The Road to the Oscars

Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception,
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Critic's pick:   The King's Speech 

My Pick:  The King's Speech

Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in "Biutiful"
Jeff Bridges in "True Grit"
Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network"
Colin Firth in "The King's Speech"
James Franco in "127 Hours"

Critic's pick:   Colin Firth

My Pick:  Toss up between Colin Firth and James Franco, but realistically, Colin Firth

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in "The Fighter"
John Hawkes in "Winter's Bone"
Jeremy Renner in "The Town"
Mark Ruffalo in "The Kids Are All Right"
Geoffrey Rush in "The King's Speech"

Critic's pick:  Christian Bale

My Pick:  Geoffrey Rush

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in "The Kids Are All Right"
Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone"
Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"
Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine"

Critic's pick:  Natalie Portman

My Pick: Natalie Portman

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter in "The King's Speech"
Melissa Leo in "The Fighter"
Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit"
Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom"

Critic's pick: Hailee Steinfeld

My Pick:  Helena Bonham Carter

Animated Feature Film
"How to Train Your Dragon" Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
"The Illusionist" Sylvain Chomet
"Toy Story 3" Lee Unkrich

Critic's pick: Toy Story 3

My Pick:  Toy Story 3

Art Direction
"Alice in Wonderland"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"True Grit"

Critic's pick:  Alice in Wonderland

My Pick:  Alice in Wonderland

Cinematography
"Black Swan," Matthew Libatique
"Inception," Wally Pfister
"The King's Speech," Danny Cohen
"The Social Network," Jeff Cronenweth
"True Grit," Roger Deakins

Critic's pick: Inception

My Pick: Black Swan

Costume Design
"Alice in Wonderland," Colleen Atwood
"I Am Love," Antonella Cannarozzi
"The King's Speech," Jenny Beavan
"The Tempest," Sandy Powell
"True Grit" Mary Zophres

Critic's pick:  Alice in Wonderland

My Pick:   Alice in Wonderland

Directing
"Black Swan," Darren Aronofsky
"The Fighter," David O. Russell
"The King's Speech," Tom Hooper
"The Social Network," David Fincher
"True Grit," Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Critic's pick:  David Fincher

My Pick:  Darren Aronofsky

Documentary (Feature) 
"Exit through the Gift Shop," Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
"Gasland," Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
"Inside Job," Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Restrepo," Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
"Waste Land," Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Critic's pick:  Inside Job

My Pick:  Waste Land

Documentary (Short Subject) 
"Killing in the Name"
"Poster Girl"
"Strangers No More"
"Sun Come Up"
"The Warriors of Qiugang"

Critic's pick: Strangers No More

My Pick: Poster Girl

Film Editing
"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"The King's Speech"
"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"

Critic's pick:  Black Swan

My Pick: 127 Hours

Foreign Language Film
"Biutiful," Mexico
"Dogtooth," Greece
"In a Better World," Denmark
"Incendies," Canada
"Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)," Algeria

Critic's pick:  Biutiful

My Pick:  In a Better World

Makeup
"Barney's Version," Adrien Morot
"The Way Back," Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
"The Wolfman," Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Critic's pick:  The Wolfman

My Pick:  The Wolfman

Music (Original Score) 
"How to Train Your Dragon," John Powell
"Inception," Hans Zimmer
"The King's Speech," Alexandre Desplat
"127 Hours," A.R. Rahman
"The Social Network," Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Critic's pick:  The Social Network

My Pick:  127 Hours

Music (Original Song) 
"Coming Home" from "Country Strong," Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
"I See the Light" from "Tangled," Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
"If I Rise" from "127 Hours," Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
"We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3," Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Critic's pick:  127 Hours

My Pick:  Tangled

Short Film (Animated) 
"Day & Night," Teddy Newton
"The Gruffalo," Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
"Let's Pollute," Geefwee Boedoe
"The Lost Thing," Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
"Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)" Bastien Dubois

