Midnight in Paris

Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris is the story of an American family visiting Paris on business. In the film Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is forced to acknowledge his failing engagement with Inez (Rachel McAdams). His magical midnights in Paris and the characters that he meets each night help him in moving past his relationship troubles and also help to develop his novel.

Some of my absolute favorite characters in this film were fairly small roles, but incredibly well acted. Salvador Dali (Adrien Brody) and Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll) were absolutely hilarious.

Midnight in Paris has received a total of four Oscar nominations. They include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Art Direction.

Maybe it’s my own nostalgia for an era before my time coming through, but I definitely felt like I could relate to Gil Pender. It was fun to see which artists from the twenties he would run into next and where those artists would take him in terms of character development.

Moneyball

Bennett Miller’s Moneyball, based on the book by Michael Lewis, is the story of the Oakland A’s general manager, Billy Beane (Brad Pitt). Beane is trying to create a winning team on a budget by drafting players through the unpopular use of computer-generated analysis with the help of Peter Brand (Jonah Hill).

Moneyball has received six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Mixing.

I’ll be the first to admit that I know next to nothing when it comes to baseball. I thoroughly enjoyed this film despite my lack of knowledge on the topic. Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill were both great in their roles, so I’m very glad that they both received nominations. While this isn’t one of my personal favorites of the Oscar nominated movies I’ve watched thus far, it is definitely a worthwhile film to see.

The Help

Tate Taylor’s The Help, based on Kathryn Stockett’s novel, is set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s. Skeeter Phalen (Emma Stone) is a 23 year old writer living at home with her parents. She decides to write a story from the perspective of African American maids. She speaks with Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) and other maids in Jackson who tell stories about their personal experiences as maids.

The movie and the book that Skeeter is writing play up the “mammy” archetype, which is a very dark skinned, middle-aged, and generally good-natured woman who acts as the nurturing mother-figure to the children of the families they work for. The character of Aibileen fits all of these stereotypes. We discover that part of Skeeter’s own interest in hearing the stories of Aibileen and the other maids is in part due to her own history with a family maid and “mammy” figure.

The Help has been nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actress, and two Best Supporting Actress nominations.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching The Help. Emma Stone’s character was ultimately just a catalyst for the maids’ stories, however she did get her moment to shine while understanding and coming to terms with her own past. Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were both incredible and made the film entirely worthwhile, in my opinion.

The Descendants

Alexander Payne’s film The Descendants is based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings. Starring George Clooney, it is the story of a man reconnecting with his 10 and 17 year old daughters after their mother is in a boating accident that put her into a coma. The Descendants is a touching story that shows Clooney’s character’s struggle with transitioning from the “second-string parent” due to a busy work schedule to having no choice but to make time to be there for his children, especially his youngest daughter, Scottie.

This film is nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The Descendants will make you laugh, make you angry, and break your heart without missing a beat, which is precisely why it is expected to receive so many nominations. Clooney does a fantastic job, as do Shailene Woodley, who plays his 17 year old daughter Alexandra, and Amara Miller as 10 year old Scottie.

Hugo

Martin Scorsese’s Hugo is set in 1930s Paris and is the tale of a boy, his late father, an automaton, and film history. I saw this film in Rosedale Center with my brother last month. We did a double feature of Hugo and The Muppets. While The Muppets was adorable and fun loving, Hugo was absolutely fantastic.

Scorsese’s Hugo is an adaptation of Brian Selznick’s book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which I also highly recommend that you pick up. In both the book and the film, Hugo Cabret is living in a train station with his uncle after his father is killed in a fire. He’s trying to stay under the radar of the station inspector while maintaining the clocks of the station. In his spare time he tries to repair the only thing he has left of his father, an automaton. In his attempts at repairing the automaton Hugo meets  a young girl and her godfather, who works at a toy shop in the station.

I saw Hugo in 3-D and I’m so glad that I did. This is the first 3-D movie that actually felt like the visuals added to the viewing experience as a whole. The cinematography was gorgeous and the story was enthralling.

I went into the film with a bit of basic film history under my belt, which was great for making connections between the fictional plot and real history. However, if you don’t have any background in film studies, the movie does a good job of keeping the viewer caught up with what they need to know about film history. If you haven’t seen this yet and are interested in getting the full experience of Hugo, I recommend watching Georges Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon.

All in all, Hugo has certainly made it’s way into my favorite movies of all time. Definitely see this film, and if you have a chance to see it in 3-D, do it!

Hugo is leading the number of Academy Award nominations with 11 in all, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing.

What the Goal Is

At 2AM this morning, just as I was about to put in a movie and get some sleep, I had an idea: I should watch as many movies for this Oscar season as possible and blog about my adventure along the way. I’ve always enjoyed movies and I look forward to Oscar season every year. However, come Oscar night, I’ve rarely seen more than five nominated movies total, all categories included. I usually hope to see more, but just never get around to it until after the Academy Awards are over. Despite this, I still love watching the Oscars.

So for this years Academy Awards season, I’ve decided to celebrate by viewing as many nominated films as I possibly can in just over a month’s time. I know the nominations aren’t announced until next Tuesday, so this week I’ll be viewing movies that are on Indiewire’s 2012 Oscar Predictions List.

I’m starting with just the Best Film category. If I’m able to complete that category in a timely manner, I’ll move on to Best Actor and Actress and Best Supporting Actor and Actress. From there, if there’s still time, Best Original and Adapted Screenplay. Of course, if I get this far, the nominations will be out and I’ll have a smaller list to complete, but with a new semester of fresh classes starting tomorrow, it’s hard to say how much time I’ll be able to devote to this project. This year’s adventure is a bit experimental. If all goes well, I’m hoping to do this annually.

So that’s the plan, and now we’ll get into the films that I’ve seen thus far!