Oscars: Critic's choice, my choice and who actually won

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

The Winner: 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

The Winner:  Colin Firth (YES!!!!)

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

The Winner:   Christian Bale (Sorry, Geoffrey Rush.  We rooted for you.)

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

The Winner:  Natalie Portman  (Yay!!)

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

The Winner:  Melissa Leo (really?  Who saw that one coming?)

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

The Winner:  Toy Story 3 (kind of obvious on this one)

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

The Winner:  Alice in Wonderland (my prediction was right!)

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

The Winner:  Inception

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

The Winner:  Alice in Wonderland (who didn’t see that one coming?)

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

The Winner:  Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech  (Really hoped Darren Aronofsky win)

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

The Winner:  Inside Job

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

The Winner:  Strangers No More

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

Critic's pick:  Black Swan

My Pick: 127 Hours

The Winner:  The Social Network

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

The Winner:  In a Better World (I took a shot in the dark with this one and I was right.  Awesome.)

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

The Winner:  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

The Winner:  The Social Network.

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

The Winner:  Toy Story  (Figures.  I think Dido deserved it more.)

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

The Winner:  The Lost Thing

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

The Winner:  God of Love

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

The Winner: Inception (That one was a surprise to me)

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

The Winner:  Inception (Kinda saw that one coming)

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

The Winner:  Inception (Once again, who didn’t see that one coming?)

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

The Winner:  The Social Network (*sad face*  I wanted 127 Hours to win so bad…)

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 Winner:  The King’s Speech (HOORAY!  I’m so happy!)

George of the Jungle

Hello, I'm TheCinemaChick and welcome to another review of an old school film.  Tonight, Kit Kat and I are going to be discussing George of the Jungle.  I know, I know, it's an older movie, and it's honestly really stupid and really bad, but that's what makes it so great.  Not to mention it helped get Brendan Fraser's career going.  So, sit back, relax and have some popcorn while we go on a trip down memory lane.

Hey I’m Kit Kat and yes, this movie is really stupid but that’s why I laugh so hard every time George hits a tree. Everyone should know not to expect anything serious in this movie from the get go. But if the trailers aren’t enough then the opening to the movie will. They explain their way into how George got where he was through a badly drawn cartoon followed by a song filled with animals both large and small swinging on vines and smashing into trees. If that doesn’t tell you not to take this movie seriously then I don’t know what will. But I believe it’s in that that makes it so funny.

And if you did take the movie seriously, I’m sorry.  We all know the story.  George gets lost in the jungle and ends up being raised by Ape…who is an ape.  Not a difficult concept to grasp.  He’s unaware of the outside world and is pretty content there.  Then, the most vicious of animal in the world shows up: man!  Yes, that’s right, man.  He shows up to go hunting deep in the jungle where they hear rumors of the great white ape, not to be confused with the great white hype, who I think was Larry Byrd.  I’m not into sports…unless it involves Dirk Nowitzski.  Then I care.

Back to the movie.

So now that man has invaded the jungle and plans to kill some of our friendly neighborhood critters, what do we do?

You take into account the blonde and stupid Ursula who has no idea what the two leather clad goons that her fiancé has brought along with him to guide them through the jungle are up to. Seems to me that anyone that wears all black all the time, while the rest of the cast is dressed normally, just has the words ‘bad guy’ flashing over their head.

In any case, the trip through the jungle is narrated by a narrator that actually talks to the audience adding to the theme of not taking ourselves seriously. However, the search for the great white ape is interrupted while Lyle, the fiancé, drags Ursula into the jungle alone to find the white ape alone so he can drag her home and marry her. What a lovely guy.

It’s like the film screams, “Hey, this dude is bad!  See?  He’s bad! LOOK!!”  Well, it’s obvious that he’s bad because he’s a complete coward who can’t even defend his lady love.  Then he lies about what he did and we all know lying is bad.  What proof does he have that Ursula has been taken?  A scrunchie, because that automatically tells a man that his woman is in mortal peril.  Never mind going after her, he goes back to his goons to tell them what happened so he can get them to help.  And this children, is example two of why he is a coward.  Once he has his band of merry men ready, they venture forth, braving the jungle to find the one blonde woman in the entire place.  Really…in a place where’s there’s no civilization, how hard is it to find the tall, thin, attractive blond woman?  And for that matter, why is she the stereotypical damsel in distress?  Can we PLEASE have a female character that can fend for herself?  Just once?  Please?

You must add to his weakling status how he has to be CARRIED through the friggin jungle. The man has two legs with two feet attached. Stop being a whiny moron and walk on your own two feet!

