Rufus Wainwright

I saw Wolfman on preview last week and it's pretty good. But not something that I'd rush out to buy, it's ok to veg out to.

There wasn't that much out at the cinema this week so we opted for Valentines Day, mainly because it stars Patrick Dempsey and Bradley Cooper. ****The rest may contain spoilers****

I enjoyed it for what it was, but why did Dempsey's character have to be a bas**rd? The one thing that did annoy me was all the characters has a kiss. Every single one, except for Julia Roberts who's Valentines was maternal so...but they had Eric Dane and Bradley Cooper as a gay couple who you don't realise are together right until the end, you sort of think that Cooper and Roberts are going to end up together. And what do the gay couple get? Cooper rubbing a flower along his cheek. Now it was very sweet and lovely but it just stood out for me that that was the only couple in the film not to kiss and it happened to be the gay couple.

It was also fun to play the 'References to Pretty Woman Game'. Garry Marshall ("What the hell are you doing Fontana!That's not bad"), Hector Elizondo, Julia Roberts, Larry Miller ("There are five levels of drinking. Six if you live in a trailer park"), The Beverley Wilshire.

Soo

I saw A Single Man yesterday and I loved it. Colin Firth in brilliant in it and the ending

S

P

O

I

L

E

R

is so tragic. Visually beautiful.

Soo

So Jeff Bridges won for Crazy Heart. About time. A well deserved standing ovation. Although they do seem to give standing ovations to everyone now so they don't really mean as much when they genuinely should be given.   Also the 5 stars talking about the actor/actress that was nominated was too long. It is the big award of the night so maybe that's why it was done that way but talking about the nominees you had Michelle Pffifer, Julianne Moore, Vera Farmiga, Tim Robbins and Colin Farrell although all of them besides Vera Farmiga has worked with Bridges! (The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Big Lebowski, Arlington Road and Crazy Heart).

My favourite bit of the night though had to be the John Hughes tribute. It was well deserved albeit a bit late. All the clips of his work showed how many people in that audience had worked with him at some point including the two hots, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. The montage was great with the last line being so apt 'I've said it before and I'll say it again. Life moved pretty fast, if you don't stop and take a look around once in awhile you could miss it'. And then see the cast from The Breakfast Club and Duckie (Jon Cryer) and Ferris was brilliant.

 

Have you seen Crazy Heart Soo? It looks good. I enjoyed Jeff Bridges being interviewed on JR recently - what a cool man

I saw The Shawshank Redemption for the first time yesterday! Yes, it's taken me this long to watch it! I absolutely loved it. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman both gave brilliantly understated performances and it was a clever, moving and uplifting film. I enjoyed it so much that I bought it on dvd today. Will be watching that one again for sure!

---

If for kindness you substitute blindness

please open your eyes

I haven't seen it yet, but I'd like to. I heard it was supposed to come out on the 26th Feb but I think it came out properly on Friday (5th March) around here. It'll be another trip in to Birmingham to see it though like I did with A Single Man and An Education. It's a pain!

The JR interview was good, he's very relaxed. Out of all the characters he's played it's always been said that he is most like The Dude in The Big Lebowski. And apparently the jelly sandles he wore in the movie were his own!LOL. And he's a bit of a renaissance man. He takes photos on the movie he's working on and he brought out an album a few years ago called Be Here Soon.

****MAY CONTAIN SPOLIERS FOR AN EDUCATION****

I loved Peter Sarsgaard's speech about carey Mulligan. Where he said something like 'I've worked with Carey twice, once on stage and once on screen. I'm affaid I wasn't very nice to her. I'm sorry, I should have told you I was married.' LOL. A reference to his charcater in An Education turning out to be married. (out on DVD today, folks!)

I saw the Shawshank Redemption quite a few years ago and I can't really remember it that much! I'll have to try and see if I can watch it again.

I have been angry all day that Colin Firth didn't win the Oscar for A Single Man. I haven't seen a performance that intense and beautiful for a long time, it was perfect. Maybe I can't judge because I haven't seen Crazy Heart yet, but it does seem that the Academy are awarding actors and actresses the Oscar after they've failed to give it to them years before and it's "their time." Like Kate Winslet last year- wonderful performance but Angelina Jolie in Changeling was unbelievably incredible and better than Kate.

On the topic of The Shawshank Redemption, I cannot begin to describe how amazing that film is! It's easily in my top 10 all time favourites. The scene with Brooks (you know what I mean if you've seen it) made me wail like a baby the first time I saw it. It was kind of scary- I was crying so much I wasn't sure if I would ever get my breath back.

I think Jeff Bridges deserved to win the Oscar. When I went to see Crazy Heart, it didn't feel like I was watching a movie at all..it was like you were right there with these very, very real people. I agree with Choola about Colin Firth's great performance but I was a bit more affected by Mr. Bridge's tour de force. I also wish there were 2 awards for best actress because Meryl Streep's  "Julia Child" was spot on!

I love Colin Firth, but there was no way he was gonna win last night. and he surely knew that too. actually I found most of the broadcast last night rather boring because of the lack of surprise.

though Kathryn Bigelow winning was inspiring to see and I was honestly a tiny bit surprised at her win. not because she wasn't deserving but because well the academy... but The Hurt Locker winning best picture! HELLO! that was a bigger surprise, but I was very glad! that movie was just... oh my god.