Critic's pick: Day & Night

My Pick:  Day & Night

Short Film (Live Action) 
"The Confession," Tanel Toom
"The Crush," Michael Creagh
"God of Love," Luke Matheny
"Na Wewe," Ivan Goldschmidt
"Wish 143," Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Critic's pick:  The Crush

My Pick:  Na Wewe

Sound Editing
"Inception," Richard King
"Toy Story 3," Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
"Tron: Legacy," Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
"True Grit," Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
"Unstoppable," Mark P. Stoeckinger

Critic's pick:  Tron: Legacy

My Pick:  Tron: Legacy

Sound Mixing
"Inception," Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
"The King's Speech," Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
"Salt," Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
"The Social Network," Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
"True Grit," Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Critic's pick:  Inception

My Pick:  The King's Speech

Visual Effects
"Alice in Wonderland," Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1," Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
"Hereafter," Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
"Inception," Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
"Iron Man 2," Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Critic's pick:  Inception

My Pick:  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

Writing (Adapted Screenplay) 
"127 Hours," Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
"The Social Network," Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
"Toy Story 3," Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
"True Grit," Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Winter's Bone," Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

My Pick:  127 Hours

Writing (Original Screenplay) 
"Another Year," Written by Mike Leigh
"The Fighter," Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
"Inception," Written by Christopher Nolan
"The Kids Are All Right," Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
"The King's Speech," Screenplay by David Seidler

My Pick:  Inception

The King's Speech

 Hi guys, I'm TheCinemaChick and welcome back to yet another review.

Today, I want to talk about The King's Speech, starring some very fine people.  In this film, we've got stars like Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce and even Micheal Gambon (he's the man who played Dumbledore in Harry Potter after Richard Harris passed away).

Before I get into this, let me get one thing out there.  I loved the movie, but I study English and Linguistics.  This type of movie is something I enjoy.  This movie is about Prince Albert, the Duke of York and how he overcame his speech problems with the help of Lionel Logue.  If you are not interested in speech and linguistic matters, you may find this slow, boring and uninteresting.  If you like history, check it out.  I personally thought it was very accurate for a Hollywood production.  Now, this hasn't been advertised a lot and to be honest, I hadn't even heard of it until my old buddy Fry told me she wanted to see it.

We get to see all the different things doctors tried to fix Albert's stammer, though I highly doubt smoking really relaxes the larynx.  It also shows how the impediment affected him personally, making him withdrawn and anxious.  You feel sorry for him and you want to cheer him on so bad.  I did at least.

Now, as I said, I had little information on this movie before I went to see it.  The first time though, it took me about ten minutes to realize that the Duchess of York was Helena Bonham Carter because I am so used to her in roles where she looks crazy and disheveled.  She looks so prim and proper in this, but she pulls it off.

I don't want to recount this entire movie, because I beleive it is worth seeing.  At this point, I have seen it twice, once with Fry and once with Butterfly.  I would be willing to see it again for a third time.

Every award nomination and every award won so far has been well deserved.  Not only is the movie emotionally gripping, the setting is impeccable.  If you didn't know it was a recent movie, you'd think was a documentary.  I am biased in other ways because I love Colin Firth.  If you have not seen Girl With a Pearl Earring, go rent it and see it.  Like The Kings Speech, it is slow and a bit boring, but it's beautiful.  Scarlett Johanssen also makes a huge impact on that one.  Plus, Colin Firth as Johann Vermeer...well, the man's gorgeous.

Back to The King's Speech.  I also love Geoffrey Rush, not just for his role as Barbossa in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.  I want this movie to win a ton of Oscars, I really do.  I have not seen Inception, not because I don't want to, I just haven't gotten around to it.  I couldn't find someone to go see it in the theater with me and I never had money to go and rent it.  Perhaps I will do that soon.  If that is the case, my thoughts on who deserves an Oscar might change entirely, but I doubt it.  I am holding true to my favorites, Colin Firth and James Franco.

