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Would a studio rather have an Oscar winning movie or a big blockbuster?  That seems to be a big question out of Hollywood studio execs and although it may seem that studios would want the best quality movie possible, the answer is they don’t care.  Cause like anything else, it’s all about money, and big blockbusters are big money.  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen just won the 2009 Razzie award for Worst Movie of the Year.  Well it also was one of the top money making movies of the year, so as bad as it was, it made a ton of money, and already a 3D third movie is in talks.

But recently a ton of big blockbusters have been very bad.  Sure they have crazy CGI technology and may be entertaining, but they are terrible.  It seems the new trend over the past few years is there is always a few movies each year that goes under the radar, then suddenly blows up around Oscar time and beats out some big time movies.  Crash (2005), Slumdog Millionaire (2009), and now The Hurt Locker (2010) are three small budget movies that have won the Oscar for Best Picture recently.  Event No Country For Old Men (2008) could even be considered a smaller budget movie as well.

In a time when the economy is in a recession, paying millions for big name actors and big names stunts may not be the best way for a studio to get the biggest ROI out of their product.  It may be better for studios to produce smaller budget films but those of better quality and push those.  It won’t require the big money to make, clearly it doesn’t need the big names to draw fans in, and when the positive press gains, the studio will clearly have a great money making movie, and a quality movie on top of it.  They will increase DVD/online sales, TV rights, and additional positive press for the studios.  I hope studios can learn from these smaller movies like The Hurt Locker and can produce better movies for movie fans in the future.

Would you like to see studios produce more small budget but quality movies?

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The Oscars have come and gone and I can’t believe I spent about 4 hours (including the red carpet preview) watching the Oscars last night.  Wow…do I really need to find something to do on Sunday nights.  I was very happy with the winners announced and was glad to see The Hurt Locker come out on top with 6 awards.

Here are some brief observations of the Oscars.

-How the hell did they come to the decision to have Kathy Ireland do the red carpet interviews?  I feel like the guy in charge must have had a crush on her back in her Necessary Roughness model days and now this gave him the chance to meet her in person.  She is more irrelevant than pogs and was so incredibly fake and that necklace was just not necessary it was laughable.

-The hosts were very good.  You can’t go wrong with pairing Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.  They worked off of each other very well, kept it simple and the jokes were basic.  Some fell short on me since I’m not an LA person, but like the job they did and too bad as the show went on we saw less and less of them.

-Neil Patrick Harris did a good job with the preopening opening to the Oscars and it seemed like that was an audition to see if he could host the awards next year.  I’m putting my money down now that he will be looked at and possibly get it next year, I was very impressed with him.

-Star Jones had the most awkward red carpet interview with George Clooney.  She basically hit on him and acted like a 13 yr old girl whose locker was filled with Clooney pictures, right in front of his girlfriend/wife person.  If she would have punched her, it would have been youtube gold.

-Was it me or was George Clooney pissed off the entire night?  He’s usually a huge fun goofball and was on the red carpet, but during the show just seemed real pissed off.  Maybe that’s just his face, or maybe he hates the camera on him.  Maybe I missed a joke that was at his expense but it really seemed like every time the camera was on him he was so pissed off.

-Why did they waste time with dancers as they nominated the Best Score category?  I give the dancers credit, they were amazingly talented and it broke my back just looking at them, but what was the point.  The show was running long enough as it was and it was just a pointless waste of time.

-They didn’t show movie clips when presenting Best Cinematography.  Isn’t the whole point of that category to visually show how good the cinematography was?  I consider that a more important category than some others and it got no credit.  Just weird.

-What happened to Farrah Fawcet and Bea Arthur on the memorandum video montage?  Somebody messed up big time on that one.

-Tyler Perry’s little speech as he gave the Best Editing category made no sense.  He kept talking about the camera angles and how different shots could look and different angles would help make the scene look differently, except that doesn’t have to deal with editing, that has to deal with directing.  It just didn’t make any sense and he wasn’t funny like his movies.

