Personality Soup, or the Movie Characters I'm Like

I've seen this been done at a few blogs, like Andy Buckle's Film Emporium, Defiant Success and Being Norma Jeane. So like the sheep that I am, I've decided to follow suit. Mainly because I have tried to start some reviews, but I'm so tired at the moment I literally can't write anything that makes sense. So here we go, easy cure for a mild case of writer's block.

Olive Penderghast in Easy A - Okay, now this is minus the whole pretending to be a slut for money thing. I really only chose her because I want to be just like Emma Stone. No, that's only partially true. Like Olive, I use lots of big words in every day conversations (though I don't have the wit that she has). And I wish that John Hughes directed my life. We're actually really alike, I'm sure we could be best friends in a better life...

Jenny in An Education - Like Jenny, I'm pretty smart (apparently) and I'm constantly pushed to do my best in things I really can't see helping me in the future. But really, all I want to do is have a little bit of fun (though I probably won't go as far as being swept off my feet by an older man) - which is probably why I watch movies. And then I fail at school because I'd rather watch movies. Oh well, just gotta keep pushing on...

Nina Sayers in Black Swan - Maybe I just wanted to have Natalie Portman on this list. Haha. No, the thing I have in common with good old Nina is my constant drive for perfection. I want perfection everywhere, whether it's schoolwork (apart from the subjects I suck at), this blog (I don't know how that is working out so far) or just life in general. I have such an unnecessary drive for perfection that I'll probably harm myself trying to get to it.

Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind - I have a bit of Scarlett O'Hara in me, but I'd like to think I'm a bit more like Melanie. I've been told that I am pretty considerate, unselfish and kind. Which is something that I work hard to be. I'd probably give away my wedding ring if it meant helping a certain cause. In fact, I'd be right up the front helping a good cause. My motto in life is 'always think of the other person', so pretty much everything I say or do has the other person in mind. Just like our dear Melanie.

 Rebecca in Please Give - Another character whose pretty unselfish is Rebecca in Please Give. She gives all of the kindness in her heart to everyone else and doesn't leave any for herself. She's really just too busy caring for everyone else to even worry about what may be going on in her life. I'd love to think that I am generous too. But as far away from being selfish as I can get, the better off I'll be.


Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada - Along with my kindness comes a complete inability to stand up for myself. Now, there's no Miranda Priestly type figure in my life, but I work too hard and sometimes that means that I am forced into decisions that I don't want to make. Any person would fight for their right, but not me. I just back out and run for the hills or go with it. Usually the latter. Oh, and I like to write, so I guess we have that in common.


So there's my personality, what's yours like?

A Conversation with Whomever Voted at the MTV Movie Awards

I didn't watch the MTV Movie Awards, and no, I wasn't particularly interested in them all. It doesn't take any shine off my boots to know that Eclipse beat Inception for the top prize. Because after all, it's just a bunch of teenage girls voting like, a million times for a movie which they think is a masterpiece. I voted, and I didn't vote for that vampire shit. I was the one who voted for Inception in every bloody category.

So anyway, I'm going to be a whole raft of made-up people explaining why the one that won was the best possible choice (just imagine the most obnoxious voice ever, and just imagine that I'm the dumbest person in the world).

(BTW, I saw X-Men: First Class today. There'll be a review up within the next couple of days, but I felt this post was a 'spirit of the moment' kinda thing, y'know?)

BEST MOVIE: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

OMG, like, Eclipse is sooooo intense. The love triangle between Bella and Edward and Jacob is sooooo realistic. I mean, Edward's a vampire and Jacob's a werewolf. Which one should Bella take? That's a huge decision for her. But I hate Bella, coz it should be me who has those two guys fighting over me. Bella is so ugly, you know what I'm saying? Edward and Jacob are so HAWWWWWT. Like, when you have people that HAWWWWT in a movie then how can it not win? Yeah, that's why it one, bitches, coz it has hot guys in it.

BEST ACTOR: Robert Pattinson - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

It was a really hard decision between Taylor and R-Pattz. They were both really amazing in their roles. I mean, I could not understand that Jesse fella in that movie about Facebook. He talked too fast. He was way better in that movie with Kristen Stewart coz she's my idol. Harry Potter is just so gay, coz he has glasses and they make his face look weird. Zac Efron shouldn't be in any other movies coz he's always Troy Bolton to me (ILY 4EVA ZAC xoxo). Anyways, I chose R-Pattz coz he's really white and he looks perfect. Taylor just got too much muscle for one girl to handle, you know what I mean?

