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

While Kubrick utilized the great talents of Peter Sellars in Lolita, he uses it to greater extent in Dr. Strangelove. Here he plays several different characters, the most memorable one being the title character. My favorite thing about this movie, however, would have to be George C. Scott's performance. "He'll see the big board!"





2001: The Space Odyssey

This isn't the easiest movie in the world to watch. It goes on forever without any dialogue. This isn't really a sit at home and watch kind of movie, it is the type of film that is better to watch on a big screen. The first time I saw it I was watching it on my laptop, and although I hate to admit it, I was falling asleep. The best parts of this movie are with HAL. He has the creepiest voice...




A Clockwork Orange

This is my favorite film of Kubrick's and one of my favorite films of all time. I love every single scene in this movie! I love Malcolm McDowell's performance, the use of Singin in the Rain (twice!), the sped up sex scene, the montage sequence when he listens to Beethoven, Alex's daydream while reading the bible, just everything about this film. Annoyingly, there are no good embeddable videos on YouTube, but you can find my absolute favorite scene HERE.

The Shining

Another one of my personal favorites, The Shining is one of the greatest horror films of all time. It is just a classic. Just the camera going down the hallway is creepy as hell. I have never actually read Stephen King's The Shining, and I honestly don't know if I really want to after seeing this movie. I've heard that the book is better, but what could be better than this movie? Here is one of my favorite scenes...



Full Metal Jacket

Poor Private Pile....you can't help but feel bad for him. In one of my film classes people had to show film clips from certain genres each week, and my week was war films, so naturally I showed a clip from Full Metal Jacket. Well, to be honest I wanted to show a clip from The Deer Hunter, but they said I couldn't so Full Metal Jacket was my second choice. So, I showed the Mickey Mouse scene from the end. Like all Kubrick films, this film is just loaded with brilliant scenes, one of the most memorable being right at the beginning.

Kenneth Branagh as Laurence Olivier

Since first reading about My Week With Marilyn, I thought that Kenneth Branagh was a very good choice to play one of my favorite actors, Sir Laurence Olivier. They are both Shakespearean actors who have played a lot of the same roles, and I thought that Branagh was a very good fit (even though Olivier was much better looking...) I am super excited for this movie now after seeing this photo! He looks just like Olivier in The Prince and the Showgirl!!!


Laurence Olivier

It is uncanny!!! Now I'm just curious to see how Julia Ormond will look as Vivien Leigh because, to be honest, I don't think that she looks anything like her...

"I cannot live without my life..."

"I pray one prayer - I repeat it till my tongue stiffens - Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you - haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts HAVE wandered on earth. Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul"

Spotlight On: Alfred Hitchcock

This week's spotlight is on the master of suspense himself, Mr. Alfred Hitchcock. He is one of my favorite directors, and I have liked all of the movies of his that I have seen. He has directed some of my favorite actors including Laurence Olivier, James Stewart, Ingrid Bergman, and Cary Grant, and directed one of my all time favorite horror films, Psycho. What is really odd is that he has directed tons of brilliant films, and yet he has never won an Oscar for best director. How messed up is that? Anyways, here are my favorite Hitchcock films in chronological order.

Rebecca

This is the only one of Hitchcock's films to win best picture at the Oscars, and it is also in my top five favorites of his. It is about a woman who works as a companion to an old rich lady who falls in love and marries a rich man. While it seems like a fairy tale, she soon discovers that his mansion is haunted by the memory his ex-wife. One of the most chilling scenes is when Ms. Danvers is trying to convince the new wife to kill herself.



Spellbound

I am a huge Ingrid Bergman fan, so I really liked this one. It is about a therapist played by Bergman who is trying to help Gregory Peck get back his memory so that he can figure out if he killed someone or not. The most interesting parts of this film are the dream sequences, which were designed by Salvador Dali.



Notorious

I adore this film! It features three actors that I really love: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains. It is also probably Hitchcock's most romantic film. I love that it shows how sneaky he was when it came to the Production Code. It was a rule that kisses couldn't be longer than three seconds, so instead of having Grant and Bergman do one long kiss, they did a bunch of little kisses instead.



Rope

What makes this movie really interesting is that the whole movie seems like one long take because it is only one set, and there is very little editing. It is about these two guys who kill their friend, put him in a chest, then throw a party for their friends with the dead body still in the room. One of them is calm and collected, but Farley Granger is very nervous the whole time. James Stewart plays their former teacher who ends up getting very suspicious of them.



Strangers on a Train

Another film dealing with murder, this one is about two complete strangers who meet on a train and decide that their lives would be easier if they each killed someone for each other. While Farley Granger is nervous about the whole thing, and doesn't really want to kill anyone, the other man goes through with his end of the bargain, and makes Granger's character's life hell.



