My Thoughts On The 82nd Oscar Telecast

Well, my predictions were pretty decent. If you look at the ones on this site, there’s a slight difference: I ended up going with The Hurt Locker for Best Original Screenplay. My computer has been down the past few days and didn’t think to change it. At my school every year they project the Oscars in the multi-purpose room, and have a contest for prizes. The people who can guess the most correct winners get the prize. I ended up with second place, correctly guessing 17/24 categories in total. The ones I missed:

A Response To My “Hurt Locker” Inquiry

Note: This post contains spoilers about The Hurt Locker. If you haven’t seen the film and don’t like spoilers, I recommend not reading the post. But it’s up to you.

Tokyo Tom Baker partially answers an inquiry I had earlier concerning the use of Gears of War in The Hurt Locker, which can be found on my blog, but also over at Roger Ebert’s website here. He writes on his blog, and in his review of the film,

“The theme of seeking order amid chaos is also apparent in a scene in which a soldier named Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) tries to lose himself in a violent video game after making a shoot/don’t-shoot decision that cost a friend his life. In a video game, you get a second chance to shoot, and you can do it over and over until you get it right.”

My response after the jump.

One Of The Reasons I Love Scorsese’s Movies

I don’t really remember exactly when I “discovered” Scorsese, so to speak. One would think that I would immediately know the first Scorsese movie I saw, but I honestly can’t say. My only explanation is that since that initial viewing, whatever it was, Scorsese’s films have captivated me in a way no other filmmaker’s resume has. After recently seeing Shutter Island, my love of Scorsese has once again been vindicated. He’s truly one of the greatest living filmmakers of all time. Arguably, he is the greatest living filmmaker. To me, it’s no argument.

Review – The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert [1994]

Starring: Hugo Weaving, Terence Stamp, Guy Pearce
Director: Stephan Elliott
Screenwriter: Stephan Elliott

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is gay, in both definitions of the word, and that’s precisely what makes its charm almost irresistible. It’s a fun romp through the desert of Australia. It has a kinetic energy that almost never lets up, and it has characters that are as unpredictable and eccentric as its costumes (for which it won an Oscar). One thing that makes it as enjoyable as it is are the three leads, all typically “macho” men, or at least actors who play roles associated with more masculine character traits: Hugo Weaving, Terence Stamp and Guy Pearce. The fact that they play three musical drag queens is something that starts out seeming like a gimmick, and as the film progresses, becoming a more and more pleasing choice.

THE 82nd ACADEMY AWARDS – Nomination Reactions and First Official Award Predictions

So it’s taken me long enough, but they’re finally here! My official Oscar Predictions. They’re only in the major categories: Best Picture, Animated Picture, Director, Acting Awards and Writing Awards. I feel I have the knowledge and information to properly predict those. The other awards… Not so much. I could try, but frankly, I’m going to be lazy for the moment and just focus on the major ones. Maybe before the official Oscar telecast I’ll make predictions in other areas. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Remember, if you want to see these predictions later, just check out the page at the top labeled “The Oscars.” That will take you right there. Or just click here.

Why Do Video Game Adaptations Suck?

Why do video game adaptations suck? This question has been plaguing me ever since I saw Super Mario Brothers, the very first video game adaptation, and realized that movies couldn’t just be dumb. They could be downright god-awful. Every movie lover has his moment of realization, and Super Mario Brothers was mine. The problem is that since then, we haven’t really come that far. It’s not as if the video game adaptations being made today are far superior to that of Super Mario Brothers. There are myriad reasons why: bad, unknown actors, bad, unknown writers who probably wrote the screenplays on the toilet while taking a break from writing thirty other screenplays that will never get bought by a studio, and of course, Uwe Boll. Though I shouldn’t pick on just him, even if he is the very worst. Other directors have done video game adaptations as well. The issue with directors is the same as the other issues: they’re unknown, small-time, and inexperienced. Hollywood obviously doesn’t have any trust in video game adaptations. And I can’t help but wonder why.

Some Thoughts on the Golden Globes

The Golden Globes carried no surprises, in my opinion. That’s just the problem, but there’s not much to be said about it except “oh well” and just move on. The only interesting thing here is the implication it has on the Oscar race.

A Conversation With John Gilpatrick

I’ve begun doing some collaborative work with a fellow blogger and Twitterer, John Gilpatrick. You can visit his blog, John Likes Movies, by going here. We’ve decided to do “conversations” every now and then. Discussions about current movie news, awards, or review movies we’ve both seen. It’s always going to be different, because it’s just a conversation. It’s not an in-depth interview of any kind. It’s simply the thoughts, ideas and insights of two guys who love movies, coming together to talk about movies. We hope to do this more in the future, to make this the first of many. I hope you all enjoy it. If so, please comment. Feedback is always a nice reward.

In this edition, we talk about a few things, including the recent decision by Sony concerning the Spider-Man movie franchise, the Oscars, and more specifically, Kathryn Bigelow’s seemingly inevitable win for Best Director on the horizon. Check out the full conversation after the jump.

The Significance of Gears of War in The Hurt Locker

Note: Although I do not specifically spoil anything about the movie, I do allude to a specific scene in the film. For those perfectionists out there who need to see a film untainted by such discussions, I would advise you to see the movie before reading. If not, or if you’ve seen the movie, by all means, please keep reading.

I’m really taken by surprise that more people have not commented on the fact that Spec. Eldridge is playing the video game “Gears of War” in one scene of The Hurt Locker. I think that this should be further examined, yet I haven’t seen anything that even talks about it in the reviews I’ve read. I don’t know why that is (perhaps those reviewing the movie haven’t played the game), but I think it requires further examination. It was obviously intentional. Eldridge could be playing any game at all, and yet he’s playing what some consider to be the most realistic war game ever. Realistic in the way it portrays combat, and puts you in the middle of fire fights, scrambling to find cover and hiding behind any object possible in order to survive.

Producers Guild Announces Its Nominees

The PGA announced its nominees for this year. All-in-all pretty predictable, but there are a couple of pleasant surprises. Check out the nominees and some commentary after the jump.