BEST ACTRESS: Kristen Stewart - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

That Natalie Portman already won an Oscar for her performance so she don't need another one. Kristen Stewart is so amazing. She really knows how to act, coz she keeps doing weird things with her eyes and hair. That shows real acting skills. I don't even care if Natalie learnt how to dance. I could learn how to dance. As for the other chicks in this category, they don't even compare to K-Stew. Coz they ain't got two hot guys fighting over them.

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE: Emma Stone - Easy A

(this is actually me talking now) Well done, voters. At least you didn't choose Ashton Kutcher.

BEST SCARED AS S**T PERFORMANCE: Ellen Page - Inception

(back to the obnoxious people) I didn't even see Buried, Piranha, The Last Exorcism or The Roommate. So I'll just pick Inception because that movie really confused me and I'd be as scared as shit if I was in that because I wouldn't get what's happening. And OMG I'd be scared if someone blew up Paris while I was in it!!!!!!

BEST LINE FROM A MOVIE: "I wanna get chocolate wasted!" - Grown Ups

Grown Ups is like, the funniest movie since Norbit!!!!!! And I like, so totally use this line all the time because I like chocolate. ROFL!!!!

BEST BREAK-OUT STAR: Chloe Moretz

Kick-Ass was really scary to watch coz there was so much blood and they kept beating up the real hot guy who was wearing the funny green condom. But that chick who played Hit-Girl was pretty awesome. She's so young too, and I thought she owned in that movie. And like, it's really hard being 11 years old, which is why  I thought she wanted to kill so many people. I felt like we could relate there!

BEST VILLAIN: Tom Felton - HP7PT1

I was gonna vote for that Mickey Rourke fella coz I thought he was pretty mean towards plastic surgery. I mean, like, seriously? He freaks me out more than when Jacob and Bella kissed! But then I was like, no, I have watched Harry Potter so I gotta vote for that good looking blonde guy.

BEST KISS: Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

I don't even care if two of the hottest chicks ever kissed in some ballet movie. I don't even care if Hermione and Harry kissed after all those years of being wizards. I don't even care if that guy from 3rd Rock from the Sun had a cheeky kiss with Juno. I don't even care if Jacob and Bella kissed. What matters is Edward and Bella kissed coz they love each other!!!! TEAM EDWARD FOR LIFE XOXO

BEST FIGHT: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

So, Inception had a fight scene without gravity? The Fighter had that cutsie chick from Enchanted battling seven annoying sisters? An 11 year old beat the crap out of some old gangster? Pffffft, that has nothing on my boy Edward going up against Victoria and Riley. Victoria was going to kill Bella! Edward did it out of true love! TEAM EDWARD FOR LIFE XOXO

BEST JAW-DROPPING MOMENT: Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

Some guy cuts off his own arm? That's nothing compared to Justin Bieber! He's just so amazing. Yes, I am a Belieber! And us Belieber's have got to stick together for our boy Biebs because he's so hot! When I'm not in love with R-Pattz, I'm all for you, Justin! I love you! I want to marry you! I'm going to stalk you!

BIGGEST BAD-ASS STAR: Chloe Moretz - Kick-Ass

So, like, two years ago, I wore a purple wig to this party and it made my cheekbones look fat. And then I saw Chloe Moretz in Kick-Ass. She wore a purple wig. And her cheekbones did not look fat! OMG that is so bad-ass.

Anyway. I know that the MTV Movie Awards are a load of crap. And I'm sorry if I have offended any Beliebers, Team Edward's or chocolate wasted people with my poor characterization. Truly, I am. But you brought this on yourself.

Top 10 lessons I learned in 2010 movies.

Last year we may have seen some crap movies being released, but at least we can feel happy in saying that we have learnt 10 valuable lessons which we can apply to everyday life. Okay...maybe that is going a bit far, but once you read this, you’ll be jumping for joy that you now know these things. And my teachers say I don’t learn anything from movies...

10. ‘Women in the Middle East really wear ridiculously expensive clothes under their burqas.’

Movie: Sex and the City 2
If there is a way to get a message about female liberation into a mainstream Hollywood movie, then, by all means, make a group of Middle Eastern women wear designer clothing under their burqas and shove it in an overlong sequel to the Godmother of chick flicks. Because that is not only the most ridiculous thing ever, but it is also the funniest thing about that horrendous movie. While you’re at it, throw in whole lot of other digs on the Middle Eastern race and make a whole lot of jokes around that bad representation. Well done, you are almost as funny as a dog eating a pair of $650 Prada boots.

9. ‘Saying goodbye to toys is the hardest thing you’ll ever have to do.'

