Oscar readiness continues...

Last night, I saw The Impossible, the true story of one family caught in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The film is great on it's own, but it's especially good at painting a picture of what it was like to experience one of the worst natural disasters in history. When the wave hits, I couldn't help thinking about what the people in the 1889 Johnstown Flood might have gone through. The terror and bone-crunching devastation of being hit with that much water and debris was just unreal.

Naomi Watts was nominated for Best Actress, and while she was great, I think this is one of those instances where they nominate one person in order to honor the entire film. Ewan McGregor was also outstanding (when is he not?), but he real story here is Tom Holland, the kid who plays the family's eldest son, Lucas. He carried the film, in my opinion, and he's, like, 12. I'm calling it now: he will be hugely famous within ten years.

The entire contents of Noah's Ark is coming for me in my sleep.

Meet the tiger that will haunt my dreams.

So, this weekend I saw Life of Pi. What I loved most is that, in one fell swoop, I completed eight Oscar categories. Eight! That brings my tally to 9 down, 15 to go. And if this week goes according to plan, I'll complete another seven categories.

What I did not love: most of the other stuff about this movie. Okay, here's the deal, it was beautifully shot, well-acted and directed, and visually stunning.

Okay, fine, this was very cool. I'll give you that.

Most people would really love this movie. But I am not most people. If you know me at all, you probably know how I feel about animals. I heartily dislike them. I don't wish them harm, but I also don't wish them anywhere in my vicinity. I'd rather spend a day at the dentist than a day at the zoo.

And this movie is ALL animals. The tiger (haaaate), the baboon, the zebra, the hyena, tons of hideous fish of every sort, whales, sharks, and dolphins, and let's not forget the meerkats. It was heinous. Everywhere you looked more and more animals were popping up, and popping out in my face since it was in 3-D (oh, how I hate 3-D). It was like watching a Hannibal Lecter movie. I was in a constant state of horror and disgust. If only Melis had been sitting next to me laughing at my terror, it would have been the full Silence of the Lambs experience.

Liz and Kris, you guys would probably love this. It was not for me. But hey, eight whole categories--that's not bad at all.

What a delight.

When I set out to see all the Oscar nominated films this year, I lamented the recently-added category of Best Animated Film. "Why do I have to watch these children's films!," I wondered sourly. I mean, Brave was awesome but I wasn't interested in watching four more. Well, this weekend I Netflixed two of the nominees and I can only say: what a delight.

ParaNorman is the tale of a young boy who can see and talk to the dead. The people of his town treat him like a freak, but he uses his abilities to save them when they need him. It's clever, funny, and beautifully animated. It's really not appropriate for young kids, despite the animated format, but I enjoyed it immensely.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits is a claymation (oh, how I love claymation) film from the people who did Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run. It is, in a word, hilarious. It's full of clever, hysterically funny dialogue and marvelous characters. Hugh Grant plays the Pirate Captain and his delivery is spot-on perfect. If you have kids, it's a great movie to enjoy with them, but if you don't have kids, do yourself a favor and enjoy it anyway. It's wonderful.

Now I'm actually looking forward to checking out Frankenweenie and Wreck-It Ralph.

Quick! Someone solve this mystery!

So, there's this family with ten children, nine of whom are home on Christmas Eve, 1945, when a fire engulfs the family home. The parents and four of the children escape; the other five, aged 5 through 14, disappear without a trace. No bones or human remains among the ashes. Nothing. The parents, convinced the children are alive, do everything they can to find them. They chase down every lead, write to J. Edgar Hoover asking for an FBI investigation, they even hire a private investigator but he goes missing himself.

And then, 23 years after the fire, a mysterious photograph shows up in the mail, purporting to be an image of  the missing 9-year-old boy, all grown up. And it really does look like him. No letter from the unknown sender, no return address.

Eventually the parents died without ever knowing the truth. Four of the remaining five siblings died as well. Now, the last surviving child, who was two years old when the fire happened, still hopes to find out what became of her five brothers and sisters.

You really need to read this story. Mysterious visitors, creepy strangers watching, arson and bombs, mafia-related threats, strange noises in the night, credible sightings of the missing children, and then that cryptic photograph! Why were they taken? Where did they go? And why, if they did live 23 or more years after the fire, did they never try to contact their parents?

Oh, this story is just too much. Someone please figure out what happened. I am dying here.

One down, 23 to go.

Check the skulls and the twisted metal bodice.

So, I have completed my first Oscar category: Best Costume Design. There are 23 more categories to go, but I'm chipping away at them. For now, I'm happy to have one category finished.

I'd rather not admit what I had to do to get here, but it's easy enough to look up the nominees so I'm just going to come out with it and tell you that I watched both Mirror, Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman. Both actresses in the role of Snow White were equally hideous, but in their own wretched ways. Lincoln was great, Les Mis was good, and watching Anna Karenina was like being at the Subway station in Chinatown: just an endless wait for the train to finally show up.

I'd actually give this one to Snow White and Huntsman. The intricate gowns created for Charlize Theron's wicked queen were quite spectacular, and one of the only redeeming qualities of the film.

Happy New Year and Oscar Season!

The Oscar nominations were announced today. This delights me because I love movies and I can distract myself from the fact that Christmas is another 11 months away by getting Oscar ready. Here are my initial reactions:

Best Picture
No huge surprises here, except maybe that Amour and Beasts got nominated and The Master didn't.

Best Director
No Ben Affleck or Kathryn Bigelow? What? I thought it would be a fight between the two of them and neither was even nominated. Shocking. Affleck's snub was my biggest disappointment of the nominations. I think he's such a gifted director and I'm not sure why the Academy isn't recognizing that.

Best Actor
No John Hawkes? This was a big disappointment too. John Hawkes is doing consistently brilliant work and I like to see him get recognition for it. And I love to see Deadwood alums do well.

Best Actress
Jennifer Lawrence scores a second nom in such a young career. Good for her.

Best Supporting Actor
Ah, my favorite category. Leo was snubbed again (I can hear Jen shriek in anger all the way in Virginia), which is a shame because he was quite good in a role that could easily have been cartoony. Christoph Waltz was more of a lead that a supporter if you ask me but I'm happy to see him recognized because he was brilliant. I doubt he'll win, though, because giving him another Oscar for another over the top Tarantino role doesn't seem likely.

Best Supporting Actress
They say Anne Hathaway has this in the bag and the other four shouldn't bother to show up. But those are the kinds of things that get said just before an upset. And Helen Hunt's performance was fantastic.

Screenplays
I'm rooting for Argo for Adapted (it was so good -- seriously, go see it -- and if it can't get Director it should get screenplay) and Django for Original (I pretty much decided that at, "The D is silent, hillbilly!"). However, I'm happy to see Moonrise Kingdom get some recognition. It really should have had noms for Production Design and Costumes as well.

Forty six days ans lots of movies to go, so I'm off to a late showing of Flight. What did you guys think of the nominations?