Anyone that knows me well knows that I'm a pretty big movie fan. I've been one since I was a kid, when my mom used to take me to see a movie every Sunday. From the age of about 8 to around 15, I saw more movies than many people see in a lifetime. We saw everything. Well, okay, not literally everything, but almost everything. My mom didn't like horror movies, so we rarely saw one of those. Although, for some reason, I do remember being taken to see "Alien," "Friday the 13th", and "Fright Night." My mom, bless her heart, even took me to see "Pink Floyd The Wall" in 1982. For those of you who haven't seen "The Wall", it's a musical with no dialogue, only the music of Pink Floyd, and extremely hard to understand if you aren't familiar with the original album.
"How did you like the movie?" I asked my mom once it was over.
"I hated it. I couldn't wait for it to be over." she replied. Still, I really have to give her credit for taking me to see it and sitting through it.
Even once I became a adult, I still saw a lot of movies. I used to go with my ex-wife to see all kinds of movies. We'd even drive an hour to some little art house theater on the outskirts of L.A. to see a movie that wasn't showing anywhere else. We were real movie geeks.
With two kids, those days are pretty much over. I rarely get a chance to get out to see a movie lately, unless it's a movie I can take Sara to, like "Wall E" or "Kung Fu Panda." If I want to see a "grown up" movie, I have to have a negotiation with Christy. She doesn't particularly like to be left alone during the day watching the kids while I'm out seeing a movie, so I have to agree to watch the kids at another time while she does something that she wants to do, like go shopping at Ross. So, I'm lucky if I can catch one movie every other month or so.
I also used to enjoy watching the Academy Awards every year, usually because I had always seen every movie that was nominated for Best Picture. So what are the nominees this year?
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Milk"
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
I haven't seen ANY of these movies!
In looking over all of the acting categories, I've only seen two of the movies mentioned: "The Dark Knight" and "Tropic Thunder"
Although I haven't seen the movies nominated for Best Picture, I'm a bit puzzled why "The Dark Knight" wasn't nominated. That was a near-perfect example of what an Oscar caliber movie should be. I'm pretty sure Heath Ledger will win as Best Supporting Actor for that movie. He stole every single scene that he was in.
"Frost/Nixon" just doesn't sound very interesting to me. Two hours of David Frost interviewing Richard Nixon, trying to get him to confess his involvement in the Watergate scandal? That's something I would watch on HBO, but not pay $10 to see at a movie theater. Same goes for all the others, except for maybe "Benjamin Button." I might try to see that just because I like the previous work of director David Fincher.
The Academy Awards has a pretty shaky reputation with me. It seems like a rare occasion when they pick what I consider to be the best film of the year. Consider some of their past mistakes:
They picked "Annie Hall" over "Star Wars" in 1977. Ok, "Annie Hall" IS a great movie, but "Star Wars" was a phenomenon that broke all the boundaries of special effects.
They picked "Chariots of Fire" over "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in 1982. "Chariots of Fire"??
"Out of Africa" instead of "The Color Purple" in 1985.
"Driving Miss Daisy" instead of "Born on the Fourth of July" in 1989. What the f--- were they thinking?
"Dances With Wolves" instead of "Goodfellas" in 1990. I thought "Dances With Wolves" was good, but "Goodfellas" is freakin' GREAT.
"Forrest Gump" instead of "Pulp Fiction" AND "The Shawshank Redemption" in 1994. "Forrest Gump" is a decent film, but better than either "Pulp Fiction" or "Shawshank"? Hardly.
"The English Patient" instead of "Fargo" in 1996.
"Shakespeare in Love" instead of "Saving Private Ryan" in 1998. This is by far the biggest joke in the history of the Academy Awards.
I started to lose my confidence in those award shows after that. Although, to give them credit, they did get it right a few times: Schindlers List, Braveheart, Titanic, Gladiator, The Departed, The Godfather, and Lord of the Rings were all worthy winners.
So, I'll probably watch the show again this year, thought I'm not sure why. Just one of those yearly traditions I guess.
"How did you like the movie?" I asked my mom once it was over.
"I hated it. I couldn't wait for it to be over." she replied. Still, I really have to give her credit for taking me to see it and sitting through it.
Even once I became a adult, I still saw a lot of movies. I used to go with my ex-wife to see all kinds of movies. We'd even drive an hour to some little art house theater on the outskirts of L.A. to see a movie that wasn't showing anywhere else. We were real movie geeks.
With two kids, those days are pretty much over. I rarely get a chance to get out to see a movie lately, unless it's a movie I can take Sara to, like "Wall E" or "Kung Fu Panda." If I want to see a "grown up" movie, I have to have a negotiation with Christy. She doesn't particularly like to be left alone during the day watching the kids while I'm out seeing a movie, so I have to agree to watch the kids at another time while she does something that she wants to do, like go shopping at Ross. So, I'm lucky if I can catch one movie every other month or so.
I also used to enjoy watching the Academy Awards every year, usually because I had always seen every movie that was nominated for Best Picture. So what are the nominees this year?
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Milk"
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
I haven't seen ANY of these movies!
In looking over all of the acting categories, I've only seen two of the movies mentioned: "The Dark Knight" and "Tropic Thunder"
Although I haven't seen the movies nominated for Best Picture, I'm a bit puzzled why "The Dark Knight" wasn't nominated. That was a near-perfect example of what an Oscar caliber movie should be. I'm pretty sure Heath Ledger will win as Best Supporting Actor for that movie. He stole every single scene that he was in.
"Frost/Nixon" just doesn't sound very interesting to me. Two hours of David Frost interviewing Richard Nixon, trying to get him to confess his involvement in the Watergate scandal? That's something I would watch on HBO, but not pay $10 to see at a movie theater. Same goes for all the others, except for maybe "Benjamin Button." I might try to see that just because I like the previous work of director David Fincher.
The Academy Awards has a pretty shaky reputation with me. It seems like a rare occasion when they pick what I consider to be the best film of the year. Consider some of their past mistakes:
They picked "Annie Hall" over "Star Wars" in 1977. Ok, "Annie Hall" IS a great movie, but "Star Wars" was a phenomenon that broke all the boundaries of special effects.
They picked "Chariots of Fire" over "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in 1982. "Chariots of Fire"??
"Out of Africa" instead of "The Color Purple" in 1985.
"Driving Miss Daisy" instead of "Born on the Fourth of July" in 1989. What the f--- were they thinking?
"Dances With Wolves" instead of "Goodfellas" in 1990. I thought "Dances With Wolves" was good, but "Goodfellas" is freakin' GREAT.
"Forrest Gump" instead of "Pulp Fiction" AND "The Shawshank Redemption" in 1994. "Forrest Gump" is a decent film, but better than either "Pulp Fiction" or "Shawshank"? Hardly.
"The English Patient" instead of "Fargo" in 1996.
"Shakespeare in Love" instead of "Saving Private Ryan" in 1998. This is by far the biggest joke in the history of the Academy Awards.
I started to lose my confidence in those award shows after that. Although, to give them credit, they did get it right a few times: Schindlers List, Braveheart, Titanic, Gladiator, The Departed, The Godfather, and Lord of the Rings were all worthy winners.
So, I'll probably watch the show again this year, thought I'm not sure why. Just one of those yearly traditions I guess.
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