Movie: Toy Story 3
Luckily, I’ve never had to experience this as I just locked my toys away in my closet (where they are undoubtedly trapped up 10 tonnes of dust...ew). But watching that glorious PIXAR creation made me come to the conclusion that there is one thing I never want to do: say goodbye to my toys. So many great memories! And if I couldn’t handle watching the great parting in a movie (I think I used a whole box of tissues at the end), then I certainly can’t handle it in real life.

8. ‘Need to plant an idea during a ten hour flight? Just buy the whole airline...it’s neater.’

Movie: Inception
If you are planning to plant an idea in someone’s head, while going through many layers of dreams to get there, you are going to need a long plane ride so the mark has no idea. While you’re practical point man may suggest just buying out the whole cabin in a 747 plane, plus the first class flight attendant (who also happens to be Christopher Nolan’s cousin), there is no need to be so plain. Just make sure you have a rich Japanese businessman on the team so he can buy the airline, because ‘it seemed neater’. Thank him by getting him shot by the mark’s subconscious, having a woman-whose-actually-a-man hit on him and then sending him to limbo, where he gets remarkably wrinkly. Once he wakes up, stare at him for ages, and then he will get you back to your family. What can we say? You get your time’s worth with this guy.

7. ‘Vampires are made out of cement.’

Movie: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
In the first movie, we discover that vampires can go out in the sunlight and not burst in flames. In the second movie, we discover that werewolves don’t like to wear shirts. In this movie, we discover that when you kill a vampire (by going on one of those head-to-head rampages Lord of the Rings styles), they break like cement. Hmmmmm, I always knew they were dead creatures, but do they really turn into cement? Reason #5689 to believe True Blood more than this shonky Twilight series.

6. ‘Don’t just be a slut. Be a super slut!’

Movie: Easy A
Or, rather, this lesson should be ‘lie to advance your financial standing’. Olive lies to lose her virginity, which helps get her attention. Then she helps her friend lie about his sexuality to get him more attention. Then she helps a whole lot of other guys lie about how they got the girl so she can get a label maker. All while doing this, she dresses in some ‘whore couture’ and symbolizes herself with a red ‘A’ for ‘adulterer’. She could have just stopped at the first lie, but she went all the way. All without losing her V-card. Go Olive!

5. ‘Always keep a long jersey in the safe.’

Movie: 4.3.2.1.
For those of you haven’t seen the film (i.e. most of you), I’ll give you a rundown on why this is such a great idea. Cassandra, who is played by the tall and beautiful up-comer Tamsin Egerton, goes to New York to not only try and get into a prestigious music school, but to meet her internet boyfriend. He doesn’t meet her as originally planned, and she goes for a bit of retail therapy to spend her sorrows away. However, her ‘internet boyfriend’ turns up at her hotel room, and they have a rather physical first date. When she wakes up in the morning, she finds that all of her clothes are gone, and she’s reduced to her smalls. But, never fear! Luckily, in the safe, she finds a pink jersey which is long enough to not be revealing. In this jersey she goes on a one woman crusade to find her clothes (when she finds out that her internet boyfriend isn’t the one she slept with...he’s really a nerd), then to seek revenge on the nerd and the thief, and then to audition for her music school (way later than her planned audition). She did this all in her trusty pink jersey. And that’s why you should always keep a jersey in the safe.

4. ‘If you want to disguise your voice as you are a superhero, PUT emphasis ON all the WRONG words.’

Movie: Kick-Ass
Whether this be just Nicolas Cage’s useless acting, or his attempt at an ‘Adam West’ impersonation, all I can say is that doesn’t make him sound tough or super at all. No, it makes him sound like an idiot. But, then again, it’s more understandable than Christian Bale’s emphysema-like voice as Batman. Either way, it’s damn annoying, and it’s further proof that Monsieur Cage needs to go back to drama school to learn how to successfully apply inflection and emphasis to his voice.

3. ‘Don’t trust the old lady who comes into the diner.’

Movie: Legion
In the most unintentionally funniest movie moment of the year, Legion gives us a lesson that we wouldn’t think of ourselves: an old lady could attack you at any given moment. Warning signs: she orders a bloody steak, she makes polite conversation, she tells you ‘all the little babies are gonna burn’. Just don’t try and be a hero, because she will bite you, then attempt to be Spiderman, before some guy shoots her. Yeah, she was supposed to be an angel. As the whole movie was supposed to be about angels, but turned out being a movie with religious undertones, B-grade horror and some more of that apocalyptic shit the Hollywood gods think we love watching.