These are just a few observations I had, what were some of yours?

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“What are you, some kind of a prophet or something?” I honestly believe that this movie is. A Prophet (or if you want to get really foreign on me, “Un prophete”) is an immaculate gangster conquest. The first in-theater film of 2010 I can sincerely say to rush out the door and see as soon as you possibly can.
A Prophet is an accidental mafia portrayal through the eyes of Malik, an Arab man sent to a French prison where he works as drug runner for a Corsican boss. It’s only later in this late Christmas present where things get interesting. Malik soon faces summons to assassinate, to plot against the dangerous men who got him involved in this business in the first place, and even facing the fact of obliviously coming into his own. It’s as painful as it is a blast following Malik, played by an amazing Tahar Rahim, as his perception of life clears from already-cloudy to murky, though the film makes it seem he’s found a dynasty of sunlight.
A perfect bandit flick among the likes of Goodfellas, and I say this with the utmost respect. I’ve never before compared any movie to Scorsese’s kingpin tycoon, however A Prophet feels so completely epic (and clocking in at around two-and-a-half hours you could see why I feel this way) its meaning can be broken down into anything from antiquity lessons to personal emotional casts.
Where director Jacques Audiard gets it right is by turning A Prophet not into a boring by-the-book film version of a history seminar but a no-holds-barred thespian entourage that will leave you feeling renewed.
Whenever a character overcomes a certain obstacle you as an experienced moviegoer know that something, someone, is always above watching over them, waiting to strike. And the movie takes past crime dramas into consideration and bottles its knowledge up to unleash a fiery monster of gorgeous cinematography, crazed directing, and wonderful acting.
A Prophet is an amazing look into prison gangs and an invested youngster’s rise to the top of a band of thieves with dark hidden secrets too big for a single movie to handle. Yet A Prophet is nearly able to, and still come out as if nothing had ever happened. Because maybe nothing really did.

Five out of five stars.

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We are finally here. This Sunday night, March 7th, is the big night: Oscar Night. I for one am extremely excited for the Oscars.  I think it’s the best of the entertainment award shows probably due to the magnitude of what is on the line.  The past couple years might have been a little dull in terms of the show itself, but I am extremely excited nonetheless. I guess the media does a good job at promoting the show.

The Oscar’s is where history is made and trivia questions are created. My friends and I often try to list backwards the past 10 best actors, 10 best pictures etc. You guys know what I mean.  We all have those great trivia questions to see who knows the most useless movie knowledge. For example, can you name the 5 best picture films since 1985 that start with the word “The.” No cheating.

Anyways, this year we have some interesting battles. The first, the battle of the ex’s. Kathryn vs Cameron – former husband and wife go head-to-head for best director. Cameron got the Globe but the Bigelow got the DGA. What will the Academy have to say?

The other big matchup involves the same movies. The Hurt Locker takes on Avatar as a real-life war movie takes on a fantasy war movie. Again, both movies have received awards during the season, so it is still a toss up. I think the Academy will lean towards the Hurt Locker here, but we shall see.

Then we have plenty of locks. Waltz is a lock for Best Supporting Actor for Inglorious, Bridges is a lock for Best Actor for Crazy Heart, Mo’Nique seems to be  a heavy favorite for Best Supporting Actress, and Bullock is a lock for Best Actress. Also, UP is a complete lock for Best Animated Feature.

The media build up is all for this Sunday night. The big show is upon us. It should be one hell of a night.

Will you be watching this Sunday?

Keep Bantering

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The month of February is commonly considered a dark period for movies. Nick mentioned that it is the graveyard for film. New releases are basically overshadowed by the award season.  In fact, Oscar nominated films get a distribution boost in February in order to milk the buzz they get from the nomination.

