Thoughts on the 2012 Oscars

And it was written on this night as with similar nights in this time of our year, that the awards season which takes into account films from our year before has come and gone, more and more this is the case and quicker they come upon us and leave with similar meanings of haste.

And with that I'm referring to the Oscar ceremony of 2012, so overall how was it?

Surprisingly, I thought it was okay, mainly due to the return of long time host Billy Crystal, Crystal as an actor has been hit and miss for me over the years but here I thought he did well, he was assured, relaxing, delivered some good jokes here and there but he was pretty much the safe pair of hands the Academy would've wanted to get the ceremony back on track after the departure of original host Eddie Murphy and original ceremony producer Brett Ratner, as for some of the presenters well it depends on your overall opinion of the actor in question, I liked seeing Michael Douglas and Colin Firth the most, both presented well and spoke clearly without sounding too pretentious though watching Natalie Portman's presentation bordered on cringing.

As for the winners, well it was no surprise at all that the Artist would take home the top prize, it had the momentum behind it ever since the Golden Globes where it won best Musical or Comedy and the Descendants won Best Drama, after those wins I thought "either of those films could win Best Picture" but I also became slightly convinced that the Scorsese film Hugo could also win in case of a tie vote, alas that didn't happen.

As for some of the other wins, I'm happy to see Hugo get Best Cinematograpgy, Art Direction, Sound Editing and Mixing as well as Best Visual Effects, all well deserved wins but also wins that prevented it from getting the majors, also of no surprise was Streep's win for the Iron Lady based on the UK PM Margaret Thatcher, her first since Sophie's Choice in 1983 and now a new generation of film goers can see Streep be awarded for her work at long last.

But lastly, I have to talk about the fashions on the red carpet, ever more a part of these awards ceremonies for better or worse and best dressed for me was Jessica Chastain, she looked wonderful in her dress, simple, understated and the dress itself looked quite nice, standing out from an ever more average crowd, runner up would be Michelle Williams for similar reasons.

Worst dressed had to be Rooney Mara (nominated for the English version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) as she looked terrible, had a look of gloom on her face the entire time as if she just didn't want to be there at all and she's so skinny, I thought she looked good at the Golden Globes, the dress she wore suited her well, here not at all and I do like Mara as an actress and hope to see if she does Lisbeth well.

All in all, the awards may have come and the glory of victory may be bestowed for now but such spoils do not last forever and all of the films involved will now begin their long march to stores across the world, forever to live out the rest of their days and their golden awards just space on the front cover and the statues to live out a similar eternity on the shelves of their winners, oh well at least the year will now shift into high gear with John Carter next week to kick off the upcoming blockbuster season, which promises to be big with both the Avengers and the Dark Knight Rises being the biggest of all.

But as they say, one shall stand and one shall fall but either way, audiences will spend big bucks taking the time to find out...

Film Review - The Hunter (2011)

The Hunter stars Willem Dafoe as Martin, a man who flies into Tasmania to search for the mystical Tasmanian Tiger, said to be extinct, whilst there however he befriends the family he is staying with including the mother (Frances O'Connor) and her friend Jack (Sam Neill).

The Hunter sad to say is a film of two distinct features: One Good and One Bad, I'll start with the good first and that is the Tasmanian landscape and the films cinematography, quite simply it is beautiful to watch and almost right away you could care less about the plot, the landscape also has a quality to it that reminds you of the 1975 classic Picnic at Hanging Rock directed by Peter Weir, Dafoe is also good in his role.

But as I said, once you see the landscape you couldn't really care less about the plot and that's pretty much what happens here, the mystery regarding the Tiger is weak and also predictable, you don't care very much in regards to what happens and both Neill and O'Connor, fine actors they are end up getting the short straw between them, both aren't seen enough and you start to get the feeling that both end up wasted as a result.

All in all, I am of two minds on this film, on the one hand it looks great but on the other the story is weak, if I had to say whether I recommend it or not I will say yes but only for the beautiful landscapes, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Warrior (2011)

Warrior concerns the story of two estranged brothers, Tommy (Tom Hardy) and Brendan (Joel Edgerton), Tommy is a former Iraq War veteran and Brendan is a high school physics teacher who is suspended after he is in a MMA fight, but the two also have a father (Nick Nolte) who was a drunk when they were young, but when the two learn of a MMA tournament called Sparta, they sign up to win its 5 million dollar prize.

Well, I can't say in all honesty that this was a movie that I enjoyed all that much, don't get me wrong I thought Edgerton and Jennifer Morrison were good in their roles and the MMA scenes were very well directed and edited but this story is built on contrivance after contrivance.

I mean you have the underdog no one believes in, the hard hitting, the brash host, the bitter old man, the dutiful love interest who doesn't really serve much relevance to the plot and for good measure you even have the big Russian who enters the tournament, though he doesn't say "I must break you."

What I wish had happened was that the central focus of the film was on Edgerton and Morrison as Brendan is very much in the Balboa tradition: A working class man, down on his luck trying every way he can to make things right but ultimately turning to the one thing he was good at to create a better life for himself and the people he loves, this was the heart of Rocky II and I wish it had been the narrative focus here.

As I said, it has some good fight scenes but everything else feels too contrived for me to recommend it, 1.5 out of 5.

Film Review - This Means War (2012)

This Means War stars Chris Pine and Tom Hardy and FDR and Tuck, two CIA agents who are best friends and partners in the field, until they find out that they are dating the same woman, Lauren Scott (Reese Witherspoon), from there rivalry breaks out.