2. ‘You can’t feed chicken to a chicken.’

Movie: The Social Network
Forced cannibalism. One of the many themes which are part of the amazingness that is The Social Network. I mean, who would have thought ‘the Facebook movie’ would have so many great messages? I never knew you couldn’t feed chicken to a chicken. Poor Eduardo, he seemed so down when this story got out. But in his defence, he had thought about it: “Don't fish eat other fish? The marlins and the trouts!” This was the best of the many lessons I learned throughout this film, which include: Girls will actually like Mark, even if he is a nerd, but they won’t because he is an asshole; We lived in cities, then farms, and now on the internet; and that dating Mark Zuckerberg is like dating a Stairmaster. So much for this movie being as interesting as a photo album called ‘Random’!

1. ‘Pacman was originally called Puck-man.’

Movie: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
In Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, we learnt that bread makes you fat, chicken is not vegan and the ‘L’ word is in fact lesbian, but none of those lessons were as valuable as Pacman’s true origins. “Did you know that the original name for Pac-Man was Puck-Man? You'd think it was because he looks like a hockey puck but it actually comes from the Japanese phrase 'Paku-Paku,' which means to flap one's mouth open and closed. They changed it because they thought Puck-Man would be too easy to vandalize, you know, like people could just scratch off the P and turn it into an F or whatever.”...Scott Pilgrim’s favourite pick up line, which is so interesting that he got to date Ramona Flowers (I’m joking, it failed...lesson #55 of this movie: never use that as a pick up line). As Kim would say: “Scott, if your life had a face, I would punch it.”

Cinema--Easy A

or: Hughes for this generation.

One word to sum it up: Smart.

I have been looking forward to seeing Easy A ever since I first heard about it. Not only did it look like a choice teen comedy, which have been surprisingly lacking lately, but this was an ample opportunity to let Emma Stone's star shine. For so long she has been the best thing about really crap movies. Did no one ever think to give her a lead role in a movie until now? Well at least the tables have turned for her...now she can say that she was the best thing of an equally good movie.

High school student Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) finds herself the victim of her school's 'rumour mill' when she lies to her best friend Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka) about a weekend tryst with a fictional college freshman. Word quickly spreads of Olive's promiscuity and, much to her surprise, she welcomes the attention. When she agrees to help out a bullied friend by pretending to sleep with him, her image rapidly degrades to a more lascivious state and her world begins to spin out of control. As she helps more and more of her classmates and her lies continue to escalate, Olive must find a way to save face before the school's religious fanatic Marianne (Amanda Bynes) gets her expelled and she loses a shot at attaining her own happiness.

I'll start by saying this: Emma Stone is amazing. She is a young actress who can take a character and give it all the charisma, charm and vivaciousness it needs to come to life. Boy, is her special talent recognized in Easy A. She easily makes this movie as great as it is, with her sarcastic sense of humour. A lesser actress may have stumbled with the ultra smart script filled with big words last seen in The Social Network, but Stone makes it all believable and utterly addictive that Easy A is, well, addictive. The rest of it's cast is pretty good, apart from Amanda Bynes, who was supposedly retiring from acting. We haven't seen her for a while, but she hasn't changed in her time away from the film. And it's hard to see her still as a teenager. She is kinda annoying in this film, but I think that is all down to her character. Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci are undoubtedly the stand outs as Olive's rather open parents. They managed to get the most laughs because the audience have all had their parents embarass them at least once in their lives, but these two are just plain embarassing it's funny.

There hasn't been a good teen comedy since Mean Girls, and Easy A realizes that and tries to breathe life into the often under done genre. While the script isn't as smart as Tina Fey's 2004 one, it is generally a lot funnier than those raunchy college comedies that we find on the DVD shelves. The best thing is that this script is true. Everything could happen in real life. The rumour mill is there to be played with, which is what Easy A does. Of course, this movie owes a lot to the 80's comedies, but in all fairness, it's about time this generation saw some John Hughes style comedy. Easy A captures all the humour of growing up, and it can easily be compared to some of those John Hughes classics. The fact that it has so many references to his film is so cool, because now some of those younger folk may want to pick those movies up and give them a watch. So all I'm left to say is: thank you, Easy A, for reminding our generation that a teen comedy can be smart, not be too raunchy, and be all out funny while being heart breakingly true.


THE VERDICT: A great showcase for Emma Stone, and a fantastically written comedy with all the smarts of an 80's comedy. Must see for any teen.

