Prepping For The Oscars!

My mom, brother and I have been trying to watch as many Oscar-nominated movies as possible before the ceremony. I think I've mentioned before in this space that I LOVE the Academy Awards. Yes, they're stupid and lame and the right people never win. (I'm still lookin' at YOU, Julia Roberts.) But still. We have a party every year with snacks and voting and we start with bitchy, red carpet dress mocking. I have SUCH high hopes for Helena Bonham Carter's dress. Maybe it will rival Bjork's crazy swan thing! ::fingers crossed::

Here's the scorecard so far (List stolen from Sars at Tomato Nation):

• 127 Hours (There's no fucking way I'm going to see this movie.)
• Alice in Wonderland (It was fine. I mostly went for the Michael Sheen.)
• Animal Kingdom (I would LOVE to see this. I'll probably try to grab it from the Redbox this weekend.)
• Another Year
• Barney's Version
• Biutiful
  
• Black Swan (I really loved this movie until the last 20 minutes where I feel like it went off the rails a bit. Well. A lot. Natalie Portman was really great. The scene where she calls her mother from the bathroom stall brought tears to my eyes AND a chill up my spine.)
• Blue Valentine (Haven't gotten around to this one yet. I'm not sure I'll be able to before the ceremony. It's...probably not a date movie, right?)
  
• The Confession
• Country Strong (Yeah, no.)
  
• The Crush
• Day & Night
• Dogtooth (I'm really morbidly curious about this one.)
• Exit Through the Gift Shop
• The Fighter (Meh. I hate boxing.)
  
• Gasland
• God of Love
• The Gruffalo
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pt. 1 (Of course I saw this one. Loved it. I'm sure it won't win anything. Heh.)
• Hereafter (I'm curious about this movie. I like things to with with the afterlife, etc. but it's hard to do well.)
  
• How to Train Your Dragon (I think the next time we keep my nephew overnight, we'll rent this.)
  
• I Am Love
• The Illusionist
• In A Better World
• Incendies
• Inception (LOVED this movie. My second favorite of 2010. My Gentleman Caller and I watched it with the Rifftrax commentary and it was HILARIOUS.)
• Inside Job
• Iron Man 2 (Mmm...Downey...)
  
• The Kids Are All Right (I liked this movie quite a bit. The dialogue was great; it felt very natural and more like how real people talk. They really seemed like a family.)
• Killing In The Name
• The King's Speech (LovedlovedLOVED it. Much funnier than I expected. Lovely and touching and everyone in it is great.)
  
• Let's Pollute
• The Lost Thing
• Madagascar, A Journey Diary
• Na Wewe
• Outside The Law
• Poster Girl
• Rabbit Hole (I saw the play during its original Broadway run and adored it. I'd like to see the movie. I'm not notably a Nicole Kidman fan, but she can be excellent when she puts her mind to it. And when her forehead moves.)
  
• Restrepo (Documentaries aren't usually my thing, but I'd like to see this.)
  
• Salt (...No.)
  
• The Social Network (I liked this fine, but wasn't as impressed with it as many seemed to be. Andrew Garfield is ADORABLE. I disagreed with the last line. Mark Zuckerberg, as portrayed in this film, is a giant asshole. Don't try to tell me differently, Rashida Jones.)
  
• Strangers No More
  
• Sun Come Up
  
• Tangled (I will SO see this. Someday.)
  
• The Tempest (Helen Mirren is hot.)
  
• The Town (It was fine. Whatever. Jeremy Renner was great. I really liked Rebecca Hall. Blake Lively was woefully miscast and WAY too young for the role. PEOPLE WHO MAKE MOVIES. STOP DOING THAT. Don't try to tell me that Blake Lively and Ben Affleck could have had a years-long relationship in any way other than statutory rape. Ugh.)
  
• Toy Story 3 (Sobbed off and on for the whole movie. It's wonderful.)
  