In any case, this is when we discover that the ‘white ape’ that has taken Ursula is just grown up George of the Jungle. She wakes up in his tree house and flips when the Ape named Ape talks. Once again…where is the strong female character? Does she REALLY have to faint?

To make the group even more out of left field, George’s other friends are a random group of apes that never serve a purpose till later in the movie. There’s ‘great big peanut loving doggie Shep’ that turns out to be an elephant that acts like a dog and a toucan named Tookie.

Once our ‘damsel in distress’ recovers, she has a fling in the jungle with ole George. This part of the movie is filled with meaningless sidelines and jokes that never go beyond the few seconds they are on the screen. Like the little monkey that is trying to be liked by the other monkeys so George has a lion help the monkey out.

And of course, the stupid jokes continue on for a while and Ursula gets reunited with Lyle and they decide that the best thing to do is to take George to the big city.  Yeah, that’s a brilliant idea.  Let’s a take man from his natural habitat and stick him in the middle of a completely new concept for him.  And just to make things even more awkward, lets invite him to a small soiree at Ursula’s parents home.  This is when we find out that her parents are loaded, so no wonder Lyle wants her.  He wants all the money her folks have.  That’s love.  And as this part drags on and on and on, almost painfully, Ursula begins to develop romantic feelings for this jungle man.  Oh yes…he’s like a less annoying version of Fabio.  While Brendan Fraser is not my cup of tea (I prefer peppermint myself), to someone, he’s gorgeous.  More power to them.

Oh, and to add to the lovely Fabio image is George running around in a field with his white shirt unbuttoned showing some of his toned chest and hair flapping through the wind as he runs with the horses. All the women are watching and swooning over him (and I’ll admit, I had similar thoughts when I first saw the movie) and then they decide to bring the comedy back in with two guys making a comment about girls and horses. Once again, makes no sense.

Eventually, George starts to get homesick but that’s not what takes him back to the jungle. But the fact that Tookie has somehow flown all the way from the jungle to tell George that the two black wearing henchmen have captured Ape. So naturally, George, begrudgingly leaves, and takes a trip back to the jungle. And how does he get there? Not by a boat or train or plane…he MAILS himself and a pair of sneakers back to a village in the jungle from where he runs back to the treehouse. Once again, not realistic but this is not the movie to take seriously. Don’t try this at home kiddies.

This is also a gross interpretation of how long it takes to mail something across the world.  They make it look like George makes it to the village in a manner of minutes when really, that doesn’t happen.  I’ve mailed things to England before and it takes our friendly people down at the post office at least a week and a half to get it there.  And trust me, Texas to England is closer than San Francisco to Africa.  There is a not so epic fight scene between George and the poachers, with lots of bad humor thrown in there.  I believe Ape helps George by passing gas in one of the poacher’s faces.  And how does this battle end?  Well, Ursula has somehow made it back to the jungle and has gotten the animal friends to help.  Since when did she develop the ability to teleport and speak to animals?  When did the X-Men show up?  This movie has no concept of time!

Good point? How the heck did she get there? Even if she flew on a plane that would take at least a day or two. Not minutes or hours. Speaking of which, how’d she make it back to the tree house? She was unconscious the first time she was taken to it and somehow manages to make it all the way back by herself with no gear at all.

She helps to save the day and performs the same tree face plant that George does and he catches her and they live happily ever after.

But WAIT…there’s more.

Before their happily ever after, Lyle shows up from prison where somehow he has not only become an ordained minister but has gathered his own following of goons that make his first two look like rejects from an episode of Walker Texas Ranger.

How did scrawny Lyle manage to get that kind of help?

Well, when you join a cult…

But, Lyle kidnaps Ursula and gets her on a boat with the intent to marry her.  Apparently, he failed geography in school because he doesn’t realize that the river they are on leads not only to a dark cavern, but a freaking waterfall.  How did he not foresee this massive problem?  Really?  Bad guys need to have everything planned out ahead of time, then go into an insanely long soliloquy explaining why they are doing what they are doing.  They don’t just go tromping through the jungle expecting to marry the hot chick.  If it’s any consolation, he ends up marrying a female gorilla.  Jokes on you buddy!

And then, yes, George and Ursula live happily ever after and even have a kid who inherits his father’s….lack of grace shall we call it.

And this brings an end to George of the Jungle. It may seem like we didn’t like it but it’s the fact it doesn’t take itself seriously to the nth degree that makes it a movie to sit and watch and laugh with. It knows it’s a joke and says that’s ok.

This is Kit Kat. No movie is too good or too bad for a review.

So there you have it.  The old school comedy that is George of the Jungle.  It’s bad, it’s stupid, but when you just want to laugh your ass off like an idiot, pick this one up.  Is the sequel any good? 