8/10

My thoughts on the Golden Globe nominations

Some were well deserved, some were down right shocking...but my reaction alone can't sum up some of the nominations. So I've got my friends to help me: Strutting Leo, Mark 'You have my attention' Zuckerberg, and random guy from Legion (let's call him...Steve).

Here's the rating system:

Strutting Leo represents general happiness with the nominations...like the stuff they actually got right.

Mark 'You have my attention' Zuckerberg represents a 'meh' sort of attitude towards the nomination.

Steve represents a 'holy fuck!' approach to the nominations. Almost like I had a heart attack when reading the nomination.

 
And away we go...
 
BEST MOTION PICTURE-DRAMA
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

 

While there were lots of snubs in this category (namingly 127 Hours and True Grit), these are some fine movies, and definitely deserve their place. I guess when it comes to Oscar time, the ten movie category will help some of the other films that missed out...but we all know that these are the best. Thank God Inception was nominated. I see these awards won't be making the same mistake as they did two years ago with that Batman movie (I still hate you for that.)

 

BEST MOTION PICTURE-MUSICAL OR COMEDY

Alice in Wonderland

Burlesque

The Kid's are All Right

Red

The Tourist

 

Oh hell. Did these nominees seem to forget all the other good comedies that came out this year? No Scott Pilgrim? No Kick-Ass?! Oh no, just stick in three movies which are all rated rotten. Alice in Wonderland was an eyesore...how did that shit get nominated? Just because Burlesque is a musical, did it have to be nominated or something? The Tourist has Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp in it...*INSTANT NOMINATION*. How did RED get in there? I know it's better than the rest of them, but it wasn't particularly memorable. Looks like The Kid's are All Right will win, by a landslide.

 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE-DRAMA

Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network

Colin Firth for The King's Speech

James Franco for 127 Hours

Ryan Gosling for Blue Valentine

Mark Wahlberg for The Fighter

 

This is a pretty well nominated category. To be perfectly honest, I think the main competition will be between Jesse Eisenberg and Colin Firth, and though I wish that Colin Firth would win an Oscar, I'm really rooting for Jesse Eisenberg. In saying that, I would love to see James Franco shine through for 127 Hours. Mark Wahlberg is an odd choice, and I would have thought that Leonardo DiCaprio may have taken that spot for his work in either Shutter Island and Inception. If Jesse Eisenberg and Colin Firth were the only actors in the category, I would be completely happy, but the odd choice of Mark Wahlberg kinda drags it down a bit. Overall, I'm pretty happy.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE-DRAMA
Halle Berry for Frankie and Alice
Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman for Black Swan
Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine

I wonder who could win this one...? We all pretty much know that Natalie Portman is the go here, and will probably make it to that little golden man come Oscar night. Jennifer Lawrence and Nicole Kidman are a couple of names which have been circulating the awards talk for quite some time now, and have some promise against Portman. Michelle Williams is so deserving of an Oscar nomination for a leading role, that I hope her campaign with Blue Valentine works in her favour. I don't really understand the nomination of Halle Berry, as I haven't really heard that much about Frankie and Alice, but I guess time will tell...

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE-MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Johnny Depp for The Tourist
Johnny Depp for Alice in Wonderland
Paul Giamatti for Barney's Version
Jake Gyllenhaal for Love and Other Drugs
Kevin Spacey for Casino Jack

Well well...here we go with the shambolic (yes I made that word up) mess of the Comedy/Musical section again. Every one of these movies, apart from Barney's Version, is currently rotten on Rotten Tomatoes. The Tourist is death defyingly rotten. But will the non-love for these movies prevent these actors from getting the gong? Who knows. I couldn't tell you who would win this award, but I think I'll stick with Jake Gyllenhaal. Coz, y'know, he still deserves something for his often forgotten work in Brokeback Mountain from all those years ago. And also, he deserves an award for sticking through the mess that was Prince of Persia. Even though Johnny Depp has gotten two nominations, he won't be winning either of them, as I'm pretty sure those noms are just place fillers. Again, we could have seen some love for Kick-Ass, or maybe newish comedies like How Do You Know or Somewhere. But never mind voters...give the underdogs a go this year :/

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE-MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Annette Bening for The Kid's are All Right
Anne Hathaway for Love and Other Drugs
Angelina Jolie for The Tourist
Julianne Moore for The Kid's are All Right
Emma Stone for Easy A