• Tron: Legacy (My Gentleman Caller dragged me to this one. Well. I went willingly because of Michael Sheen [Seeing a pattern here?] and the Daft Punk score. It was fine. I despised Garrett Hedlund in the main role, but Jeff Bridges and Olivia Wilde were fine. Sheen was hilarious and, I'm sure, took home massive amounts of money for his 15 minutes of screentime.)
  
• True Grit (GAH. I HAVE to see this before the Oscars!)
  
• Unstoppable (I do not have to see this one, ever.)
  
• The Warriors of Quigang
• Waste Land
• The Way Back
• Winter's Bone (I adored this film. Best movie of the year, hands down. Everyone in it is wonderful and perfect, but John Hawkes and Jennifer Lawrence are SO excellent. I can't say enough good things about this film.)
  
• Wish 143
• Wolfman (I would watch this with friends to mock it. We should get on that.)

Looks like I've got some work to do! What Oscar movies have you seen?

Bad Day Rehab: Celebrity Boyfriends

Hmmm...rough day at work today, babies. Well. Let's be honest, it's been a rough MONTH at work, babies. I try not to talk about my job on my blog because I don't want to get FIRED or otherwise compromised. But I don't think the little fact that it's been a suck-ass month will be too problematical. But whatev, let's talk about something that will cheer me up: my ever-revolving parade of celebrity boyfriends. I know, Gentle Readers, that you sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and gasp, "WHO IS IN BEA'S TOP 5 LIST OF CELEBRITY BOYFRIENDS THIS WEEK!?!?!?" Well, in the interests of everyone getting a proper night's rest, I'll tell you. I'm a humanitarian.

1. Robert Downey Jr. Neither I nor EGT understand Tumblr, but that site makes me laugh. A lot. Mame and I are eagerly anticipating Due Date. During my studies of Downey's career, I've found this to be a very useful resource. For each film of his they ask "Dies/Gay/Villain?" My favorite answer is for Sherlock Holmes: "No/Vaguely/No." HA!
   
2. Dr. Spencer Reid. He may be fictional, but he still the prettiest.
   
3. Benedict Cumberbatch. Yes. I still think his name sounds like a gay porn star. Or, as the Nerdist dude pointed out, like a teacher from Hogwarts. But he's super hot. And he has a damn fine coat. And a sexy voice. So...SOLD. Also, he may not be human but I'm not letting that get in my way.
   
4. Michael Sheen. He's adorable and sometimes makes good movies: The Queen, Frost/Nixon, and The Damned United. And not-so-good movies: Twilight: New Moon, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, and Tron: Legacy. (Damn you, Michael. Now I have to see that piece of shit. But the Daft Punk soundtrack does make me feel a bit better about the whole thing.) Also, why all the colons, Michael? And he surprise!presented at the Oscars, thrilling me (and EGT) beyond belief. That was a pretty bad day for me, so I choose to think it was a special gift from him. Shhhhh...don't try to reason with me. He's a really, really good actor and also does music videos. I like that in a celebrity boyfriend.
5. Terrance Zdunich. Seriously. Have you not seen Repo! The Genetic Opera yet? Get on that, will you? (If you don't like camp and gore, you'll hate it. Luckily, I love both.) This dude emailed me. Because I ordered a comic book from his website. The fit I threw could not be documented. Lucky Sorsha was there to witness it! I'm a challenging friend. (P.S. The comic was really good! I haven't gotten around to ordering the rest of the series, but I did like it. Despite the fucking cockroaches.)
   

Well. That was fun, wasn't it? Tell me about YOUR celebrity boyfriends/girlfriends! There's no shame (or dignity!) here.

