Anne Hathaway on being picked for Oscars/Catwoman

I love her so much. Can't wait to see her as Catwoman.

Time For The Oscars!

It's the third greatest day of the year (behind Christmas and my birthday, of course)! The 83rd Academy Awards are tonight hosted by veteran-nominee Anne Hathaway and new-nominee James Franco.

Here's some facts you should know:

-This is the first time there has been a male/female hosting team since 1957.

-The King's Speech has the most nominations (12).

-All ten off the Best Picture nominees have grossed $1,315,524,425 together.

-Toy Story 3 is the highest grossing Best Picture nominee.

-Celine Dion, Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Randy Newman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Florence Welch will be performing.

View the full list of nominees here!

Movie Reviews for Best Picture nominees:

-The Kids Are All Right

-Inception

-The King's Speech

-The Social Network

-Black Swan

-Toy Story 3

-True Grit

(No reviews for 127 Hours, Winter's Bone, & The Fighter)

Multiple Nominations:

How many nominations each movie has.

12 - The King's Speech

10 - True Grit

8 - Inception & The Social Network

7 - The Fighter

6 - 127 Hours

5 - Black Swan & Toy Story 3

4 - The Kid's Are All Right & Winter's Bone

3 - Alice in Wonderland

2 - Biutiful, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, & How To Train Your Dragon

My Picks:

My selections are those I think will win, not those I would like to win.

Best Picture: Black Swan, The Social Network, or The King's Speech

Best Actor: Colin Firth

Best Actress: Natalie Portman

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christian Bale (unfortunately)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Melissa Leo (unfortunately)

Best Director: David Fincher or Darren Aronofsky

Best Original Screenplay: Inception, The King's Speech, or The Kids Are All Right

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network

Best Editing: The Social Network, The King's Speech, or Black Swan

Best Cinematography: Inception

Best Art Direction: All of them have an equal shot (rooting for Harry)

Best Costume Design: Alice in Wonderland

Best Makeup: The Wolfman

Best Visual Effects: All of them have an equal shot (rooting for Harry)

Best Sound: Inception, True Grit, or The King's Speech

Best Sound Editing: Tron Legacy, Toy Story 3, or Inception

Best Original Score: The Social Network

Best Original Song: Toy Story 3

Best Animated Film: Toy Story 3

Best Foreign Language Film: Biutiful

Best Animated Short: Day & Night

(Best Documentary, Documentary Short, and Live-Action Short determined during ceremony.)

Who is presenting what?

Tom Hanks - Best Art Direction & Best Cinematography

Justin Timberlake & Mila Kunis - Best Animated Feature & Best Animated Short Film

Javier Bardem & Josh Brolin - Best Original & Adapted Screenplays

Russel Brand & Helen Mirren - Best Foreign Language Film

Reese Witherspoon - Best Supporting Actor

Nicole Kidman & Hugh Jackman - Best Original Score

Matthew McConaughey & Scarlett Johansson - Best Sound & Sound Editing

Cate Blanchett - Best Makeup & Best Costume Design

Jake Gyllenhaal & Amy Adams - Best Documentary Short & Best Live Action Short

Oprah Winfrey - Best Documentary

Robert Downey Jr. & Jude Law - Best Visual Effects & Film Editing

Hilary Swank & Kathryn Bigelow - Best Director

Jeff Bridges - Best Actress

Sandra Bullock - Best Actor

and the best for late…

Steven Spielberg - Best Motion Picture of the Year

Movie Review: The Kids Are All Right

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

(out of four stars)

This was a very interesting movie for me. It was great insight into the world of gay parenting and I think everyone should see it because it just shows that everything is (somewhat) normal. As expected, the children are perfectly normal and comfortable with their situation. And they're straight which debunks the 'gay parents raise gay children' crap.

I believe this movie deserves its Best Picture nomination, but it doesn't deserve the win.

The story was normal and interesting at first, but then when Julianne started to swing the other way and screw her children's biological father, it got kinda fucked up. I love Julianne, but it was hard for me to watch her be the unfaithful one in the relationship.

It was really disappointing to see Mark Ruffalo's character have a sad ending with no closure. Although, looking at the situation, how could things return to normal with him? They'd have to cut him out of their lives. Poor bastard.

My favorite characters, though, were the kids. Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson are really talented and will go really far in their careers.