Rear Window

Another film with the great James Stewart, this is a suspense film that I would definitely call "heart-pounding." I mean the scene towards the end where he looks through his binoculars and sees the murderer looking back at him literally made me gasp, and I was going "oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit" from that moment until the end of the movie.



The Man Who Knew Too Much

This is actually a remake of one of Hitchcock's own films that starred Peter Lorre. I've never seen that one, but I did like this version with James Stewart and Doris Day. It is about a family who travels to Morocco, and the husband ends up finding out about an assassination plot. Then their son gets kidnapped and they have to find him and stop the assassination. The best scene in the movie is when the mother attempts to find her son by having him overhear her sing.



The Wrong Man

I was actually getting really frustrated while watching this movie. Its about a man who gets mistaken for a different man who robbed a bank and a few stores. What's worse is that he is a super nice guy who doesn't want any trouble and is just worrying about calling his wife the whole time. I was really pissed off at those stupid bank tellers during this whole movie because they just destroyed this guys life and made his wife go crazy,  and then when they find the real guy at the end it doesn't even look like Henry Fonda!!!



Vertigo

Hitchcock + James Stewart = Brilliance! This was actually the first Hitchcock movie that I had seen. While it is filled with tons of great scenes, my favorite was always the bell tower scene.



North By Northwest

Here Hitchcock does another film about mistaken identity. Except instead of being mistaken for a criminal, criminals mistake him for a government agent. This film is probably best known for the crop duster scene which you can find HERE. Some of my favorite scenes are the drunk driving scene, and pretty much all scenes with Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint together.

Psycho

Now onto my favorite Hitchcock film, Psycho. I love Anthony Perkins' performance as nice guy/ momma's boy/ serial killer Norman Bates. I just love how even though he is a serial killer, a part of you still doesn't want him to get caught. The best known scene is definitely the shower scene, and the ending is also brilliant.




The Birds

"They're coming!" Before I saw this movie, I thought that the concept was somewhat rediculous, but I ended up really liking this movie. There are actually parts that are pretty scary, like when Jessica Tandy finds the guy with his eyes pecked out. Yeesh!



Marnie

Another film he did with Tippi Hendren, Marnie is about a psychologically disturbed girl (who is also a thief) who marries a guy who wants to help her. What is interesting about Sean Connery's character is that even though he seems like a good guy, he also has his bad side. I love the ending of this movie, but I couldn't find it anywhere on Youtube. This is the only scene that I could find, but it's a good one because it shows Connery's flawed character.



Here is a really neat video that I found of Hitchcock speaking.

Wuthering Heights in Film

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights is one of my all-time favorite love stories. I love it because it is not your typical romance. It features deeply flawed and somewhat unlikable characters, has revenge as a major plot point, and has an unhappy ending. Despite of this, or maybe even because of this, Wuthering Heights is a very beloved novel and has been adapted for the screen over a dozen times. While I haven't seen every version, these are the versions that I have seen.

(1939)

This was the first version I had seen, and was the film that made me fall in love with this story. It gets a lot of criticism because it only covers half of the book, but I really don't care. If it did cover the whole book it would have either been twice as long, or it would have had to cut out a lot of stuff and I wouldn't change a thing about this film. Merle Oberon is great as Cathy. When I first saw this movie I thought that she was a total bitch, and that is basically what Cathy is. She is completely selfish, and I think that Oberon does a great job portraying her that way. Geraldine Fitzgerald is also great as Isabella. I love how you see her go through such a transformation. She goes from foolish lovesick girl, to broken and sad, and thinking that it would benefit her if Cathy dies. The reason why this film is so great, however, is because of Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff. He plays the different sides of Heathcliff perfectly, both the heartbroken side and the vengeful side. The shot of him looking down when he overhears Cathy say that it would degrade her to marry him was enough to break my heart and make me burst into tears. So, even though this isn't the most accurate adaptation of the novel, it will always be my favorite.




(1967)

If you're looking for a movie to entertain you, this probably isn't the best version to choose. It is very dated and the film quality isn't that great. This is the version that is closest to the novel, however, so I guess this is the one to watch if you're too lazy to read the book for a class or something. Probably the biggest difference was pushing the entire frame story to the very end. I was getting quite annoyed with Cathy in the first part of this, but Cathy is supposed to be a brat. I thought that Ian McShane's portrayal of Heathcliff was a bit odd until he came back after getting his riches. He was much better as rich Heathcliff than stableboy Heathcliff. This version also has both generations, which is cool. They have the same woman play Cathy and Catherine (also done in the 1992 version), which I suppose they did to give they actress more screen time even though Catherine isn't supposed to look like her mom. It took me a while to get into this one, but I did end up liking it.