My Recent Trip Down Robert Downey Jr. Lane

It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me In Real Life or is a reader of this blog that I go through celebrity boyfriends like most people change their sheets. You know, a new one every week or so, a little longer if I get lazy. I mean, this summer alone, I've gone through like, four. Whatever, I like variety. Because what I do is, I find someone to obsess over and then I rent every one of their movies I can find and watch them all. And then when I've viewed all the media I can find concerning them, I get bored and move on. I mean, by the time I got sick of Christopher Eccleston, I'd watched his entire season of Doctor Who AND all the DVD extras and every one of his movies. Including Jude. Which made me suicidal. Goddamn, that movie is depressing.

Hey, a girl has to have a hobby, right? So, this summer the lucky new obsessee seems to be...Robert Downey Jr. I know, I know. That's almost...normal, right? He's like, traditionally handsome and an actual movie star! I know. I'm disappointed too. But whatever. At least he's got lots of movies to choose from, many of which I've already seen and liked. Here's what I've watched so far:

• Iron Man and Iron Man 2: Duh. Any self-respecting geek has already seen and loved these. They're really great adaptations and Downey is great in them. And I think I love Iron Man 2 even more because I have a SEVERE hate-on for Terrance Howard. I hated Hustle & Flow and I resent everyone who was involved with that shit-ass movie. HATE. So, the fact that he was replaced by Don Cheadle, whom I ADORE, just made it all the better. Love Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper and I LOVE Pepper and Tony. They are so cute.
• Sherlock Holmes: Saw it when it came out, of course. Loved it then. Dragged EGT to see when she came to visit. Still loved it. I just watched it recently and aside from the actual DVD refusing to play on my PS2 (Fuck you, Warner Bros copy guard), I loved it even more upon rewatching. Downey is really great as Holmes, smart and bitchy and funny. One of the best things about Downey as an actor is that he's always thinking, always doing something interesting, even when not much is going on. I LOVE the scene at the end on the scaffolding with Holmes, Irene Adler (The lovely Rachel McAdam) and the bad guy, Blackwhatever. And Blackwhatever is about to push Irene off the edge and Downey does this subtle, begging headshake and bad guy shoves her off the edge and twirls his mustache and Downey shouts a clipped, "NO!" before he can stop himself. It's SO GREAT. And I love Jude Law as Watson. I am not notably a Law fan, but boy, was he fun in this movie.
• Chaplin: Ugh, sorry guys. I thought this was really boring. I don't usually like biopics because they usually suuuuuck. Downey was good in this and so was Kevin Kline (He's ALWAYS good) but ZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
• A Scanner Darkly: I have this from the library and am watching it now. Hee. This shit is crazy.
  

And the movie that prompted this post was Less Than Zero, which the lovely Sorsha loaned to me and also blogged about. She is such a shameless enabler. I didn't really like the movie. I'd heard it wasn't very good but that RDJ was fantastic in it. I mostly agree with this statement. My first problem: I don't usually like movies about drug addicts. Second problem? I don't give a shit about rich people and how miserable they all are. Seriously, go dry your tears on your money. (Class issues? Me? NO. SURELY NOT.) Third problem? I hate Andrew McCarthy. I didn't like him in Pretty in Pink. I didn't like him in Mannequin. I do not like him in a house, I do not like him with a mouse. He has a high voice. It weirds me out.

So, with all these strikes against it, I watched the damn movie. Ugh. Whatever. It was ok. I think McCarthy and Jami Gertz are both pretty bad in it. I liked Gertz fine in both Lost Boys and Solarbabies (WHAT? I LIKE THAT MOVIE. IT'S NOT A CRIME, OK?) [It sort of is] but I didn't think she was too great here. Probably they just both looked really bad next to really fabulous performances by Robert Downey Jr. and James Spader.

