Depending on whether you're an "old-school" reader of Wave Hello Again you may or may not know about my single radio-contest-winning experience, wherein I won free movie tickets for the year of 2005 by predicting 2004 Oscar winners correctly. It's something I like to brag about from time to time, as well as use as the reason that since 2005, my husband and I just have not seen that many movies: we suffered from movie burnout. Still kind of do, really. Who wouldn't after the long-lasting ill effects of Monster-in-Law? All we could talk about during movies like that was the fact that everyone around us had actually paid to be there. Not to mention the amount they had spent on crap movie food. (We knew it was awful because we also got free concessions.)
This year, I must admit I had hardly seen any of the nominees. I did see Juno (nom. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (nom. Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing), August Rush (nom. Best Original Song), Enchanted (3x! nom. Best Original Song), and The Bourne Ultimatum (nom. Best Editing, Best Sound Editing). Nothing for Waitress, surprisingly enough; seemed to me like perfect Oscar fodder.
Random thought, I wonder if Ellen Page put "Disappointment" by the Cranberries on repeat and cried in her room after the Oscars. It's what I did after I lost the election for student council secretary in seventh grade.
I freely admit that I didn't really like any of these except for Diving Bell (and, okay, I did like "The Happy Working Song" in Enchanted). In fact I was going to make a joke about how I didn't see many Oscar-type movies this year "except maybe August Rush," then lo and behold it got something other than my jeers. Not that you should take my "film" advice that seriously--Joe vs. the Volcano, for example, is one of my favorite movies, and I may have been heard to call Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed "one of the best of 2004."
I was thinking that 2007 was an "eh" year for movies (and I didn't even see Stomp the Yard) but upon reflection, it wasn't so bad. Actually there are lots of movies I didn't see (many of them Oscar winners) that got huge raves. My inability to handle much gore, sex, or swearing kind of makes me shy away from lots of them.
So, moving on. 2008! Indiana Jones! The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! (from the Post: "The project has been talked about for years, but [George] Lucas's insistence on building the script around the titular objects--models of human skulls cut from quartz--kept his teammates at bay. Guess he wore 'em down, because here we are, in 1957, the bad guys are the Cold War Russkies, and the hero is a reality-based 64 years old. Not exactly what you'd call catering to the youth market. But they'll show up anyway on May 22.")
Oh, and Be Kind Rewind, anyone? I was in disbelief when I first heard the premise (and the fact that Mos Def is second-billed) but now I am looking forward to seeing it. Maybe I will even pay to watch it in a theater.
Here are a few lists if you are interested in the 2008 movie season.
55 Must-See Movies of 2008
Why 2008 Will Be an Awesome Year for Movies
10 Most-Anticipated Movies of 2008
I guess I'm not as movie-jaded as I thought. I am already mentally booking babysitters for some of these release dates.
2 comments:
Seems like I never see movies anymore - unless they are on a bargain rack at CVS or Office Depot and I buy them - got Ladies in Lavender that way - and it was great.
But they are never current.
I wanted to see "La Vie en Rose" this year and tried to schedule going several times - and them keep forgetting to rent it.
Remind me!
"El Orfanata" was by far my favorite this year. I should probably blog about it and tell you why. I'll work on that.
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