(1970)

This is another version that covers only the first half of the book. While I do like Timothy Dalton (he has that great deep voice), he is really not my favorite Heathcliff. I suppose its more the screenwriter's fault, but basically all he does in this movie is cry or not say anything. He also does this thing where he pushes Cathy whenever they start to have a tender moment. Like their faces will get close, so you think that they're going to kiss, and then he pushes her against a wall, or pushes her on the ground. It's somewhat odd. There was one part in this movie that didn't really shock me, but surprised the hell out of me, because I really wasn't expecting it. It's the part when Heathcliff is kissing Isabella and I forget what word he used but he basically asks her to have sex with him. I was like "whaaaaaat???!?" It was out of nowhere... One thing that really bugged me about his was that they didn't really have the two big speeches from the novel. Both the "I am Heathcliff" and the "I cannot live without my life" speeches were really cut short, and the latter wasn't really said at all. Lame. It also doesn't have the frame story at all. No "let me in!" Hmm...



(1992)

This one really plays up Heathcliff's grumpy side. Yes, Heathcliff treats Isabella like shit, but in this one he smacks her around and is a really big shithead. I do think that Ralph Fiennes makes a great Heathcliff though, and does his brooding side justice. This movie crams both generation stories into a two hour film, so it does leave out a lot, and Nelly is pretty unimportant in this film. What I love about this movie is that even though Juliette Binoche is all giggly and that is kind of annoying, she does say the entire "I am Heathcliff speech."




(1998)

This is my least favorite (normal) version that I have seen. A part of me thinks that it has something to do with me being shallow because this version has the worst looking Heathcliff, but I also just didn't care for this movie in general. Even though Robert Cavanagh is around the same age as several other actors who have played Heathcliff, he just seems way too old. I also didn't really care for the fact that he shouted the beginning of the "I cannot live without my life" speech. Probably the best thing about this movie was Matthew Macfadyen as Hareton.



(2003)

This was an odd one to see. It's MTV's modern day sort-of musical version of Wuthering Heights. It wasn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be, but it is still not that great. They've updated all the names so Heathcliff becomes Heath, Edgar becomes Edward, Hindley becomes Hendrix (wtf?), and so on. This movie was just really corny, and the songs were not good at all, and pretty much the only plus side is that Mike Vogel is really nice looking. It is a good think that they didn't update both generations because at the end they have Cathy's/ Kate's baby daddy be Heath instead of Edward. So Heath would be trying to set up half-siblings instead of cousins. Eeeeeew. There is only one part that has any hint of writing from Emily Bronte, and that is when Kate says "I am Heath." While there have been good modern-day versions of classic literature like Clueless and 10 Things I Hate About You, the MTV version of Wuthering Heights does not make that list.



(2009)

Even though I do have a lot of criticisms of this version, it is my second favorite adaptation. Tom Hardy is awesome as Heathcliff, and it also features Andrew Lincoln as my favorite Edgar from any Wuthering Heights film. He is so handsome and sweet, and makes you almost understand why she would leave Heathcliff and marry him. My one major criticism of this movie is that they make Cathy too nice!!! Cathy is supposed to be a selfish brat, and she doesn't come across that way at all in this movie. They even change one of the most important parts to make her feel more sympathetic. Instead of Heathcliff overhearing her tell Nelly that Edgar asked her to marry him, they have her tell him instead. Then, when she is telling Nelly about it, she seems all bummed out about it as if she is being forced to marry Edgar, which just doesn't make sense at all. Other than that though, I do really like this version. It has my favorite cast for the second generation of characters, and I like it enough to forgive that it excludes the frame story.




(2011)

This movie is supposed to be released in the UK in September, and yet I have not found a trailer or even a production still from this movie. It is directed by Andrea Arnold, who directed a movie I really liked called Fish Tank, and stars a bunch of actors that I have never heard before. The cast has actually changed quite a bit since it first started being made. The first I heard about it was when it was supposed to star Ed Westwick and Gemma Arterton, which would have been great! Even better would have been Michael Fassbender and Abbie Cornish who were set to star even before that. Natalie Portman was even in talks to play Cathy Earnshaw at one point. What makes this version so intriguing is that Heathcliff is going to be played by a black actor named James Howson. In the book, Heathcliff is described as dark skinned, but that is because he is a gyspy, not because he is black. Regardless of this, I do think it is cool to have a not-white actor in a film like this because you rarely ever see that. Hopefully there will be a trailer for this movie sometime in the near future because I am super anxious to see it!