McCarthy plays Clay, who has just come home from college at Christmas to see his ex-girlfriend Blair (I think it's Blair. Maybe it's Blake. Whatever, I'm not looking it up, I just won't mention her name again. PROBLEM SOLVED) whom he'd dumped at Thanksgiving because he caught her and his best friend Julian boning. Whatever. I can't fault her taste. It's all very dramatic, with a bouquet of flowers being pegged at their post-coital heads. HA. Downey plays Julian, the wacky best friend who's become seriously addicted to drugs. Cocaine, I think. I don't know, something snorty. Like any addict, Julian is, by turns, charming, needy, aggressive, affectionate, nasty and desperate. Downey is really great at switching him back and forth. It's a really painful performance to watch especially when you know that later it mirrored real life. Sometimes Julian is so vulnerable you can barely stand to look at him (Something I also noticed with Downey's performance in Chaplin) and other times he's so cocky, you just want to bitch-slap him. The scene with Julian and his dad sort-of reconciling had me in tears. I texted Sorsha and she laughed at me. NICE, RIGHT?

James Spader, my favorite douchebag, plays Rip (No, I'm not kidding you with that name), the drug dealer who convinces Julian that the best way to work off his debt is as a rentboy. Spader is really nasty and sleazy and great in his manipulation of the increasingly stupid Julian. It's pretty masterful. God, I love James Spader. Heh. I'm sure the sight of Downey on his knees in a day-glo hotel room was pretty shocking for the 80s but I wasn't very impressed. And I could have done without all the puking, thanks. And memo to 80s Downey: It's called Chapstick. Get you some.

Also, Mame would like you all to know that she had a crush on Robert Downey Jr. in the late 90s when she made me watch Two Girls and a Guy. I bitched the entire time. TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE movie. But Mame was right. That guy is hot. (Um, I urge you all to head over to the IMDB entry for that movie. Look at the plot keywords. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)

ETA: DUDE. I forgot Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, basically the BEST MOVIE EVER. Ugh, I fail at my own blog. It's a great movie, Downey is great in it and so is Val Kilmer. Yes, THAT Val Kilmer. He's awesome. And it's written by Shane Black, who writes great action movies. Go rent it.

Movie Review: "Rachel Getting Married"

Ok, you guys. This right here? Best movie of the year. I loved this movie. LOVED. Full disclosure: I really like Anne Hathaway. I think she's adorable. I love The Princess Diaries, the books and the movies. No, I'm not 11. Shut up, they're really cute. And her hair was HILARIOUS in Brokeback Mountain. Anyway, I like her a lot and am generally prepared to enjoy her work.

In Rachel Getting Married, my girl Anne plays Kym, who is just a trainwreck of a human being. She's let out of rehab on a pass to attend her sister Rachel's wedding. And of course, all sorts of confrontations and fights and dramatics occur. But, not in the typical movie way. This movie unfolds more like a documentary. Or like real life.

It's a very interesting wedding, a mishmash of Eastern and Jewish and all kinds of other traditions. It's awesome. Full of music and dancing, it's exactly the kind of wedding I'd like to attend. The movie uses entirely diagetic music, emanating from the various musicians hanging out at the house. (Hey, I'm a nerd. I like to pretend like I know things.)

The acting is uniformly amazing. Hathaway does a beautiful job with Kym, a character who should probably be fairly unsympathetic. She's been an addict for years and put her family through hell. She is wildly self-centered and has absolutely NO filter. You get the idea that she's had way too much therapy and thinks being "honest" and "open" means saying anything that pops into her head. Heh. But Hathaway finds the heart in her and the courage and strength. She really is trying. She really does love her family. The scene where we learn what happened to Kym and Rachel's younger brother is incredibly compelling.

Everyone else in the cast is a knock-out as well. Rosemarie DeWitt plays the grounded Rachel. I was sure I'd seen her in something else and when I looked her up, she played Midge on Mad Men. (A sidenote: what is up with that? It seems like every time I like an actress lately and look her up, she's from Mad Men. The other notable example is Julie McNiven who played Anna, the angel girl on Supernatural. God, Mad Men rules.) Debra Winger pops up, as Kym and Rachel's distant mother, in the first role I'd seen her in in a really long time. She's awesome. Bill Irwin (Mr. Noodle from Sesame St.!) and Anna Deveare Smith (She's been in tons of things, but she will always be Nancy McNally from The West Wing to me. "Someone get me a change of clothes. I look like an idiot.") play the girls' dad and stepmom. It's a lovely performance from Irwin especially, I hope he wins lots of awards.

