Popcorn & Velvet Seats

Synopsis: An Irish woman living as a man working on a hotel staff, dreams of marrying a nice girl, and opening up a successful tabacco shop one day.

Thoughts: Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs) delivers a very original character work for her performance in the film. Aaron Johnson (Joe) delivered a strong performance in his supporting roll, and I’m not really sure how anyone thought the Orlando Bloom was going to deliver the same performance as Aaron? The same goes for Amanda Seyfried playing Mia Wasikowska’s (Helen) role. 

Reasoning: Glenn Close is clearly personally attached to this project as a co-write on the original screenplay, writing the score  and the film. So far as the original character work, I loved that she was a quiet squirrelly man instead of the butch testosterone type who’s always trying to prove something. 

Audience Reaction: I don’t know if people appreciated the ending, but I feel as if there wasn’t any other option.

Conclusion: Buy the ticket

BEST PICTURE
“The Artist,” Thomas Langmann, producer
“The Descendants,” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, producers
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” Scott Rudin, producer
“The Help,” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, producers
“Hugo,” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, producers
“Midnight in Paris,” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, producers
“Moneyball,” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, producers
“The Tree of Life,” Nominees to be determined
“War Horse,” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, producers

LEAD ACTOR
Demián Bichir, “A Better Life”
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Gary Oldman, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy “
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

LEAD ACTRESS
Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Rooney Mara, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”

BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Alexander Payne, “The Descendants”
Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh, “My Week with Marilyn”
Jonah Hill, “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”
Max von Sydow, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Bérénice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
“The Descendants,” Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Hugo,” John Logan
“The Ides of March,” George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
“Moneyball,” Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
“The Artist,” Michel Hazanavicius
“Bridesmaids,” Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
“Margin Call,” J.C. Chandor
“Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen
“A Separation,” Asghar Farhadi

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“A Cat in Paris,” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
“Chico & Rita,” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
“Kung Fu Panda 2,” Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Puss in Boots,” Chris Miller
“Rango,” Gore Verbinski

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Bullhead,” Belgium
“Footnote,” Israel
“In Darkness,” Poland
“Monsieur Lazhar,” Canada
“A Separation,” Iran 

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
“Hell and Back Again,” Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front,” Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory,” Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
“Pina,” Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
“Undefeated,” TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement,” Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
“God Is the Bigger Elvis,” Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
“Incident in New Baghdad,” James Spione
“Saving Face,” Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom,” Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

FULL COVERAGE: The Oscars

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
“Dimanche/Sunday,” Patrick Doyon
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
“La Luna,” Enrico Casarosa
“A Morning Stroll,” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
“Wild Life,” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
“Pentecost,” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
“Raju,” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
“The Shore,” Terry George and Oorlagh George 
“Time Freak,” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
“Tuba Atlantic,” Hallvar Witzø

ART DIRECTION
“The Artist,” production design: Laurence Bennett; set decoration: Robert Gould
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,” production design: Stuart Craig; set decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo,” production design: Dante Ferretti; set decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“Midnight in Paris,” production design: Anne Seibel; set decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
“War Horse,” production design: Rick Carter; set decoration: Lee Sandales

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Guillaume Schiffman, “The Artist”
Jeff Cronenweth, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Robert Richardson, “Hugo”
Emmanuel Lubezki, “The Tree of Life”
Janusz Kaminski, “War Horse”

COSTUME DESIGN
Lisy Christl, “Anonymous”
Mark Bridges, “The Artist”
Sandy Powell, “Hugo”
Michael O’Connor, “Jane Eyre”
Arianne Phillips, “W.E”

FILM EDITING
“The Artist,” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants,” Kevin Tent
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
“Moneyball,” Christopher Tellefsen

MAKEUP
“Albert Nobbs,” Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,” Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
“The Iron Lady,” Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
“The Adventures of Tintin,” John Williams 
“The Artist,” Ludovic Bource
“Hugo,” Howard Shore
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” Alberto Iglesias
“War Horse” John Williams

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets,” music and lyrics by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio,” from “Rio,” music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown; lyrics by Siedah Garrett

SOUND EDITING
“Drive,” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Ren Klyce
“Hugo,” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
“War Horse,” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

SOUND MIXING
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
“Hugo,” Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
“Moneyball,” Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
“War Horse,” Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

VISUAL EFFECTS
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
“Hugo,” Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
“Real Steel,” Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Synopsis: A successful mission quickly turns into a frame job for Mallroy, a female black ops soldier when she finds herself on the run, and then out for revenge to clear her name.

Thoughts: Interesting. Interesting. Well, Alright.