The films was nominated for 4 Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actress (Annette Bening), Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo), and Best Original Screenplay. I'm really upset that Julianne Moore was snubbed (along with Mila Kunis for the Black Swan). Sadly, I don't think that they will be taking home any Oscars, but to be nominated while on conjuring up $20 million at the box office is pretty big.

Movie Review: The Social Network

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

(out of four stars)

Interesting film. You learn a lot about the history of Facebook through this movie.

I liked how the movie kept going forward and backward in time as they covered certain subjects. And they way they switched between the lawsuits.

Jesse Eisenberg was great and perfectly cast. Although I feel as though that's how he is in real life. He's a lot like Michael Cera that way. Regardless, he deserves his nomination.

Andrew Garfield was snubbed. He deserved a nomination and the movie, for some reason, campaigned for Justin Timberlake to receive an Oscar. Why? Justin is a terrible actor, that's indisputable. And I feel like his character in the movie is exactly how he is in real life. I'm not saying I hate JT. I love his music, but not his acting.

My one, one, one problem with this movie is its lack of climax. I really, really hate movies that do that. You're watching the movie and loving it and loving it and then the credits start rolling. Like WTF? They answer all of the questions and everything but nothing huge happens at the end. Justin's character gets caught in a drug bust but that's hardly a climax (at least they way the showed it, it wasn't a climax).

Regardless it's a great movie. I'm sure either this one or The King's Speech will take home the Oscar, but I'm still praying for Black Swan! We shall see.

Movie Review: True Grit

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

(out of four stars)

This is one of the very few westerns I have seen. What happened to this genre? Westerns define American cinema! We don't see a lot of these anymore and it makes me sad.

True Grit is actually a remake of the 1969 film of the same name starring John Wayne. I have yet to see that one.

In this movie, a young girl is on a mission to hunt down her father's killer and hires a U.S. marshal to help her find him.

Jeff Bridges plays the U.S. marshal and delivered an Oscar-worthy performance. It was kind of the same as Heath Ledger performance in Brokeback Mountain, where you can barely understand what he is saying half the time. And newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, who plays the young girl, rightfully earned an Oscar nomination as well for Supporting Actress. Her character was a strong, confident girl who had some pretty difficult lines and she did them with such ease. This is the movie that will launch her career and I know it will be an amazing one.

Matt Damon and Josh Brolin were also great in this movie. I'm very surprised that Josh Brolin didn't have a larger part or, to rephrase, more screen time. You spend the entire movie talking about him and you only see him for about 20 minutes.

One scene in particular that freaked me out was the snake scene after the young girl, Maddie Ross, falls into a hole or cave. If you have a fear of snakes like I do, then watch this movie with caution.

Movie Review: The King's Speech

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

(out of four stars)

Believe it or not, this movie was amazing.

I wouldn't say that it's for everyone, but I'd say it's for a true movie lover. There's no action, there's no punching, no guns, no explosions, and no sex.

The story is about King George VI and his fight to overcome a stammer. Seriously, that's it. But yet, it's such an amazing film. The movie takes place in the 1930s and we see King George's rise to the throne and how he must deal with the threat of Adolf Hitler.

The cast was phenomenal. Colin Firth deserves the Oscar, hands down. I even tried pulling off a stammer myself and I just couldn't do it compared to him. He was brilliant. Geoffrey Rush played the King's speech therapist and he also did an amazing job. This is the first movie I've seen him in where he wasn't fighting Captain Jack Sparrow. And the always lovely Helena Bonham Carter was amazing in this movie too. She played the King's wife and stood by her husband's side through it all.

I believe that all three of the actors deserve their Oscars. I wouldn't mind if this movie won Best Picture, but I'm still backing and hoping for Black Swan.

And the nominees are in...

The Oscars were announced this morning.

Best Picture

• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King's Speech
• 127 Hours
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter's Bone

Best Director

• Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
• Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – True Grit
• David Fincher – The Social Network
• Tom Hooper – The King's Speech
• David O. Russell – The Fighter

Best Actor

• Javier Bardem – Biutiful as Uxbal
• Jeff Bridges – True Grit as Rooster Cogburn
• Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network as Mark Zuckerberg
• Colin Firth – The King's Speech as King George VI
• James Franco – 127 Hours as Aron Ralston

Best Actress

• Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right as Nic
• Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole as Becca Corbett
• Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone as Ree Dolly
• Natalie Portman – Black Swan as Nina Sayers
• Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine as Cindy

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

• Christian Bale – The Fighter as Dicky Eklund
• John Hawkes – Winter's Bone as Teardrop
• Jeremy Renner – The Town as James "Gem" Coughlin
• Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right as Paul
• Geoffrey Rush – The King's Speech as Lionel Logue

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

• Amy Adams – The Fighter as Charlene Fleming
• Helena Bonham Carter – The King's Speech as Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
• Melissa Leo – The Fighter as Alice Ward
• Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit as Mattie Ross
• Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom as Janine "Smurf" Cody

Best Animated Picture

• How to Train Your Dragon – Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
• The Illusionist – Sylvain Chomet
• Toy Story 3 – Lee Unkrich

For the full list of nominees, click here (Wikipedia).