I cried off and on for the last 40 minutes of the movie. I'm not kidding. It wasn't pretty. Some of them were sad tears, others happy. Families, man. Families just get to me. Even when they're not perfect, even when they suck, even when they have NOTHING in common with you, you still want them with you and on your side. Rachel Getting Married is such a lovely, funny, ultimately uplifting ode to perfectly imperfect families.

Like Anyone Cares...My Oscar Predictions!

Ok, so this is my big night...Oscar night. Hey, it's my Super Bowl, y'all. HATE sports, LOVE the Oscars. Sure, I usually end up TOTALLY pissed off, but my homework for it is...WATCHING MOVIES. And we have a party and make fun of ugly dresses. AND. Jon Stewart is hosting again. Um, some of you may know of my feelings for Jon Stewart. (JON! I've totally loved you since I was 12 and you had a crappy talk show on MTV! CALL ME. Ahem. Sorry.) So, that should be good. And, I've seen lots of nominated films this year. I don't have the ennui of last year, when I didn't really care about any of them. So...here are my picks for the wins AND who I WANT to win:

• Best Supporting Actor: Ok, see, this is a tough one. I think Javier Bardem will totally take it for his TERRIFYING performance in No Country for Old Men. And I would be totally ok with that; he was amazing and he's going to be totally hot in his tux and will no doubt give a charming acceptance speech. BUT. I'd also like to see Tom Wilkinson take it for Michael Clayton. He was truly great. And he's totally paid his dues, as far as good past performances go. That shouldn't matter, but it always does. But: Bardem.
• Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett. I didn't see I'm Not There and I don't care that much about it, but apparently, she plays a guy. Blanchett is always awesome, so I'm sure she's good in the role. And the Academy really likes her. I'd LOVE to see Tilda Swinton take it or Amy Ryan, but I don't think that's going to happen. So: Blanchett.
• Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis. I don't see anyone else winning. He was brilliant in There Will Be Blood, a movie that I am still somewhat ambivalent toward. And he only makes a movie like, every 5 years, so they probably want to encourage him or something. Winner: Day-Lewis.
• Best Actress: Julie Christie. Though Marion Cotillard is getting tons of stuff for her role in La Vie en Rose, another movie I don't care about and won't be seeing. It's a pretty strong category, though I think Blanchett will get the supporting win, not the lead. (I HATE when they do that. Nominate someone ONCE, please. Ugh.) Laura Linney is always a good bet, but no one saw The Savages and Ellen Page is like, 12. She'll have other chances, though her speech would probably be hilarious. Hmmm. Nah: Christie.
• Best Director: Coen Brothers. I'll be very disappointed if anyone else gets it.
• Best Song: "Falling Slowly," from Once. I will have a FIT if this doesn't win. Beautiful, beautiful song. Plus! The singers fell in love while they were making the movie! How cute is that? Come on!
  
• Best Adapted Screenplay: No Country for Old Men, I think it will win AND it's my pick. I really loved that movie.
• Best Original Screenplay: Michael Clayton. I think it's a split between this one and Juno. I really don't want Juno to win. Honestly, I think that screenplay had some SIGNIFICANT weaknesses that were mostly overcome by the actors. Michael Clayton's screenplay was tight, witty (but not...glib. Heh, I can't use that word and not think of Tom Cruise.) and intelligent.
  
• Best Picture: No Country for Old Men. I think a fistfight may break out between my brother and me over this and There Will Be Blood. I just think No Country is a FAR superior movie and I totally think it will win.

So there's that. What do you guys think? Who's going to win? Who's going to wear an ugly dress? (I'm really hoping that Tilda Swinton wears something crazy!)