Reasoning: The film definitely has its own look to it with interesting and I would say original cinematography. As well as, a cool espionage thriller style soundtrack that is in the same vain of ol’ school spy films. The stunt work was definitely amazing, the closest thing I can compare it to is Matt Damon’s The Bourne Identity films, you can clearly see that Gina Carano’s skills lie with in the ass kicking realm.

So far as the “well, alright” thought, Carano’s acting is a bit rusty in a few of the scenes, and I could clearly see seasoned actors like Michael Douglas and even Channing Tatum with a straining look in their eyes for Carano to give them more than three emotions to work with. On the flip side, at least she didn’t over act because there’s nothing worse than over acting.

Audience Reaction: Diggin’ it.

Conclusion: Buy The Ticket.

Synopsis: African - American pilots in the Tuskegee Program suffer from racism during World War II, when they are grounded for the majority of the war or are given undesirable missions. That is until they fight for their right to fly as their Caucasian counterparts do.

Thoughts: Enjoyable film with all the classic notes for an underdog story.

Reasoning: The cast was stacked with practically ever young black male actor in Hollywood, and with music artist from the R&B world with Ne-Yo and the Hip-Hip world with Method Man. Although, I can’t say their performances were anything special, especially when compared to the talented David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds and Michael B. Jordan.

Audience Reaction: Everyone likes a good under dog story, so in general the audience was appreciative of the Tuskegee Airmen story.

Conclusion: Buy the Ticket

Synopsis: A look at the evolution of Carl Jung’s and Sigmund Freud’s relationship, as well as, their relationship with Jung’s patient Sabrina Spielrein as all three give birth to sexual psychoanalysis.

Thoughts: Wow a-f’ing-mazing!

Reasoning: What an interesting film. Watching Michael Fassbender’s character study how sexual behavior relates to psychoanalysis, and no longer be able to depict the difference between himself as the therapist and the patient was truly interesting.

I had no idea that Keira Knightley had some acting chops, that’s great!

And well, Viggo Mortensen is always amazing!

Theater Reaction: Dead Silent. One laugh. Dead Silent. Credits.

Conclusion: Buy The Ticket

Synopsis: After living a crime free life, a former smuggler finds himself back in the life of crime inorder to save his brother-in-law’s life.

Thoughts: It was just al-freakin’-right.

Reasoning: The storyline was not original. I would compare it to Mark Walhberg’s Shooter, but the storyline is actually a little stronger than Shooter. The acting was pretty good, but then again when there’s a weak sauce storyline does it really matter?

Conclusion: Buy The Ticket… If you have nothing else to do, otherwise just Netflix it.

Synopsis: A viewing of the former Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher’s, life professionally and personally. As well as, the sacrifices she made to become the woman she always wanted to be.

Thoughts: This was a well structured storyline, and of course Meryl Streep is wonderful on screen as always.

Reasoning: I really enjoyed the non-linear storyline for this bio-pic. Meryl Streep mastered Margaret Thatcher’s voice/accent and delivered a strong performance that should earn her some awards this season. I would also like to tip my hat to Alexandra Roach who played Young Margaret, she was well cast looks wise and did a wonderful job showing Thatcher’s youthful political moxy.

Theater Reaction: The theater was pretty quiet over,  a few chuckles at the comedic relief moments. That’s about it.

Conclusion: Buy The Ticket… if you care about award season movies.

Synopsis: A well established choir director, G.G. Sparrow, struggles to regain her power after a new director,Vi Rose Hill, is appointed to her choir.

Thoughts: Pffffffffttt….. Ummmm…. Psshhh.

Reasoning: The best thing about this movie was when…. it was over.

Audience Reaction: The movie goers laughed and what not, but I think they were being generous.

Conclusion: Do NOT Buy The Ticket. I mean, if you have something else to do e.g. shine your shoes or something important like twiddling your thumbs then do go ahead and do that. 

Rumor: A rep for jewelry design Gurhan has reported that french actor, Olivier Martinez, has bought an engagement ring for Oscar winner Halle Berry.

Thought: Maybe the third time will be charm for Halle Berry and if that’s the case, then good for her.

Breaking News: Lindsay Lohan is in talks with the Lifetime Network to play Elizabeth Taylor in Elizabeth & Richard: A Love Story. Although, Lohan has taken several Marilyn Manroe style photo shoots, it appears that Taylor might be the ticket.

Thoughts: This is her shot to get herself together after getting dropped from the juicy role of Victoria Gotti, John Gotti’s blonde daughter, in the upcoming star studded film Gotti: In The Shadow of My Father. Although, she was later re-attached to project with the smaller role of Kim, John Gotti’s  wife, Lohan still hasn’t recovered her career.  I believe Lohan will be able to draw on her own personal experiences that are similar to Taylor’s life and bring the role to life e.g. stage moms, fame at a young age, lacking a childhood and substance abuse.