So, we know that you are not going to hit up the theaters for new releases. Instead, we know that you all are going to try to catch up on the Oscar movies that you didn’t get to see the first time around.  Get this, “An Education” went from 100 theaters before being nominated for the award, to over 700 after receiving the nod for Best Picture. However, Summit’s “The Hurt Locker” was sent to DVD, which went from being in theaters to being completely removed. Theaters will not show movies that get sent to DVD FYI. So, Summitt messed up.

As we are in the Oscar season, there is trophy talk everywhere. We have a year where 10 films got nominated and lots of movie hooplah to go through.  Since we know you all are trying to play Oscar catch up, we wanted to help you out.   Here are the 10 films nominated for Best Picture and our review for each one.

1. The Hurt Locker

2. Avatar

3. Up in the Air

4. Precious

5. Inglorious Basterds

6. The Blind Side

7. District 9

8. An Education

9. UP

10. A Serious Man

Keep Bantering

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Patrick Ewing entered the 1985 draft as the best player in the country.  this also happened to be the first year that the NBA turned to their new ping pong ball style way to determine the order for the draft.  Sure enough out of nowhere, the New York Knicks, a struggling team, ended up with the #1 overall pick and selected Patrick Ewing who went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Knicks.  A lot of people thought that in 1985 that there was a conspiracy behind the fact that the biggest market “somehow” got the #1 pick in order to select Ewing.

Now it’s 2010 and Oscar season.  This was a very weak year of movies, so the Academy decided as a way to create more buzz to extend the Best Picture category to 10 nominees.  This isn’t out of left field being at times in the 20’s and 30’s there were years that had up to 12 nominees.  But suffice it to say, there are more movies that although may be fun and entertaining, have no shot at winning.

So how does Patrick Ewing and Avatar have some sort of weird connection?

With a long running time for the Oscars, poor movies, the rise of MTV, and a viewership that cares more about the red carpet than the actual event, the Oscars have been hurting over the past few years with ratings.  They have looked at ways to get the audience and generation Y demographic more interested, and even with hosts like Chris rock and Jon Stewart, they still failed.

I think The Hurt Locker should win the award for Best Picture.  This little war movie that came out of nowhere has made a big push and has grown a huge following.  The unique perspective of the war following a bomb squad in Iraq and the psychological repercussions they have unfortunately won’t win.

Avatar will win Best Picture.

It shouldn’t.  Many believe it shouldn’t have been nominated, that it’s not an Oscar movie.  Although it has unbelievable visuals and is an extremely fun and exciting movie, is it really in the realm of a Best Picture movie?  Many think that if Avatar got a nomination, how come Star Trek got snubbed?

Because the Academy is going to use Avatar the same way the NBA, David Stern, and the NY Knicks used Patrick Ewing.

Avatar will win the Oscar to bring more buzz and controversy which will raise ratings for the show in future years, the way Patrick Ewing brought more attention and fans to the NY Knicks.  Just the fact that it’s in the running, there have already have been tons of articles written about this, and more to follow.  If it wins, this will be controversial, many believing it will be part of a conspiracy.  Following the Oscars, articles, videos, and more will be posted on the internet, shared on multiple social networks and through email and will garner tons of PR.  The Academy and Hollywood will benefit from all the buzz with increased DVD sales, and will lead to higher ratings for next years Oscars show.  Because once they get away with this, they will certainly add another movie next year which will cause some sort of controversy, maybe even people will start calling it the “Avatar” affect.  We may be having another conspiracy on our hand.

Do you think Avatar deserves to win Best Picture?  Do you think it may be considered a conspiracy if it does?

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In a year that the Academy expanded the Best Picture pool to 10 films, they had an opportunity to really change the framework to which so-called popcorn movies are judged. The films up for Best Picture are The Hurt Locker, Avatar, Up in the Year, Precious, Inglorious Basterds, Up, The Blind Side, An Education, A Serious Man, and District 9. Of the 10 listed only the first 3 even have a chance. To go even further than that The Blind Side, Up, Inglorious, and District 9 are all great movies however they are simply there to receive the accolades of being nominated. Do they have a prayer? Nuh uh. Only Precious belongs to be in the category. I won’t say anything for or against A Serious Man or An Education because I do not know enough about either film.

