The 82nd Annual Academy Awards: YES!

The Academy Awards have been a tradition of Hollywood that is quickly approaching a centennial. While it has been a trademark of cinematic quality along with artistic and technical merit for a great many years, a few decades ago it began to morph. It has now become a magnificent benevolent force of karmic and political influence as well as a harbinger of quality. Political issues of race, religion, sexual orientation and other varied topics have been given their spotlight moment in the world of Hollywood every year without fail. Al Gore was even given the opportunity to further his own political agenda with the "green" 79th Academy Awards.
While this has angered some, for the most part it has met with passive indifference by most of the world who live a million miles away (in every metaphoric sense possible) from that world of cinema; with the last few years having left most in a disappointing middle-ground between anger and confusion, I was concerned that this year the Academy might actually begin the end of their reign as judges of success in Film. I was genuinely afraid that I was witnessing the end of something I had come to love dearly.
Nominations were as typical as they had been in recent years and I was frankly expecting to be horribly disappointed. Then I spied the Best Picture category. It was longer than usual, double the usual length in fact, and included, at the very top of the list, Avatar.*

At this moment I realized that this year's Oscars had a villain, an antagonist. His name was James Cameron.
Putting aside for the moment that I am no fan of James Cameron, you must examine the evidence:
This man directed and wrote a film that while popular and fun to look at, was almost universally acknowledged by critics to be a fairly mediocre film. In fact, the elements of the film conducted by James Cameron were the least admirable aspects of the film. If James Cameron were to win there would be such an outcry from critics and film enthusiasts that the Academy would not be able to live it down and we would more than likely witness the final days of the respectability of the Academy.
Luckily we were saved by a greater political endeavour: a woman, an ex-wife of Cameron's, directed a war film with, as far as I can tell, no true political agenda. I desire nothing more than to shake that woman's hand. Good thing she won!

Kathryn Bigelow showed a gracious and humble win that exemplified the dignity that is always in style. I commend her genuinely for her win and look forward to more of her work.

On the whole, the Oscars went old-school this year. The set was simplistic and classy, the wardrobe was mostly classic and not embarrassing, there was even a musical number performed by Neil Patrick Harris. On the whole the evening was as classic as I have seen the Oscars in many a year.


My favourite change this year was instead of showcasing the Best Song category through an elaborate set of performances (or a single fiasco medley as with the 81st Awards), they instead produced a dance production accompanied by the Best Score nominees. While the street dancing was sometimes awkward and out of joint with the music, there were certain numbers that worked wonderfully and the overall effect was beautiful.

While not usually enthusiastic about Steve Martin or Alec Baldwin, I do believe they genuinely improved their collective talent by having Martin return to his stand-up roots and playing up Baldwin's off-kilter humour. I was extremely impressed. The announcers for the awards were all very good in fact, with the exception of Kristin Stewart and Taylor Lautner. It was not my dislike of their acting that I resented in this particular case, it was two other things: first, that they hardly represent the Horror genre they were introducing a montage to and second, that they were incapable of taking cues and reading prompters. No big deal, a minor hiccup in the end.

My single genuine surprise for the evening: Sandra Bullock's win for Best Actress. It is not because I think she gave a lesser performance, but it was strictly uncharacteristic of the Academy to deny actresses such as Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren and especially to deny newcomers who make such a stir as Gabourey Sidibe of Precious based on the novel Push by Sapphire. I believe that Sandra Bullock has really shown her stars this year and she certainly deserved her win. Her acceptance speech was full of heart and beautifully spoken.
The same goes for Jeff Bridges who spoke with all his soul yesterday. It was a night full of class and heart.

All in all I think the Oscars pulled out of what has been an awkward rut of predictability and mediocrity. The night was wonderful and the Awards well deserved.



Congratulations everyone!


* For a more detailed explanation of my opinions on Avatar I recommend you scroll down to my review of that film. I do not think I ought to re-hash t here.

Funny People: Are we so sure?

First of all, I am aware that this is not exactly a new release, however, I was just recently made to watch it. I feel compelled to share my opinion. Funny People is simply not funny.
 I will admit that I am not the biggest fan of blue comedy and I get tired very fast of over-zealous cursing. This, however, was the least bothersome part of Funny People.
First of all, the plot isn't just one plot, it is two, or perhaps three, main plots. This results in a confusing, anti-climatic, and long film. This film is two and a half hours long, where most comedies last about 90 minutes. Here's the kicker, the DVD has an extended version, as in the two and a half hours is less than Judd Apatow wanted to show. That is scary on a whole new level seeing that this film took the better part of an hour to come to a point. How this movie is missing scenes is beyond me, it has too many already.

Adam Sandler, whose character George Simmons is supposed to be mildly unsympathetic, is intolerable. He is grim when he is supposed to be funny, and awkwardly disgusting when he is supposed to be funny. Since he is essentially playing himself, (a comedian formerly known for stand-up and increasingly known for stupid movies he has made) it strikes me that it should be rather important to maintain some sort of humanity. Not so. We end the long, arduous film by seeing him hit bottom four times in a row. He then hits the very bottom where he begins writing jokes for his once protege. While some may see this as an acceptance of humility, I see it as a last desperate act of a man who has lost integrity for everything.

Ira Wright, played by up-and-comer Seth Rogen, makes a very convincing naive play, but that's where his role in this film ends. He is the played-up naivety that is a send-up to all of Adam Sandler's jaded penis jokes. The other actors are the exact same as they are in the other Judd Apatow films they have been featured in, which means they even make the same jokes.

A singular saving grace of this film is the wonderful stand-up comedy that was peppered in. The quality of Seth Rogen's performances increased with time exactly as it was supposed to and every act conveyed the exactly the tone and theme it was supposed to. The only times I laughed were during these scenes. The rest of the film is a long succession of people I don't care about doing things I don't need to know about.

The romance, so called, in this film is more like an obsessive co-dependent and abusive relationship wherein both parties manipulate and cheat their way into affection at every turn. Leslie Mann, playing Laura, fumbles her way through an affection that cannot be understood as genuine for either her husband or her lost flame Adam Sandler. As far as I am concerned, Laura's two daughters were the finest actors in the film. They are ironically Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann's actual daughters.

Eric Bana makes a close second in both acting talent and humour in this film. Interestingly, I believe it is because Eric Bana doesn't do comedy. He is funny because he is not supposed to be within the context of the film. He plays a minor role and does it wonderfully. He is the only person in this film not infected with the maddening desire to make the people nearest you laugh at penis and fart jokes. That, and his hysterical fight scene with Adam Sandler, are the reasons this film was marginally watchable.

I retract what I said before, Eric Bana must share his titles for funniest person in the film with Marshall Mathers, also known as Eminem. This man, also not a usual favourite of mine, exhibits some of the finest comedy I have seen in motion picture history. A little quiet scene where he threatens to beat up Ray Romano. Bizarre, but highly humourous and it involves Adam Sandler making the fewest jokes of anywhere in the film.

Everyone I have asked told me this movies was "just ok, but not great" and I call them liars. This movie led me down a path of false hope where I believed that I could passively sit and mostly ignore this film. I was actively afeared and angered instead. If any of you are followers of wise men voice by Frank Oz, you know what fear and anger lead to.




Have a good night.


Liz