---

"Help! Piano! I'm being strangled by a guitar!" -Ruf

I haven't seen Crazy Heart yet either but from everything I've read it's supposed to be an amazing performance worthy of an Oscar. I did love Colin Firth in A Single Man but it was always going to be Bridges. He not only gave an equally good performance but he's been making movied for over 30years and it is a recognition of all that.

The Baftas are worse than the Oscars because they always try and give the award to a Brit. there's ocassions when they know that it'd look bad if they went with the obvious Brit so it goes to George Clooney etc, but this year was Carey Mulligan. I adore An Education but she was always an outsider at the Oscars but at the Baftas she won.

 

I agree the Oscars were a bit boring this year. Some of the elements I used to enjoy have gone. Where were the songs? They just said who the winner was. It's gone from 5 songs being sang throughout the show to 5 shortened versions to nothing just the clip from the film!

And the sounds was terrible. I could barely hear what Doogie Howser was singing at the start of the show.

 

Just saw Avatar last night.

Visually, it is stunning.

I fully understand why it didn't win Oscar for best film.  After all, the Americans were defeated by a band of aboriginal people from another planet!!!!!!----In spite of the "Shock and Awe" blitz on them! And some of the Americans (or Sky People) were traitors (or unpatriotic).The Americans were not the heroes in this film!

 

This film is an allegory on the way "white" nations have treated "non white" nations, especially to get what they want! Destruction of a planet to get valuable minerals, regardless of the impact!  Sounds familiar?

I saw a great similarity with how the Canadian aboriginal population was treated by the white colonists.

I am sure there are similarities in Australia and Africa. It was a film which made me think!

---

overthehill:

Just saw Avatar last night.

Visually, it is stunning.

I fully understand why it didn't win Oscar for best film.  After all, the Americans were defeated by a band of aboriginal people from another planet!!!!!!----In spite of the "Shock and Awe" blitz on them! And some of the Americans (or Sky People) were traitors (or unpatriotic).The Americans were not the heroes in this film!

 

This film is an allegory on the way "white" nations have treated "non white" nations, especially to get what they want! Destruction of a planet to get valuable minerals, regardless of the impact!  Sounds familiar?

I saw a great similarity with how the Canadian aboriginal population was treated by the white colonists.

I am sure there are similarities in Australia and Africa. It was a film which made me think!

 

Yes Wilma, it's very familiar to us.  In fact, we think it reeks of the Pocahontas story, and also the film "Dances With Wolves", so we've titled it "Dances With The Navi".

 

Avatar also reminds me of a great animated kid's film call "Fern Gully". The movie was an absolute feast for the eyes, But the story has been done before  and handled much better, imho.

lol I never thought of the Dances with Wolves aspect but yea come to think of it... haha

but I'm glad others agree it's Pocahontas and Fern Gully rolled in there too. Especially Pocahontas. I mean the main character of Avatar, Jake Sully, even has the same initials as John Smith! and my friend showed me this rather amusing picture she saw online a while ago...

 

I'm pretty sure it didn't win best picture because, as many have said, the story isn't particularly original or deftly presented. Because Americans are the "bad guys"? That's kind of a petty reason.

Visually stunning and rather entertaining yes, thought provoking... um sure I guess. Though I'm not sure I like the whole eco-terrorism thing James Cameron claims to be supporting with this movie. The Academy had to nominate it since it's a box office behemoth and couldn't be ignored, but they realistically had to draw the line there. The other nominees had the scripts, directing and acting to back up being best picture contenders. Nobody would honestly take them seriously if Avatar had won best picture. Don't think it has to do with the fact that Americans might be portrayed badly, since the Academy isn't just comprised exclusively of American people.

---

"Help! Piano! I'm being strangled by a guitar!" -Ruf

choola:

 

On the topic of The Shawshank Redemption, I cannot begin to describe how amazing that film is! It's easily in my top 10 all time favourites. The scene with Brooks (you know what I mean if you've seen it) made me wail like a baby the first time I saw it. It was kind of scary- I was crying so much I wasn't sure if I would ever get my breath back.

Yes, I know exactly which bit you mean, and it was incredibly moving. I really, really felt for that character. One bit I loved was when Andy played music on the loudspeaker and all the prisoners just stood still listening to it. Great stuff

---

If for kindness you substitute blindness

please open your eyes

crazystairs:

lol I never thought of the Dances with Wolves aspect but yea come to think of it... haha

but I'm glad others agree it's Pocahontas and Fern Gully rolled in there too. Especially Pocahontas. I mean the main character of Avatar, Jake Sully, even has the same initials as John Smith! and my friend showed me this rather amusing picture she saw online a while ago...

 

I'm pretty sure it didn't win best picture because, as many have said, the story isn't particularly original or deftly presented. Because Americans are the "bad guys"? That's kind of a petty reason.

Visually stunning and rather entertaining yes, thought provoking... um sure I guess. Though I'm not sure I like the whole eco-terrorism thing James Cameron claims to be supporting with this movie. The Academy had to nominate it since it's a box office behemoth and couldn't be ignored, but they realistically had to draw the line there. The other nominees had the scripts, directing and acting to back up being best picture contenders. Nobody would honestly take them seriously if Avatar had won best picture. Don't think it has to do with the fact that Americans might be portrayed badly, since the Academy isn't just comprised exclusively of American people.

 

this is brilliant. sums up my feeling about Avatar completely. I just didn't have a good script. The general guy even said ' this better be quick i want to get back for my dinner' or something like that....honest to god, my jaw hit the floor. That would only be acceptable in a terrible shlocky b movie like Boa vs Python. Oi vey.

---