Perhaps I will soon do a blog on my Oscar predictions.  It will be who I want to win versus who is most likely to win.  Do I wish Cher had been nominated for "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me"? Yes.

Before I sign off for today, I want to mention some controversies that have been swirling around The King's Speech.  Some people want to edit the movie because it has cursing.  I just want to say that the cursing in the movie only lasts for one scene, which is about three minutes.  While it is not pivotal to the overall film, some people still wish for it to be omitted.  If that happened, it would lost its R rating and be dropped down to PG-13.  I would support the change, but having already seen the film, I would prefer it as is.
Other critics have also accused the film of glossing over some historical details, mainly the Nazi part.  Yes, the ending of the film is the Duke of York, now King, giving his famous speech, but it does not delve deep into World War II.

Here's my opinion.

Yes, the movie does not address the Nazis much but it is not about Britain in World War II.  The main point is how Albert overcomes his speech problem as his personal life becomes complicated.  He loses his father and his brother abdicates the throne in order to be with an American socialite.  If the producers wanted to go more into detail of how Albert handled the war and all the threats toward his people, the movie would be three times longer.  Better yet, make a sequel and show that side.  I would get in line to see it, so long as the original cast returned.  There is no way I'd want to replace anyone, but I don't work in Hollywood.

As for my next review, I haven't decided.  I could do Black Swan, which is another movie I thoroughly enjoyed or I could wait and go see another movie, which I wouldn't mind.  I might go back and do some older movies.  I don't know.  I have become busy again, what with the job hunt and the tons of algebra homework I have been putting off.  You know what, for the hell of it, I'm going to do Alice in Wonderland, the live action version.  I love Tim Burton and he is my favorite director, hands down.  I have seen all of his movies and would like to own all of them.  I even bought the anniversary edition of The Nightmare Before Christmas, plus the soundtrack and the newer version with various bands.

Ah, enough about my love of Tim Burton.

Here's a few movies I will do soon:
Alice in Wonderland
Paranormal Activity 2 (they are making a 3)
Sherlock Holmes
Scott Pilgrim vs The World
Memoirs of a Geisha (in which I will also discuss the book)

I might even do Pirates of the Caribbean at some point, we'll see.  I do love me some Johnny Depp as well.

Well, that's all for now!
Happy movie watching from TheCinemaChick

A "Tangled" "127Hours"

Hello, I'm TheCinemaChick.

Today, I'm going to relive two films I liked: 127 Hours and Tangled.  Both are very different, but both have their good and bad points.  Since I'm currently hyped up on blood orange frozen yogurt, lets get rolling.

I'd like to begin with 127 Hours.  The only name you need to remember for this is James Franco.  You spend the most time with him and really, that's it.  The film is 94 minutes long and I'd say 80 minutes are nothing but dialogue between Aron Ralston (played by Franco) and his little camera.  He has hallucinations and visions that show both the past and future.  The only problem I had was towards the end, where there is a scene with Franco actually amputating his own arm.  Obviously, it is not real, but the film is so convincing, I spent ten minutes with my face pressed to my buddy Butterfly's shirt. He didn't mind because he knows I get a little queasy when I see blood.
Yes, the movie is slow, it does drag, but Franco is so convincing that you believe he is really trapped.  Your heart breaks when you see him making a will in his video and you want to cry when he makes the decision to chop off his arm, then cheer when you learn he survives.  Obviously, Ralston does survive because he went on to write a book about his ordeal, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place".  The title is ironic but it fits.  I would say Aron Ralston is a hero and an incredible man.  If I could meet him and interview him, I'd want his thoughts on the film.  I have not read the book, but after seeing 127 Hours, I would love to.  However, I am a broke and currently unemployed college student, so I'll have to wait until I have enough cash to spare.

To James Franco, I became a fan after seeing Pineapple Express, but now, I want him to win an Oscar.  I'm torn between him and Colin Firth, though I think Leonardo DiCaprio will win it.