Now, films that have no chance of winning are being grouped into this heavily coveted category. This gets me thinking that were there other films this year that were better than the 4 (The Blind Side, Inglorious, Up, and District 9).  I do not want to diss any of these films so please don’t take this post the wrong way. I liked that the Academy is trying here but I’m not sure they got this right. J.J Abrams’s Star Trek masterpiece, a film that dominated the Summer and rebooted the franchise, belonged to be nominated.

Here is my analysis:

Star Trek > UP

Star Trek > District 9

Star Trek > Inglorious

Star Trek = The Blind Side

I really think what J.J Abrams did was brilliant. The ultimate finished product was a perfect popcorn movie that actually turned into something more. We had non-sci fi fans running to the theaters.  The year’s Star Trek changed the face of the franchise entirely. Regardless of what it did, the film itself was amazing. The script was great, original and the movie was perfectly casted.

So, we come to the result that if there were certain popcorn movies being nominated, did the Academy get the right popcorn movies in the mix. I think they missed one. Star Trek really belonged in the mix here. Sure  it would stand no chance of winning, but still the category expansion was to make things more exciting and entertaining, and not necessarily to win.  Sorry Star Trek, you got screwed.

Star Trek was snubbed.

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The Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild Awards…no award quite compares to the consciousness of receiving an Oscar. We had a load of great movies in 2008, so I had numerous problems with last year’s show. Slumdog Millionare over Milk and you nearly completely ignore The Dark Knight, Academy? Please.

It was 2009, folks; a year of relatively decent movies. Let’s face it, compared to the past two junctures ’09 was nothing special. (Though really, when you have both No Country for Old Men and Gone Baby Gone in the same sun rotation, that’s something pretty damn unique.) The nominees for the 82^nd Annual Academy Awards were announced by Anne Hathaway and Academy president Tom Sherak Tuesday morning at 8:30 EST/5:30 PST. I guess even if you crap out as giant monstrosities as Bride Wars and (probably) Valentine’s Day, since you made that one good movie all sins are percolated.

Anyway, the usual flicks were nominated in their respectable categories. The Hurt Locker and Avatar lead with nine nominations each, including best picture. I’m not sure why Avatar is suddenly receiving Oscar buzz. It’s more of an event rather than an actual movie worthy of awards of other breeds than technical. Nine, for some bizarre reason, contends in four categories; and the Academy continues to tease by nominating Up in the Air for five awards including best picture.

What surprised me was that District 9, after being tragically ignored by every other determining awards group, is up for best picture. I loved the movie and I assumed all of its chances were no more. Speaking of pleasant surprises, Armando Iannucci’s fantastic political comedy In The Loop was nominated for best original screenplay. I went gaga over it after a special screening in July, but was saddened when I found that no one had even heard of it. What I love about the Academy’s announcing Oscar nominations in early February is that it gives people a chance to see all of the contenders before the big night. Hopefully everyone reading this will be smart and, if you haven’t yet, give In The Loop a chance.

The White Ribbon was another standout. The more I contemplate Michael Haneke’s black-and-white period piece, the more terrified I become of it. The film has a serious chance at taking home the gold in March. I haven’t seen Un Prophete yet, which is also nominated in the same category and an added one I’m dying to see, however as of this writing I’m rooting for Ribbon. As happy as I am for Haneke’s film making the list, I know some people who really enjoyed Il Divo, which was for some reason snubbed.

Now onto the bad stuff on the nomination list. Number one, Marvin Hamlisch’s marvelous score for The Informant! is nowhere to be found. Glad that Up’s score by Michael Giacchino is up for an award, howbeit The Informant! was terribly overlooked by seemingly everyone. While we’re on the subject, Matt Damon is nominated for best supporting actor for Invictus? I know I’m not the only one who adored him as the pudgy Mark Whitacre in Steven Soderbergh’s corporate spoof.

