L’Oscars.

Of the nine Best Picture nominees, I’ve seen five as of the morning of the Oscars. I may or may not watch Tree Of Life later today (time/mood permitting). The Chances of my seeing War Horse are slim to none, ditto Hugo (I’m sorry, I’m just not fond of Scorcese films, and then it’s for kids?). And I think that it’s a matter of “too soon” with Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I’m on the fence with Tree Of Life. Now, to the movies I have seen:

· Midnight In Paris: I’ll give it this, we’ve found the person who best plays the “Woody Allen” character of the neurotic freak outside of Woody himself, and that seems to be Owen Wilson. Problem is, it’s Owen Wilson. “Wildcat. Wildcat,” may have been that man’s best acting ever, and it was approximately 10 seconds in a two-hour film. I really did enjoy the premise of this movie, and liked seeing some well known folks playing well known folks (like Kathy Bates playing Gertrude Stein or Adrian Brody stopping by the set for an afternoon to do about three minutes of Salvador Dali). And I love Marion Cotillard. The problem I had was, even as slow as it felt for much of the film, it seems like it ends in the blink of an eye. Well, here’s your happy ending, b’bye now.

· Moneyball: We all know I’m a big baseball fan. I hadn’t read the book Moneyball, but a good friend of mine, Adam, had. He also saw the movie. Said that the movie is only a portion of what the book is about and represents, but that it was a good film. I figured “why not?” and headed to see it with another friend in the early fall. Good stuff. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure why it’s up for Best Picture, but it’s still a damn good movie. The best part is Jonah Hill by a mile, and I’m glad he got a Supporting Actor Nomination for his work. He was restrained, and it was the first time I’ve seen him do something other than the wacky dude thing. Very refreshing. It was also nice to see Chris Pratt in something else outside of Parks and Recreation, and not so goofy as well. Scary was Philip Seymour Hoffman as Art Howe. They needed to age PSH a great deal if they were going to make him look as old as Howe was even back in the early 2000’s, and shit-howdy, did they succeed. Pitt? Yeah, he was fine.

· The Descendants: It’s not that I dislike George Clooney, it’s more that I just don’t care. I will enjoy him in certain things, and not as much in others, and it depends upon the script. I did enjoy Michael Clayton quite a bit. And his Oscar nominated directing achievement, Good Night And Good Luck, is quite a damn good movie, but Clooney just doesn’t move the needle with me. No offense to him, seems like a nice guy. Paraphrasing Rick Sutcliffe, he’s constantly “over there in Africa… solving this thing.” But I just don’t care. That said, I thought he was fantastically good in The Descendants. It wasn’t just the smug Clooney thing you normally associate with him. It was a very nuanced performance, and the kids in the film were also outstanding. Pretty depressing stuff, though. I mean, I’m not sure how you can really lighten up a woman in a coma where the husband finds out she’s been cheating on him, and now she’s going to die before he ever gets a chance to talk to her. You… you just can’t. But again, that said, it was a very crafty and well done piece of filmmaking.

· The Help: Wait, where were the Beatles? Ha ha, I know. Obviously, as a white man (even with the whole gay thing thrown in) from a modern time, I cannot know what the struggle of the African American housekeeper could’ve been like in the deep south of the 50’s and 60’s, so I don’t know whether what was presented in The Help is watered down or not. What I can say is that it was a very enjoyable movie, and I think that it conveyed a correct amount of preachiness without going overboard and being a gospel, as it were. I like Emma Stone, too. To me, she’s like if Lindsay Lohan didn’t go all deep-end bat shit. But that’s just me. And I loved Sissy Spacek in the “old woman” role, a part I guess she’s old enough to play, now. The two front-runners for acting Oscars, Davis and Spencer, seem to be very worthy recipients should the cards fall that way. Side note: shit in a pie… wow. Wow.