127 Hours will take you on an emotional journey that is damn near difficult to explain.  It is well worth the 94 minutes and the money you pay to watch it.


And now, I bring you Tangled.  Yes, yes, it a Disney animated romantic comedy romp through a fairy tale, but I enjoyed it.  It was one of the few movies where I was wanting the happy ending.  It's a retelling of the classic Rapunzel story.  I saw this movie with my friend Fry and our Tennesee friend Kit Kat.  We all had the same opinion, that it was cute.  Mandy Moore provides the voice of Rapunzel and Zachary Levi voices Flynn Ryder.  I'll be honest, I don't know who Zachary Levi is, but he's respectable.

There's a lot of singing and funny moments, your typical Disney film.  We have Mother Gothel, who discovers a magical flower than can revive her and keep her eternally young.  The queen becomes ill and sends the kingdom to find the flower.  Though Gothel tries to hide it, it is found, made into a tea and the queen survives. She has a baby with golden hair.  Keep in mind both parents are brunettes and you will never hear them talk.  Well, Gothel sneaks into the castle and snips a lock of hair from the baby's head and it turns brown.  She figures if she cuts the hair, it losses its magic and kidnaps the baby.  Rapunzel is locked in her tower and then we have a time ship to the day before her eighteenth birthday.
Pascal is a chameleon and personally, my favorite supporting character.  He is a good friend and a good source of comic relief.  Mother Gothel comes to the tower and she sings a song that is the best in the film, in my opinion, "Mother Knows Best".  Then we meet Flynn who is traveling with the Stabbington Brothers and together, they have stolen a crown.  I wish the Brothers had been fleshed out a bit more because they are voiced by Ron Perlman.  I love Ron Perlman.
As with every Disney movie, they run away together, get into a fight and end up happily ever after.  I normally have a problem with this formula, but after seeing the movie for a second time, I noticed that this film is not aimed specifically at little girls.  Kit Kat pointed that out and it makes sense.  Also, the film was not originally called Tangled.  It was going to be Rapunzel, but the Disney execs decided to make Flynn an equal and put him in a more prominent role.  So, the name became Tangled and Flynn became a star.

What does TheCinemaChick think about the two movies?
I recommend both of them.  Take the little kids to see Tangled, but definitely keep them away from 127 Hours.  As an adult, I enjoyed both, but clearly 127 Hours is intended for adults with its R rating.  Even Tangled is rated PG, which isn't normal for an animated movie.

Next on my list, The King's Speech and the controversy surrounding it.

Happy theater hopping,
TheCinemaChick

Burlesque

Hello again fellow moviegoers!

It's me, TheCinemaChick and tonight, instead of doing algebra like I should be doing, I'm going to talk about a movie I did not enjoy, Burlesque.