(500) Days of Summer was one of the rare occurrences where I actually read the script for it. And wow, was I on the verge of tears. Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber’s screenplay is emotional and tragic. Above everything, it’s real. I wasn’t expecting a best picture nomination for (500) Days, but I thought for sure it would be up for best original screenplay. Sadly, it was not.

Star Trek only nominated for technical and makeup; that’s just not right. J.J. Abrams brought new life to the famed television and movie series, and opened it up to a larger, younger fan base. It’s a shame to see the Academy turn a deaf ear to it. One of my biggest concerns, the amazing Michael Stuhlbarg not recognized for his turn as a deteriorating devout Hebrew in the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man. Come on, people. You nominate Sandra Bullock and ignore this fresh face?

I’m not too big a fan of the expanded best picture category. Only if the year is full of enough phenomenal films should that change have taken place. I mean, filling leftover five spots with The Blind Side, Up, A Serious Man, An Education and District 9; the Academy knows as well as I that none of them have any chance of winning. As great as those films may be, it’s groveling to them. Nevertheless, I’m pretty excited for this year’s show. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin tag-teaming a three hour time slot? I’m so there.

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The White Ribbon was originally filmed in color, however when director Michael Haneke took a look in the editing room, he stripped the movie of all pigments. Smart move. The White Ribbon certainly benefits from its policeman tones, even better in establishing a macabre pre-World War 1 German setting.
I’ll admit, I don’t know much about Michael Haneke other than he’s the beloved director of the 1997 twisted horror Funny Games. With The White Ribbon, he creates a different kind of cache. Haters will rank on the movie’s slow pacing and awkward character interactions, but this guy praises its ability to entice the viewer into constantly craving more and more of its overall bleak assertion.
The White Ribbon is itself an example of phenomenal symbolism. In the movie, a father ties white ribbons on his children, thinking that this will keep them righteous and free of sin. The unclear minute village just north of Germany adds to the story’s psychotic overtone. At the root of it, The White Ribbon is a smart and suspenseful crime caper. One that will stay with you long after every work Haneke will ever make; the alarming belief will engrave itself in the back of your mind.

See this movie!

4 out of 5 stars.

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The award show season is among us as the recent 2010 Golden Globes has come and gone.  There is so much attention given to these award shows, even when it is a down year in Hollywood like this past year has been.  A lot of it can be attributed to the 2007 writers strike for a piss poor summer blockbuster season, but that’s a separate issue.

Award shows are supposed to bring together the best of the best.  The Oscar nominations will be released February 2nd, but does anyone care?  Probably not and that’s because the Oscars are so outdated, and the Golden Globes are better.

In an attempt to lure more banter about the Oscars award shows, the Academy widened the Best Picture nominees to 10, which just means more crappy movies that have no shot of winning will be nominated.  This pointless strategy will do nothing for ratings or get viewers interested, and I think I know why.

Because The Hangover won a Golden Globe.

The Golden Globes is a more fun awards show to watch than the Oscars since it has more fun categories.  Aside from the TV aspect, it has expanded categories for movies that give less traditional movies a chance to win an award.  Separating different categories like Best Drama and Best Comedy/Musical is a small and simple step that allows different movies like The Hangover, or 500 Days of Summer to be nominated while they wouldn’t be in the Oscars.  I know I quoted lines from the Hangover a ton, and so have many people.  It’s a fans movie, not a critical movie and yet it still won an award.

The MTV movie awards show even takes it further and has very casual categories like Best Kiss, which play to a younger audience.  The introduction of this awards show really hurt both the Oscars and Golden Globes.

I understand that many traditionalists wouldn’t want to open up the Oscars to an MTV style show because it is not a formal event, but the Oscars should take notes to try to be more fun and open up their categories to allow for more fan loved movies to have a chance to be nominated.  The event will then be more fun for viewers, and ratings will increase.

What do you think?