That’s a review for another time, my minions.

This is TheCinemaChick, bidding you happy movie watching.

Crossroads

Hello, I'm TheCinemaChick, joined by Kit Kat on this ride through terrible movies that people have made.

While there are many movies out there that I can’t stop watching over and over again… There are, unfortunately, a few that give me pause. Those movies that always seem to play on TV when nothing else is on so we are forced to watch it while rolling our eyes. Crossroads is one of those movies.

I have to agree with Kit Kat on this one.  Crossroads had good intentions, it just failed miserably.  The entire movie was begging to nominated for every Razzie out there.  If you don’t know, bad movies get awards too.  Razzies are like Oscars, only Razzies prove the movies sucks.  This movie did great in Japan, but bombed in the States.

So here we go.  TheCinemaChick and Kit Kat are going to review Crossroads.

This is a movie starring Britney Spears. Now, I’ll admit, when I was a kid I was a fan of Britney Spears. And I even liked the movie because I got to hear her sing. However, now I look back at that movie when it comes on TV and wonder…what  was I thinking?  Yeah, the songs are good and all. But the rest of the movie…well it sucked royally. This movie was a movie talking about the rise of Brittany Spears into fame. Really, that’s just as bad as the movie about Justin Bieber.

Another good point.

Like I said, good intentions, but that can only get you so far.  I saw this when I was in high school with a friend of mine.  It was something she wanted to see for her graduation, so I agreed to go.  Granted, it’s a good film to watch with your girlfriends, after several margaritas or perhaps out of sheer boredom.  There are just too many things that don’t make sense about it.  

We start off with three girls burying a time capsule, then flash forward to the present.  All the girls are in high school, it’s almost time for prom and graduation is on the horizon.  Here’s where I have the first problem.  The movie never explains why the trio drifted apart.  They just did.  So now, instead of a trio, we have the popular princess, little miss perfect and the statistic, I mean, the pregnant outcast.

And everyone would be thinking, hmm, this is about the rise of Britney Spears. So…our popular princess Britney would be the one working towards being the singer, right? Wrong! The pregnant outcast is the one that comes up with this little gem of an idea after they all meet back up to dig up their little time capsule. Apparently, there is some unnamed casting call out west for singers and she was going to pack up and head out west.

Yet, somehow, these girls that fell apart by some unknown stimulus are suddenly coming together easily to all make this trip together to be backup singers for their pregnant friend. I’m not sure how the pregnant one thought that anyone would sign with a person like her or that just maybe along the way that she was going to end up having the child. What a nice image for all those little girls out there. Get pregnant in high school. It’s all right. You can always pack up yourself and just head out without any resources to become a singer.

I’ll give that one to Kit Kat.  While Hollywod productions are meant to be a means of escape, this one just raises questions.  Where did all their money come from?  Why do they trust some random guy to travel with them?  What bar allowed underage girls to go in and sing?  How come nothing exciting happens for 93 minutes?

Here’s a good one.  The tagline for this film is “Dreams change.  Friends are forever.”  What does this imply?  You can give up one dream and pursue another.  I’m sorry, my parents always told me I could do anything, no matter how unrealistic the goal was.  Plus, when I graduated high school, my parents wouldn’t have let me up and run away for an audition on the other side of the country!  Also, clearly friends are not forever!  They didn’t speak for an unspecified amount of time.  So…what?  Make sense of this for me please!  This is all hypocritical gibberish.

If friends are forever then why did they stop being friends in the first place? Still bothers me. In any case, while they are traveling out west, we see that, once again, Britney has no real desire whatsoever about singing. Despite her performance at the bar that shows her otherwise. Obviously, she chose not to pay attention or she is really playing up the stupid popular princess theme to the extreme. In any case, she decides to break off from the group to go see her mother who “amazingly” now lives in a home in the direction they are heading to the contest. What with all the other roads that lead them west they somehow manage to pick the one that leads them near the city where Britney’s mother now lives…with her new husband and kids. Sorry kiddies, mommy doesn’t love you anymore now that she has another family.

Do they ever explain why her mother has left?

Not really.  It just isn’t making sense.  This movie must have been the bastard child of Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room” and Britney Spears.  How else could it have so many plot holes?  So, the bar scene.  Mimi, the pregnant outcast, Lucy, little miss perfect, and Kit, the popular princess are in this bar so Mimi can do open mic night or something.  Mimi freaks out and Lucy takes over, which earns them a nice chunk of change.  No one tips that well at a bar.

Maybe this is just me, but how come the pregnant chick never looks pregnant?  You get occasional glimpses of a belly, but for the most part, nothing.  I’ll come back to that later.