OMG would The Tourist just GO AWAY already?! I know you just want some extra star power for your little show, but there are more deserving actresses that could easily have taken Ms. Jolie's spot. Other than that slight hiccup, I'm pretty happy about the lineup here. Annette Bening and Julianne 'Hurry up and give me an Oscar already!' Moore have the best chance here. If they weren't there, then Emma Stone would win. Thank God someone finally recognized her for her unbelievably amazing work in Easy A. See that? Teen comedies can have good actresses in them. Anne Hathaway is sorta the wildcard here, but I love that she got nominated. Any nomination for Anne is like a little miracle for me.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
Christian Bale for The Fighter
Michael Douglas for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Andrew Garfield for The Social Network
Jeremy Renner for The Town
Geoffery Rush for The King's Speech

You know in the trailer of The Fighter how it says "Academy Award nominee MARK WAHLBERG", and then it has just "CHRISTIAN BALE" after it? That is so sad. Christian Bale is easily the most dedicated actor out there (a little too dedicated if you ask me), and it certainly shows in the stuff I've seen of The Fighter. It's about time this guy got something. Anyway, I need to get something off my chest: ANDREW GARFIELD IS NOMINATED! ANDREW GARFIELD IS NOMINATED! ANDREW GARFIELD IS NOMINATED! Right, now that is settled. Yeah, I'm rooting for my future husband Mr. Garfield to win, even though I know he doesn't have as bigger show as Bale. But my God, I am so HAPPY he got nominated! Jeremy Renner, the most underrated actor of the century, continues his run with the awards circle, deserving another nomination. As for Michael Douglas...well, I didn't even know he was in the supporting role of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. I thought the movie was about him? Geoffrey Rush is pretty much in there because The King's Speech is in everything else, and I don't have a problem with that. But where the hell is Mark Strong for Kick-Ass?! Or am I the only person who thought he was amazing in that movie (or everything else he is in)? I'm 'Strutting Leo' for the Bale and Garfield noms, but I'm still feeling 'meh' about the category in general.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams for The Fighter
Helena Bohnam Carter for The King's Speech
Mila Kunis for Black Swan
Melissa Leo for The Fighter
Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom

Australia, though it pains me to say this, for once you have done me proud. Jacki Weaver is so completely and utterly deserving of that nomination for Animal Kingdom...what can I say? Her performance was one of the best female performances I had seen in a while. This category is pretty good, actually. Again, an actress who continues to make little miracles for me every time she gets nominated, Amy Adams, makes her way into the supporting category for the third time. Melissa Leo, probably the best bet here, gets in for The Fighter too. Helena Bohnam Carter continues The King's Speech reign (haha, get it?) over the Golden Globes, and better make it to the Oscar, coz my goodness, she deserves it. Mila Kunis is definitely the most surprising, but nonetheless deserving addition to this category. It's about time the girl got this sort of attention. Not only is she the perfect pin up girl, but she's a damn good actress, which is usually a pretty rare combination. My only snitch is that Chloe Moretz is getting recognized for Kick-Ass. Yes, I know I am going on about Kick-Ass a lot here, but what do you expect? The movie was bloody marvellous, and it got snubbed in every single category.

BEST DIRECTOR-MOTION PICTURE
Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
David Fincher for The Social Network
Tom Hooper for The King's Speech
Christopher Nolan for Inception
David O. Russell for The Fighter

So, of course, I'm gonna have to get this off my chest: CHRISTOPHER NOLAN GOT NOMINATED! CHRISTOPHER NOLAN GOT NOMINATED! CHRISTOPHER 'GOD' NOLAN GOT NOMINATED! I know this ain't quite Oscar territory yet, but OMG he got nominated! You have no idea how happy this makes me. He's never been recognized for his directorial work at the Golden Globes (or Oscars) yet...you know how sad that is? Before I go on a rant about how Master Nolan deserved nominations years ago, I will go on about the other nominees. Darren Aronofsky is another director who has never been recognized for his amazingly artistic directorial efforts, and could nab the award. Tom Hooper is in with The King's Speech, which is likely to sweep the whole awards season, but I'm thinking he could miss out. David O. Russell, too, despite the critical rep he has gathered from The Fighter, could miss out on the award. Lets just hope he doesn't try to headlock Christopher Nolan again so he can get the award. I think the biggest threat to this category, however is David Fincher. Snubbed so many times, now is the right time for him to win some awards. His effort on The Social Network was so damn good, too. It's hard when you're two favourite directors are battling it out for an award they both really deserve...