First off, if there is something significant that happened in the first ten minutes that applies to the rest of the movie, I missed it.  At the theater I was at, the sound was messed up, so I didn't hear anything.  Beyond that, I heard everything, though I wish I hadn't..
Burlesque is another one of those movies where you can predict what will happen.  We've got Christina Aguilera as our star, Ali and Cher as Tess, the owner of a club in California.  Ali wants to be a star so she packs up and heads for Hollywood.  She gets a hotel room and hides a small sum of cash, in case she needs it.
(Perhaps it's just me, but doesn't this sound exactly like the plot of Coyote Ugly?)
Ali looks for a job so she can get money.  While on her hunt she discovers a club called, what else, Burlesque.  There are several girls who work there, but don't bother getting to know them. They're like an afterthought.  The only girl who is really even relevant is Tess, who owns and still performs.  Ali then meets Jack the bartender, played my Cam Gigandet.  You know this guy, he played James in Twilight.  I personally loathe the Twilight series for reasons I won't go into, but I will admit, I love the character of James.  Anyway, in Burlesque, he wears a lot of eyeliner, excuse me, guyliner.  Ali wants a job, Jack sends her to Tess, Tess says no, so Ali starts working anyway.  Excited yet?
Well, this goes on for some condensed length of time until Ali's hotel room gets broken into.  The place is wrecked up and someone steals her emergency money.  I'm sorry, this sounds even more like Coyote Ugly.  Ali decides she needs to live somehwere else, so she finds Jack's place.  He agrees to let her live there and you know what that means, a budding romance.  But oh no, Jack already has a girlfriend...who lives in New York!  What a twist!  Things go well and Ali becomes a part of the show at the club.  Of course, another dancer gets jealous and attempts to sabotage Ali's debut.  However, Ali sings without music and suddenly she's the star.
This is the point where I really started hating it.  The entire movie is centered around Christina Aguilera, and she has what seems like a dozen songs.  It gets boring, I mean really boring.  The relationship aspect takes a backseat, as do most of the characters and even the plot.  Prepare for a lot of singing.  Of course, there is a wedding at some point where Jack gets drunk and breaks up with his long distance girlfriend.  He and Ali go back to his apartment, which she has completely taken over.  She agrees to sleep on the couch while he changes into some horrible red pajamas with hearts on them.  He claims his mother bought them.
I'll admit, I loved this scene because it was funny.  Jack keeps disappearing into the bedroom, shutting the door and opening it, each time with one less item of clothing.  Credit to Cam Gigandet, he has a nice ass.
Then if just gets boring again.  Ali begins seeing some jerk football player who doesn't care about her, leaves Jack when his ex comes storming angrily back, then reunites with him at the end when he asks her to sing a song he wrote.  That's it.  The end.

TheCinemaChick's opinion?
Don't bother.  It's like a cheap ripoff of Coyote Ugly.  I wasn't a huge fan of Coyote Ugly to begin with, but at least it was a little more original.
During the movie, I actually told my friend (I'll call her Fry.  She deserves to be mentioned more since I see most of these movies with her) that watching this movie was painful.  I'm not trying to make myself sound like I'm better than the Hollywood people, but I do have vocal training.  I think the music, while catchy, can't even save this movie.  There were two songs I liked, "Burlesque" which is the introduction to the main plot of the film and the ballad, "You Haven't Seen The Last of Me".  Both songs were performed by Cher, also the only ones she does.  The second song was nominated for and won a Golden Globe, which is respectable.  Everything else is sung by Christina Aguilera.
It's a terrible film, not even worth dollar theater or renting.  The previews look so enticing, but trust me, it's nothing like that in the movie.  There's a lot of gay jokes, bitchy backstabbing and general cattiness.  There is too much emphasis put on Christina Aguilera.  Cher is the true star and I wish she had more screen time.

If you want to watch a musical, go for something else.  I would even say that I would much rather sit through The Last Airbender in 3D again.  Since I don't want to relive that movie, I do not want to review it.

You know...I think my next review, I will cover two movies, very different from each other.  I will cover 127 Hours with James Franco and Tangled, the latest Disney animated movie.  I liked both and will admit, I think James Franco deserved his Oscar nomination.  However, I am torn on who I want to win for Best Male Actor.  I wish Colin Firth and James Franco could win.
If only...

Well, that's all for now!
I'm TheCinemaChick and I bid you happy movie watching.

Repo! The Genetic Opera

Hey everyone, it's your friendly neighborhood movie gal, TheCinemaChick!