Good point, why did they insist on having a pregnant character if they hide it nearly the entire movie? Anyway, they manage to make enough money to fix the car that had broken down. Once again, they have no funds. We even see scenes of them sleeping in the car or out in the open. What nice role models. Yet, somehow, they net enough to fix the car and rent hotel rooms for the rest of the trip to the coast. Of course, along the way we have that nice realization by Lucy that her mother doesn’t love her so she keeps going with the others after having her own break down. Of course, the strange male is the one to comfort her…which leads to the cliché fade to black scenes that we as children didn’t recognize as one of the first sex scenes we’d ever see. But honestly, now Lucy is having sex with a guy she barely knows?

But Kit Kat, it’s ok that Lucy is sleeping with this guy. They end up together in the end, so that makes it all morally perfect.  (thank you Hollywood for this lesson) And the relationship takes a back seat when Mimi finds the apartment of the guy who got her pregnant.  Sadly, you are reading this correct.  Mimi got pregnant buy a guy who lives on the other side of the country.  Well, she gets there and he tells her that she was a mistake.  She gets upset, runs off and falls down the stairs.  Here’s where we get another problem.  They don’t say how far along she is, but from the looks of it, I’d say Mimi is seven months or more.  She has to go to the hospital because of complications, but apparently gets out the next day.  Ok, I know for a fact that if you have something like that happen, doctors will immediately try and save the baby.  The film doesn’t explain what happened.  I could have believed she miscarried if she’d only been about two months along.  All that’s said is that she lost the baby.

Let me backtrack for a moment.  When the time capsule is dug up when they are teens, Mimi’s wish came in the form of a keychain which looks like a globe.  When she falls down the stairs, there is a close up of this keychain in her hand.  

*symbolism alert*

This is one thing I actually liked.  That baby was her world and she’s lost it, so in this case, yes dreams change.  However, she did not just give up, there were circumstances outside of her control that lead to it.  It’s sad because you want her to have this baby, in spite of the jerk, one night stand father.  Had Mimi kept the baby and raised it, showing that she was successful, that would have made this film a little more worthwhile.  Sadly, we all know this is not the case.

Okay okay, I’ll allow the pass on the sex because they end up together. But there is one lovely twist you missed out on cinemachick about the guy that got Mimi pregnant. The whole reason they were there in the first place is because this is actually the boyfriend or something of Kit. She wanted to surprise him by showing up unannounced to see him. We all know that this NEVER leads to good things. It’s that point where Kit discovers why Mimi didn’t want to wait around because it is the guy that got her pregnant. All of this knowledge passes in the moment when Kit sees the bottle of blue “liquid”, which is never specified throughout the movie that was the hallmark all the girls knew to be of the jerk that got her pregnant in the first place.  I will agree also that it’s very sad for Mimi to lose her child. It would have added something special to this otherwise horrible movie as a decent lesson to learn.

In any case, I believe we have a random appearance of Lucy’s father who managed to travel all this way to get Lucy and take her home after the loss of the baby. But wait…where’s the contest? Mimi knows she can’t sing. Kit is just the backup singer. Lucy is the one that needs to go. Of course, she changes her mind and somehow her dad who had been all for taking her home is easily persuaded to let her stay and audition.

And the moral of this story?

There is no moral.  It makes no sense and was just terrible.  I’d rather sit through Burlesque again or even Hereafter or…something awful on the SyFy channel, like Titanic II.

All right Kit Kat, time to take our bows and say happy movie watching.  I think these people get the point.

Crossroads, starring Britney Spears…avoid at all possible costs.

I’m Kit Kat. No movie is to good or, in this case, too bad for a review. And this certainly won’t be my last

And I’m TheCinemaChick, bidding you happy movie watching and hoping you never have to watch this cinematic abomination.

Black Swan

Hello, I'm your friendly neighborhood stalker, I mean, I'm TheCinemaChick!

I checked my stats and people are actually looking at what I post.  Are they reading it?  I don't know, but people are looking.  That makes me rather happy, considering I've not had the best week.  It's been cold and icy and I had to drive in it.  Don't get me wrong, I love cold weather, but ice sucks!  Ah, I could go on and on about my personal woes, but I won't bore you.

I present to you, Black Swan.

This film was brilliant.  I don't know much about ballet, though I am a fan of watching it.  Like "The King's Speech, this movie was not very well advertised until it had been out for about a month, I believe.  It had a limited release at first, later given a nationwide release so more people could see it.  I went to my local theater, which I frequent because a ticket is only $4.  As with most of the movies I see, I was with good old Fry.  To my surprise, the place was packed, granted the theater we were in was smaller than all the others in the building.  And apparently, we should have worn our Sunday best because the lady in the row behind us wore her mink coat.  I'm not kidding.