I went into this movie with very low expectations as the trailer made it look really bad but I decided to go and see it as I like Hardy and Pine, with that how was it?

Well, to be frank it was plain and simple bad, and I don't that it was terrible or unfunny or parts of it weren't that good, no it was a bad film full stop, it was dull to watch, the jokes weren't funny and Hardy, Pine and Rosemary Harris should've stayed FAR FAR away from this awful script that throws two separate storylines together and tries to mesh them together all the while failing miserably at this task as the two stories feel very much like that and Witherspoon is not funny at all and was also really really annoying.

But what feels worse is this: The film's overall treatment of its women characters, instead resorting to bad stereotypes that I thought we got over years ago, Witherspoon's character is a lot like Natalie Portman's in Thor: A strong, independent and resourceful woman that turns to jelly over A) The Big Strong man with the Big Muscles and B) The Charismatic Man in the sharp suit though missing the slightly furry face, for gods sake can we please move on from these bad stereotypes, it gives movies a bad name and rarely if ever work at all.

There was however one thing I did like from this movie and that is it made me want to see the rumoured Jack Ryan reboot with Pine at the helm, he looked and sounded the part and was more in the Alec Baldwin mould when he played the character in the Hunt for Red October, lets hope that gets off the ground soon.

Overall, bad stereotypes, unfunny comedy and bad action make this a failure with a capital F, hopefully Hardy puts this behind him and blows us all away as Bane in "The Fire Rises" later this year, for now skip this turd for "It Stinks", 1 out of 5.

Film Review - Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991)

Showdown in Little Tokyo stars Dolph Lundgren as Kenner, a cop in Los Angeles who was raised in Japan but saw his parents murdered at a young age, since then he has lived in the US, one day he is assigned a partner played by the late Brandon Lee as they investigate a new drug in the area.

Showdown in Little Tokyo was actually surprisingly good fun, a nice reminder of the B movie exploitation fare that we don't see a lot of these days, mainly due to most movies relying on huge budgets and time and money consuming computer graphics, Lundgren and Lee play off each other rather well and deliver some nice wisecracks that set them apart from the killing machine's they might have been in different hands, Lee also has some surprising charisma, it's a sad shame he died as young as he did as he might have made a likeable action star had he lived.

All in all, Showdown in Little Tokyo is fun B movie fare that does its primary job nicely, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Crazy Stupid Love (2011)

Crazy, Stupid, Love stars Steve Carell and Julianne Moore as Cal and Emily, a couple married for 25 years when Emily announces during dinner one night that she wants a divorce, this devastates Cal and he comes across a man named Jacob (Ryan Gosling), everything changes.

You know, I went into Crazy, Stupid, Love with low expectations as I had heard very good reviews and also I'm not that big of a rom com fan, I love When Harry met Sally... but that would be about it, with that how did I find the film?

To my surprise I actually kinda liked it, well parts of it, mainly those to do with Carell and Moore who have great chemistry, their scenes are sincere and they're a pleasure to watch whenever they come on screen during the movie.

Sadly however, the film overcrowds them with a few too many characters, namely the 17 year old babysitter, the English teacher played by Marisa Tomei and the other wheel played by Kevin Bacon, their characters were unnecessary and the character Gosling plays got really annoying after a while, apart from Carell and Moore I also liked Emma Stone who did a great job but she has shown this before with Easy A and proves once again how good she is despite her far too limited screen time.

All in all, some good performances help to overcome a slightly unbalanced rom com but hey its better than most out there so you can't complain, 2 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Proof (1991)

Proof stars Hugo Weaving as Martin, a blind man who is looked after by his housekeeper Celia (Genevieve Picot) and has a guide dog named Bill, one day while eating out he comes across one of the dishwashers who works there named Andy (Russell Crowe) and he finds someone in which to trust.

Trust actually is a key theme of this film as Martin is blind so he relies on people to tell him the truth about what they see as he cannot with his own eyes, this movie I thought was a terrific Aussie drama with a great sense of pace, 3 terrific performances in the shape of Weaving, Crowe and Pucot and a great storyline that in all honesty almost had me in tears as I found it to be very moving.

One part I also liked was the use of the camera, Martin uses this so that he has a photo of what he senses but others see with their own eyes, I also liked the use of trust and truth as the film's key themes, it's a very subtle film and writer/director Jocelyn Moorhouse deserves huge kudos for pulling it off with ease.

All in all, this is a great drama and if you haven't seen it already, you should, 4 out of 5.

Film Review - Colombiana (2011)

Colombiana is the latest production by Luc Besson, best known for such films as Subway, The Big Blue and the Fifth Element, here he tells the tale of Catalina (Zoe Saldana) a young Colombian girl who sees her parents murdered and then escapes to America and grows up to be a professional assassin so she can exact her revenge.

You know, I like Zoe Saldana very much and I really liked Besson's 2008 production Taken with Liam Neeson but this one felt really, really dull mainly because unlike Taken which had a great central performance by Neeson and a clean and clear narrative structure, this movie doesn't have any sense of narrative at all and even the films action scenes get boring after a while, I can't believe that this was the same actress that poured her heart and soul into Neytiri in Avatar could pretty much phone it in here, what a waste of a great talent.

So in closing, go and rent Taken instead, its cheaper, you'll get more value for money and you'll have a great time, what more can you ask for, 1 out of 5.