BEST SCREENPLAY-MOTION PICTURE
127 Hours-Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
Inception-Christopher Nolan
The Kid's are All Right-Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko
The King's Speech-David Seidler
The Social Network-Aaron Sorkin

Here's the last category which I will be attacking, which also happens to be my personal favourite out of the lot. I promise not to go psycho over the Christopher Nolan nomination like I did last time. But in this one, he truly deserves the award on a original and creative basis. That's why I can see him already with the golden man in his hand, as he wins the award for Best Original Screenplay. However, the thing that gets in his way here is Aaron Sorkin and all his big words. There is no denying it, his script for The Social Network was simply amazing. Listening to those great actors spit out his words at 100 miles an hour was worth the price of the ticket alone. It would be a real surprise if he didn't take this award home (unless Nolan bet him). The rest of the category is made up of well deserving films: 127 Hours, The King's Speech and The Kid's are All Right. I couldn't be any more happy about this category. Every film deserves the award, but it's really the great war between Inception and The Social Network that is the clincher here.

IN CONCLUSION:
5 Strutting Leo's.
3 Mark 'You have my attention' Zuckerberg's.
2 Steve's.
Seems like I'm pretty happy with this years lot at the Golden Globes. Apart from the horrible abominations that were the Musical/Comedy sections and The Tourist's 50 nominations. But hey, if my idol Nolan is nomination, I am there!

Check back for some more ratings on awards nominations when they come up. You'll be seeing a lot of Leo, Zuck and Steve this awards season!

Feeling like...(this was the best week of my life!)

Okay, so this is a post more about me rather than movies (that sounds so vain, but my week needs to be shared). It wasn't really the week of my life, as that was last week on camp, but anyway, this week has been filled with some amazing achievements...

Sunday: (late addition, but Hatter was offended)
I was on the LAMBcast! Got to chat with five other guys: Fletch, Steve, Kai, Hatter and Nick, who were all pretty shocked upon finding out that I was a 15 year old girl from New Zealand who loves Christopher Nolan and is a published writer. Pretty fun times, that convo was! Apart from the fact that I suck at 'Last LAMB standing'. Just because I didn't know many Ewan McGregor movies (and there was a bloody The Men Who Stare at Goats poster in my room! Godammit). Make sure you give it a listen when it comes online!

Monday:
Last week of school! Not much really happened apart from the fact that Inception arrived at work early so I could look at it. I didn't get it out though, because I planned to watch The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and Killers that night, and I did. Now I will forever regret that decision.

Tuesday:
We had the most boringest field trip ever, but when school finished we rushed down to get Inception to watch it the day before it came out on DVD. Not only that, but my review on the film was posted in the local paper (see below), and it was pretty much bigger than any other review I have ever had. I've already had some great feedback on it, which is really good.

(The bottom is cut off a bit...it was too big for the scanner! But yeah, I wrote that.)

Wednesday:
The morning was great. I'd been pestering my parents to drive me and my buds over to the neighbouring city so we could go and see Easy A. Mum finally agreed. Then, after me just saying once that I didn't have a lot of money to buy Inception, she said she'd give me the money to buy it as a Christmas present. Mainly because she understands that I love this movie so much and I couldn't live without it until 25th December. Gosh, I love her so much. She understands my movie obsession better than Dad. So, after school, we went up and got our copies of Inception (we being me and my best buds). I went home and refused to watch it. I did watch Me and Orson Welles, and then thought I might just watch the special features from Inception. Then I found myself watching the whole damn thing. I am going to draw the line when I start watching it five times a week.

Thursday:
Last day of school. Woohoo! Last day of being a junior. WOOHOO! At the Junior prizegiving, I got 'merit' certificates for Science, Information & Communication Technology, and Visual Arts. I was so surprised about the Science one, since the teacher hates me because everything I do has to have a strong connection to movies (Christopher Nolan made it into a project about the brain), and I'm not particularly good at Science either. I also got a certificate and voucher for winning the Year 10 speech finals, for my enlightening speech on Facebook. When I walked off the stage, I was secretly thanking Mark Zuckerberg.
We got to leave school early since the prizegiving practise only took 25 minutes, so me and more of my buds went to the 'Fantasy Cave' (a.k.a. the best thing in Dannevirke) to see Santa and some other displays of Christmassy stuff. That was really fun!
Then it was time for the big prizegiving for the whole school. Now I was maybe expecting some class awards for Drama, and maybe the Year 10 English cup. I ended up going home with class awards for Social Studies, Drama, Information & Communication Technology, and Visual Arts Printmaking and Painting. When it came time to give out the top of the class awards, I wasn't really expecting that much. My name was called, and then the guy reading out the names told me to walk slower since I got quite a few awards. Not only did I get the Year 10 English trophy (I was expecting it because I got it last year and English is the only thing I'm really good at), I also got top of Year 10 Social Studies. And, by some stretch of the imagination, I topped Year 10 Visual Arts. For one thing, I'm useless at art, and also, I'm not taking art next year. There were so many people who deserved it more than me. But I topped it, and I can't help but feel proud of myself. They were three major achievements I will never forget, and man, I feel happy about them.