On to the movie.  This is another film you should not take the kiddies to.  It has swearing and some well, graphic sexual situations.  There is a scene where the main character, Nina,  engages in masturbation, which was disturbing because her mother was in the room at the time and later, the lead female charactersm Nina and her rival Lily, have sex.  Not to mention, the dance instructor, Thomas Leroy, played by Vincent Cassel, comes off as a complete pervert.  Seriously, almost every time he spoke, I wanted to slap him.  He played the part well.

As the title suggests, the movie is all about ballet dancers preparing to perform "Swan Lake".  Several weeks after seeing this, Butterfly pointed out the movie is basically a modern retelling of the ballet.  It's all about the corruption of innocence and the loss of self.  Thomas tells Nina that she would be his perfect star, if only she would loosen up and embrace her dark side to become the Black Swan.  He points out that Lily is the perfect Black Swan.  Now, maybe it's the year of classes I took about cinematography, but I noticed something interesting.  The film plays up the dark/light and black/white parallel a lot.  Nina almost always has on light colors, if not white while Lily is the opposite, usually shown wearing black.  There is also an emphasis placed on the swan image.  Keep your eyes peeled during the movie.  Nina's bathroom has tiles with swans on it.

Now, this isn't a light hearted romp into the world of professional ballet.  Oh my no, it's a dark, psychological trip into total and complete paranoia.  Once Nina learns who her rival is, she becomes paranoid, thinking Lily is stalking her or trying to get her out of the ballet.  All the while, Nina keeps showing signs that she is literally becoming the swan.  Her legs bend in strange ways, she sprouts wings and her eyes change colors.  It's disturbing and haunting, but it's just so good you won't want to look away.

Now, Darren Aronofsky directed this.  I personally am not familiar with his work, but he's done other films that I have an interest in watching.  He directed "The Wrestler" and "Requiem for a Dream".

I know I haven't gone into much detail about this movie or really delved into a plot, but I seriously think this movie is worth the money you'd pay to see it in the theater.  Natalie Portman does not disappoint, nor does anyone else in the film.  It's brilliant and keeps you guessing until the very dramatic ending.  Would I see this again or purchase the DVD?  Yes.
Do I think you should stop reading this and go see it?  Well, I'd prefer if you finished reading this because I'm almost done., but yes.

That's all I'm going to say about Black Swan, the brilliant film that has deserved every nomination and award it has gotten.

And I have exciting news!  As you all know, Fry has joined by crew, but Kit Kat has now also agreed to be a part of this cinema related madness.  Expect to hear her opinions when I do some of the older movies on here.  We are discussing what film to do next, so it's going to be a surprise.  Not even we know!

So for now, I bid you happy movie watching from TheCinemaChick and her crew!

TheCinemaChick joins forces with Fry!

Hello everyone, I'm your local movie reviewer, TheCinemaChick.  As you may have noticed by the title of this blog, I am joining forces with my buddy, Fry.  She's the one I see most of my movies with, even if we have to compromise on things at times.  See, Fry prefers the romantic comedies out there, while I love the obscure and odd.  For example, I was all for seeing Black Swan but she was apprehensive.  She did not enjoy it, but in all honesty, it's a psychological movie that you cannot take at face value.  You have to explore the deeper meanings.  Fry would rather see films like..."Life as We Know It" or "Valentine's Day".

Don't get me started on a Katherine Heigl rant.

I am glad that Fry is willing to see movies I prefer, but sometimes, I wish she would make things easier.  Like...I want to see Green Hornet, but she doesn't.  Therefore, she has to see a movie she doesn't want to see with me while I see a movie I don't want to see with her.

Though I am putting my foot down on one thing.  NO BREAKING DAWN!!
I will discuss my dislike of Twilight later.  I don't like Stephanie Meyer as an author, but I will admit, I have read all her books.  I only read "The Host" because I could borrow a copy of it for a report.  Saved myself about $20 there.

Well, I just wanted to let everyone know that Fry is now officially part of my crew and will be adding her comments in here from time to time.  If we're lucky, Butterfly will also join me and add his opinion as well.
Who knows, maybe I will create an army of cinema goers.

Expect me to return later today and do my review of Black Swan, that I've been promising for days.  Head's up, this one ain't for the kiddies.  It's intense, psychological and has moments of blatant sexuality that might make people uncomfortable.

I'm going to attempt to warm up since we have snow everywhere.  Thank you strange weather phenomenon.

Happy movie going from TheCinemaChick