· The Artist: easily my favorite of the five movies that I’ve seen. And here’s the thing. Like Rock and Roll from about 1956-1963/4, I find the silent movie era to be so simplistic. Everyone overacts and looks coked out of the gourds, and the plotlines have to remain simplistic. The only redeeming factor, for me, of the old-time silent films is the music, which had to drive the picture. Again, The Artist is my favorite of the nominees I’ve seen, and possibly my favorite film of the last few years. A silent film about the death of silent films, and how it allowed some actors to rise to fame, and caused others to fall from grace with the weight of a lead zeppelin. And like silent films of the past, the music of this movie drives it. Honestly, if you had only one “lock” to pick for the night’s festivities, The Artist winning Best Score is it. Upsets could come from just about anywhere, but not here. It’s just off the charts good music, and without it, the movie is dead. You could almost name it as one of the actors of the film. And let’s be real, when you’ve got a film up for Best Picture, and John Goodman speaks 75% of the dialogue, you’ve done something right. You’ve done something damn right. Juan DuJardin is probably going to deny George Clooney a Best Actor statue. I don’t think Berenice Bejo will win for Supporting Actress, but she was so adorable in this film, and a woman I’d actually considering “flipping” for. Just saying.

Also to be mentioned is that I’m glad Melissa McCarthy got a nomination for her work in Bridesmaids, a surprisingly funny film, and a very disturbing and uncomfortable performance from Miss McCarthy. As for the Awards themselves, I’ll be honest, I may or may not be awake when they finish. I’ll guess awake, but who knows. I’ve got The Artist for Picture, its Director whose name I can’t spell off the top of my head to save my life, DuJardin for Actor, Davis for Actress (although Streep wouldn’t surprise me), Spencer for Supporting Actress, and Christopher Plummer gets Supporting Actor in the “Crap, Have We Not Given One Of These To YOU” awards we see every couple of years. Hope everyone enjoys the show, Billy Crystal (who I secretly want to flop, for some reason), and all the fashion. Pregame starts in, what, 5 minutes? 5 seconds? Better go tune in…

No? Nothing in the news? Nothing?

Well, a lot has happened since I last checked in, and I don't even feel like writing about all of it. Let’s get started.

• · I don’t necessarily want to say congratulations to the New York Giants, so I’ll just say “well done” on winning the Super Bowl. Eli Manning is now Rafael Nadal to Tom Brady’s Roger Federer. I wonder who would win the clay-court match-up. I have to say, though, the game wasn’t terribly exciting until the last 10:00 game-minutes, and the commercials really lacked this year. The best ones had been leaked on the internet days earlier, and even they weren’t that great (don’t get me started on the Ferris Bueller ad… don’t)

• · Hmmm, has something big happened in the news in the last 24 hours? No, okay, I’ll go back to bed. Seriously, though, whether you like Whitney Houston or not, never a fun thing to see someone young die when it never had to happen. There’s no clearly marked cause of death yet, but given her last 15-20 years, I think we can safely assume she didn’t accidentally fall on a knife. Maybe it’s ‘cause it’s Sunday morning, maybe it’s because I’m trying to be nicer about these things, but when thinking about her last night and this morning, I prefer to try and stay away from the crazy Whitney and go back to one moment in time (ha!) where she may have mattered the most: her performance of the national anthem at the Super Bowl in 1991 was epic on so many levels
  1.Country at war, troops thousands of miles away.
  2. Never had they put such a huge orchestra on the field for the national anthem.
  3. Never had the Super Bowl taken a chance on using a version of the song with a slightly different arrangement (specifically check out the second stanza of the song for proof of this).
  and most importantly
  4. She killed it. She absolutely killed it. We’ve seen so many people attempt to sing the Star Spangled Banner, and be eaten alive in the process. Whitney –at the top of her game and not yet talking about how certain substances were whack- nailed it. The recording went platinum. A recording of our country’s national anthem went platinum. What the hell?
  I was more of a fan of hers back when I was a kid when she was in her hey-day, hadn’t really gotten into her in quite some time. And while I’d never expected that one last comeback after she’d all but destroyed her voice, I never want someone to die in a blaze of ingloriousness. Well, maybe one or two people, but not her. ;) I will say this, her death just made tonight’s Grammys broadcast must-see TV.
  

• · Speaking of which, anyone want to take a last minute walk on the edge and say that Adele loses any of the major categories? No? I didn’t think so. Honestly, I could see her going 6 for 6. I’d also be okay with and actually like her going 6 for 6. Thankfully, the leading contender to win album of the year is actually the best album of the year. Voters for Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and Rhianna cancel each other out, and if Foo Fighters win, I’ll eat my entire collection of hats. Hats, people. Hats. That said, given the news of the weekend, and the fact that Adele is making her return to performing tonight, it should be an interesting night of award show viewing. Enjoy!