I hope you found my review of "Season of the Witch" helpful.  If not, I can't stop you.
As promised, tonight I'm going to talk about a movie I recently fell in love with.  It's the brain child of Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich.  Neither of them are very well known, but this movie isn't either.  The title says it all.  It's a rock opera about genetics and organ repossession.  Yes, you read correctly, organ repossession.  I'll admit, I'm not a huge fan of slasher, blood everywhere, but this movie does it right.
It's a delightful mix of surgeries, disembowelment, deception and Paris Hilton.  Yeah, it's full of surprises.  The story starts off with Shiloh, a seventeen year old girl with an unnamed blood disease.  Her father is Nathan, who is secretly the repo man of GeneCo, which is run my Rotti Largo.  Rotti hates Nathan because the woman he loved, Marni, chose Nathan and gave birth to a daughter.  Marni dies of blood poisoning and Nathan blames himself.  We learn later that it was Rotti who slipped the poison into the medicine Marni took.  So, Shiloh is confined to her bedroom because of her illness and her father treats her.  She has a hidden door that leads to her mother's grave, which is her only portal to the outdoor world.  However, she also collects bugs, so when she sees one, she chases it, unintentionally locking herself out of the mausoleum.  This is where she meets Graverobber, who's name is also his occupation.
Now, here's something to remember.  In this movie, organ failure is so common that people get plastic surgery more often.  It's quite normal to get a new lung or kidney or nose every week.  GeneCo has also developed a drug called zydrate to help with the pain.  While it is readily available, some people buy it from Graverobber, who gets it from, you guessed it, graves.  Corpses apparently still have plenty of the drug, so he drains them and sells it to others.  Paris Hilton's character, Amber Sweet, is a regular of his.

Ok, normally, I'm not a fan of the socialite.  I didn't enjoy her short lived music career, loved watching her reality TV fame crash and overall, I'm not a fan.  However, she is incredible in this movie.

Well, the movie progresses and we meet Pavi and Luigi, Rotti's son and Amber's brothers.  Pavi is a manwhore and Luigi has some anger issues.  We also get to know Blind Mag, who is a tragic hero of sorts.  She is bound to Geneco because Rotti agreed to give her new eyes in echange for her life.  Mag has a lifelong contract to sing for them.  Marni was her best friend, so through that, she knows Nathan and later, Shiloh.  There is a long series of events that switch between Shiloh's adventures in the city with Graverobber and Nathan's secret life of murdering people.  Blind Mag meets Shiloh at a carnival and is it turns out, Mag didn't even know Shiloh was alive.  Later, Mag goes to the house and reveals that she is Shiloh's godmother.
What's sad is that we know Mag is going to die.  She is scheduled for her last performance, then her eyes will be repossessed.  Shiloh begs her father to save Mag, but he refuses.  In the mean time, Rotti has been dying of another unnamed disease, but doesn't see his children as worthy heirs.  Who better to run his company that a teenage girl who has barely left her house?  No one!  So, towards the end, there is a very breathtaking, albeit bloody scene.

I wish I could go into more detail with this film, but it's something you should watch.  It's not for the children because there is some mild nudity, lots of cursing and even more blood.  I did find this movie refreshing because it's not like anything else I've ever seen.  How many rock operas out there are about surgery and organ repossessions?  Seriously, have you seen any other one?    Didn't think so.
The music is catchy, the visuals are very intense and like I said, it's just original  The costume design is amazing and it's totally worth checking out.  If you don't do blood, skip this.  I find myself being able to watch it over and over and still finding new things to enjoy.  I also admit that I have a lot of the songs on my iPod, so I listen to it on the go.

So, that's what I think.  I love it, I recommend it and am incredibly glad I found a copy of this movie at my local Half Price Books store.  If you want it, better look on Amazon or iTunes.  It's hard to find because it wasn't well promoted

I am now a fan of Terrance Zdunich, who sadly has never done another movie.  He is an amazing artist though.  Check out his website if you don't believe me.

Well, it's getting late for TheCinemaChick, so I must bid you farewell for now.
Next on my list, Burlesque.  I'm not thrilled with this one.  I'd rather watch Season of the Witch again then see Burlesque again.

Happy movie watching,
TheCinemaChick.

Season of the Witch

Hi, I'm TheCinemaChick!

Tonight, I'll be discussing the latest Nicholas Cage flick, "Season of the Witch."