Spotlight On: Laurence Olivier

This week's spotlight is on Sir Laurence Olivier, a man who is often considered to be one of the greatest actors of all time, and certainly one of the greatest Shakespearean actors. While I do love him in his Shakespeare roles, I love him even more in the other types of films that he is done. In his younger years he played a lot of literary romantic heroes, and in his older years he played some great villains. He has worked with some of my favorite directors, like Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick, and has also appeared in film adaptations of some of my favorite books. As a bonus, in his younger days, he was also incredibly handsome... Here are some of my favorite films/ roles of his.

Fire Over England

This was the first film that Olivier did with his (future) wife Vivien Leigh. It is said that it was during this film that they first fell in love and became the Brad and Angelina of their time. Here Olivier plays a British man who becomes a spy for Queen Elizabeth. While I didn't much care for this movie as a whole, I thought that Flora Robson was a great Elizabeth, and that the scenes with Larry and Viv were cute.



The Divorce of Lady X

I thought that it was funny to see Olivier in this kind of role, because you don't see him much in romantic comedies. This is the type of role that you would normally see Cary Grant in. Having said that, I thought that this movie was actually really funny, and made me wish that Larry would have done more roles like this. My favorite scene was when he was first talking to the man who he believed was Merle Oberon's husband. Whats really neat about this movie is that its the only color picture that I've seen with him when he was this young.



Wuthering Heights

Now onto my favorite film adaptation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. I love love love this movie and have probably posted about it a million or so times already. Olivier is wonderful as Heathcliff, a man who goes from lovesick stable boy to revenge seeking aristocrat after the love of his life abandons him to marry a rich man. And even though the words are changed a little, he is my favorite actor to ever recite Heathcliff's "I cannot live without my life" speech.





Rebecca

In 1940, Olivier starred in one of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock films. He plays a rich man who is still haunted by the memory of his dead wife, even after remarrying.





Pride and Prejudice

In this adaptation of Jane Austen's famous novel, Olivier, of course, plays Mr. Darcy. Although I was disappointed in how they made Mr. Darcy's aunt seem like a good guy in this version, I do really like this movie. Oliver made a perfect Mr. Darcy.



That Hamilton Woman

Here is another film that paired Olivier and Vivien Leigh, who by this time was his wife. This movie was very gloomy and had an unhappy ending for both characters, but like Fire Over England, I loved all the scenes with the two of them together.



Henry V

Not my favorite of Shakespeare's plays, but Olivier is great as the title character. What's neat about this movie is that it starts out as an actual play in the film and then transitions into the film settings. This movie also has great use of Technicolor, so it all looks amazing!



Hamlet

Laurence Olivier is the only actor to ever win an Oscar for playing a Shakespearean role, and he did so for playing Hamlet. I thought that it was odd that this version didn't include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but to be honest, if I had never read Hamlet I wouldn't have even noticed. I thought that this was a great film adaptation of the famous plays, and one of Olivier's best performances.



The Prince and the Showgirl

This is a comedy that he did with the lovely Marilyn Monroe. There is actually a movie coming out sometime this year that is about Monroe while she works on this film. Monroe will be played by Michelle Williams, and Olivier will be played by Kenneth Branagh. I thought that Branaugh was an interesting choice because he has also done a bunch of Shakespearean films. I think that this is one of Monroe's best performances, and Olivier is great as the stuffy Regent who courts her.



Spartacus

I was so disappointed when I found out that my favorite scene in this movie doesn't have Olivier's actual voice. Something was wrong with the audio when they restored this scene to the movie, so they had his voice dubbed by Anthony Hopkins because Olivier had already passed away. I must say that Hopkins does a great job, though, because I had no idea the first time I watched it. If there wasn't the stupid Production Code at the time, then this could have been in the original cut of the film, and we could hear Olivier's actual voice in this scene.



Sleuth

I love this movie! It is so cool because it only has two actors, Olivier and Michael Caine, and they are both brilliant. What I really love about this movie is that I can't really decide which one is the bad guy. I kept switching back and forth between the two. Olivier really gets to show his vicious side when he makes Caine's character think that he is going to kill him. Love it!



Marathon Man

Olivier REALLY gets vicious in this film, where he plays a Nazi who tortures Dustin Hoffman with dental tools while asking "Is it safe?" I already hate going to the dentist, and after watching this movie, it just makes me even more nervous...



Clash of the Titans

Here Olivier plays Zeus, leader of all the gods. Even though the special effects are totally cheesy, I do have to admit that this movie is kind of a guilty pleasure for me.