All the stuff I picked up yesterday!

Friday: Sitting here, writing about my week, which you may be reading. Sorry, it's not amazingly movie related, but we have to mix it up, don't we? What's in store today? Hopefully screenings of I Am Love and Splice (and maybe a rewatch of Ince-no, stop.). Also, our annual trip to McDonald's and water fight down at the park, and a goodbye to one of our good friends. Oh, and catching up on all of the blogging I have been missing!

Anything exciting happened in your neck of the woods? Or do you have any achievements you're super proud of? Tell me in the comments...

Why is NZ getting all these films WAY later than everyone else?

With The Social Network being released this week (YAY!), even though the date was luckily pushed two weeks forward, New Zealand has been waiting quite a long time to see David Fincher's latest. But The Social Network isn't the only one with a delayed release date here. Check out this list:

Splice

USA release date: 4th June 2010. NZ release date: 18th November 2010. Distance between: around 25 weeks.

I think Splice is going into limited release here, but this release date keeps changing. It was first on during the New Zealand film festival in August, and then it was set up for release in September. Now it's going for November, but it's going to be released on DVD in January by Madman, which almost means an instant death in it's DVD release. Was it really that bad?

Machete

USA release date: 3rd September 2010. NZ release date: 25th November 2010. Distance between: 12 weeks.

Though there are several dates flying around for this one, it seems pretty clear that we will be getting this one more than 12 weeks after America. Meanwhile, some cheaters here will probably be downloading this film as I type.

Easy A

USA release date: 17th September 2010. NZ release date: 2nd December 2010. Distance between: 11 weeks.

This one, quite frankly, pisses me off. I really, really, want to see this movie! And by the time I do, everyone else will be like "this is old news!' It's not my fault!

The Kids Are All Right

USA release date: 30th July 2010. NZ release date: 26th December 2010. Distance between: over 21 weeks.

I have always wanted to see this film, mainly because of the amazing cast it seemed to get. However, when I went to the small cinema in the city it had a poster of this, with it's extremely late release date. The unfortunate thing it, this film will go into limited release here, and there's a possibility that we will miss out all together. Which will suck.

Secretariat

USA release date: 8th October 2010. NZ release date: 27th January 2011. Distance between: 16 weeks.

This one is undoubtedly delayed because it's one of those Oscar-bait movies and they always release here in the December-March period.

Hereafter

USA release date: 22nd October 2010. NZ release date: 3rd February 2011. Distance between: 16 weeks.

Despite the fact that it's directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Matt Damon, this film, which wasn't exactly greeted with rave reviews on it's release, won't be making it to NZ shores until next year. Even though there were interviews on the film on one of the chat shows.

127 Hours

USA release date: 5th November 2010 (?). NZ release date: 24th February 2011. Distance between: 16 weeks.

16 weeks until 127 Hours. Believe me, I'm counting down the days already.

Saw 3D

USA release date: 29th October 2010. NZ release date: 3rd March 2011. Distance between: 18 weeks.

Not that I give a shit, but most of the gore loving sadistic minded people who like this over-cooked series of blood will care that they don't get to see the final installment in 'mind-blowing 3D' until March next year. Even I think that's pretty stupid.

Never Let Me Go

USA release date: 15th September 2010. NZ release date: 17th March 2011. Distance between: 26 weeks.

Gosh, now I know that we are 26 weeks behind America in getting to see Never Let Me Go, I am really cheesed off. Yes, of course I want to see it because Andrew Garfield is in it, and the addition of Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley certainly helps, but the trailer looked so sad and haunting I just can't resist seeing it. And I will still be excited once March rolls around, that's if its limited release ever happens.

Other films which have been released this year in USA, but have an undated release date here for next year:

Catfish

Jack Goes Boating

Stone

The Romantics

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

New Zealand may be the most beautiful country to live in, but why do the movie gods continue to give us lousy release dates which are weeks after everyone elses. That's the hardest thing about being in the blogosphere: by the time I see it, it's old news. Mind you, I watch them all on DVD, which I guess is kinda unique in the blogosphere.

Just promise me one thing. When I get to see The Social Network on Thursday (one of the first sessions here in NZ, so I am technically being an early-birdy), don't think I'm slack and think everything I'm saying is old news to you. It's not my fault!