I went into this movie having high hopes. Like I said, I love a good fantasy movie. Plus, I love anything that involves Ron Perlman. The first scene was brilliant and quite compelling. It made me jump and really set up the story. Sadly, it has almost nothing to do with the rest of this film. After this and the opening credits, the movie jumps into introducing us to our main characters played by the two actors I have mentioned. They are also the only well known actors in the entire film, with the exception of Christopher Lee, who in my opinion deserved more screen time.

Our heroes begin by quitting the army believing that it is not God they serve, but a corrupt man. Keep track of how many times God is mentioned. It's a good way to pass time. So, they wander all over and we pick up a year later. So, Nicholas Cage is Behman and Ron Perlman plays Felson. The come upon a house that has been stricken with the plague. Two people are dead in the bedroom. Props to the makeup artists for making those afflicted in the film look like that. So, what do two deserters passing through do?

Steal what they can and burn the house down.

I kid you not.

So. Behman and Felson continue on to the next major town where Behman is recognized and imprisoned. He is asked to speak with Cardinal D'Ambroise (Christopher Lee, who is unrecognizable). The Cardinal asks Behman to go on a quest to take a witch to a monastery so that the town may be freed from the plague. It turns out the witch is a young girl, who might just be fourteen or fifteen at the most. Of course Behman refuses at first, then agrees, as long as he takes a crew with him. So, the girl (who does not get a name until the very end) is put in a cage and they go, trusting a thief as a guide.

As the movie progresses, the men in the crew die, one by one. One is driven mad and runs into another's sword while the thief is devoured by wolves. Behman, Felson, Kay (a young man from the church) and Debalzaq (a priest) make it to the monastery with the girl. It turns out, everyone has been decieved as the girl is not a witch at all! For those who plan to see the movie, I will not delve into the conclusion and ruin it for you.

So, what does TheCinemaChick think?

Well, like i said, I had high hopes. I found this movie almost laughable. Nicholas Cage and Ron Perlman can't keep an accent and it changes throughout the movie. Really. Count how many times it changes. The dialogue gets fairly predictable. Even the big climactic scene at the end was a bit of a letdown.

I like Nicholas Cage, I honestly do. I may be one of the few people who actually enjoyed "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". However, "Season of the Witch" was not his best work.

Do I recommend it?

Save your money and rent it on DVD or see it in the dollar theatre. I wanted to enjoy it, but I found myself laughing through a good portion of it.

And I'd also like Hollywood to stop portraying witches as murderous women who brew potions and cast spells. I happen to know some people who identify as witches and they are nice people. Why must witches in movies always have a vendetta against someone?

Maybe it's just me.

Oh well

Next time, I think I'll go ahead and do my review of Repo! The Genetic Opera. So, get your zydrate ready and avoid the Repoman.

Good night and happy movie watching,

TheCinemaChick

Hi, I'm TheCinemaChick!

Greetings fellow moviegoers!

I'm TheCinemaChick and I love to watch movies. I watch a lot of them and figured, why not share what I think? In the coming days, I plan to do reviews for some that I've seen recently. Movies I plan to include are: 127 Hours, The King's Speech, Black Swan, The King's Speech and Tangled. Sounds like a weird mix, doesn't it? Well, I don't discriminate. If it looks good, I'll see it.

I'll admit, I am biased towards certain films. I am not a fan of romantic comedies or westerns. Fantasy, horror and well, cult classics are my favorite. Perhaps I'll throw in my commentary on Repo! The Genetic Opera later. It has a cult following and, in my opinion, was refreshingly original. Blood and deception and murder...all with very catchy music. That's not exactly for everyone, so if you're squeamish, don't go out and rent this. I suppose I can do a mix of old and new in here, though I want to stick more to the newer ones.

Here's what's on my list of things to see:

The Green Hornet

The Green Lantern

Thor (which I really look forward to)

Blue Valentine

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II (I am a Harry Potter fan, so this one will be biased.)

Breaking Dawn, Part I (I am not excited to see this at all. I don't want to see it, but someone else has offered to pay and he is a good friend, so since he's paying, I'll see it.)