So far, I've seen… half of the Best Picture nominees. I'm hoping to see The King's Speech, The Kids Are All Right, and 127 Hours before the telecast. Given that The King's Speech shined at the Golden Globes and it has 12 nominations, I feel like it's probably take home best picture much to my dismay, but then again, I haven't seen it yet. According to Roger Ebert on Twitter, he thinks that The King's Speech or The Social Network will take it home and they'll dominate the awards. Hope not. I really enjoyed Black Swan. More so than The Social Network (although it was still good).

Best Actor, if the Golden Globes can be used as foreshadowing, will probably go to Colin Firth for The King's Speech. I'm really happy that Jesse Eisenberg was recognized (although he's like Michael Cera and good at playing the awkward kid). They just cast him really well.

If Natalie Portman doesn't take home the Oscar for Best Actress, I'll be very upset. She's very deserving. She was in the Star Wars prequels for crying out loud! Haha. Otherwise, I would like to see Michelle Williams take it home although I have yet to see Blue Valentine.

I used to be a Christian Bale fan, until I found out what an asshole he is. Have you heard the Terminator rant? "I'm a method actor!" Shut the fuck up Christian. If he wins Best Actor in a Supporting Role, I'll be upset. He may have won the Golden Globe, but I hope that Jeremy Renner or Mark Ruffalo take home the Oscar. It doesn't help that I have a grudge against the Fighter. I haven't seen it (and don't care to), but they should've just called it Rocky 6. I'm over generic sports movies like boxing movies.

I love Helena Bonham Carter. She is so talented and I love her even more because she is Bellatrix Lastrange! I would like to see her win the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. I also enjoyed Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit. She was surprisingly talented. She had some tough lines in that movie. I wouldn't mind seeing her win either!

Best Animated Picture is iffy. Believe it or not, this is the first Toy Story movie to be nominated in the Best Picture category and in the Animated category. Why the first time for Animated? The Animated category was first introduced at the 74th Academy Awards in 2002. The first two Toy Storys were already old news at the time. Shrek took home the first Animated Oscar win. Anyways, I'm really hoping for Toy Story 3, although I did really like How to Train Your Dragon. But don't forget about that third nominee. It wouldn't the first time if that one just snuck up and killed the other two. Remember Spirited Away?

Who was snubbed? Mila Kunis first and foremost. She was perfection in Black Swan. She deserves a nomination at least. Leonardo DiCaprio's performances in Inception and Shutter Island weren't as strong as his usually are, but they're still really good. I'm not surprised that he was snubbed, but I'm still disappointed. I'd also like to say that I'm so happy that Justin Timberlake was snubbed. Critics were raving about his performance and the studio was going to campaign for his Oscar nomination, but he didn't get it and honestly he did not deserve it. His co-star Andrew Garfield should've gotten one though. And finally… I haven't seen Buried yet, but at the time of it's release, critics were saying how amazing Ryan Reynolds performance was. I'm surprised that he didn't get one for leading actor. Finally, Christopher Nolan was snubbed for best director for Inception. But the man has two other nominations under his belt for the movie (best picture and writing). We all know he's phenomenal.

Congrats to Harry Potter and its two nominations and Tron: Legacy, Alice in Wonderland, Iron Man 2, and Salt. All of these were nominated in minor categories.

Movie Review: Black Swan

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

(out of four stars)

This movie was flawless. It was absolutely perfect.

It's nominations for the Golden Globes are well deserved all around.

Now normally, movies such as this (psychological thrillers which involve hallucinations and such) scare the crap out of me and cause me not to sleep, but this one was not like those at all.

Natalie Portman deserves an Academy Award for her performance as the lead actress. Her performance was dead on and perfect.

Mila Kunis, whom I love and adore because she's just so gorgeous, was phenomenal as well. If she doesn't deserve an Oscar, then she at least deserves the nomination and recognition. Who thought Meg from Family Guy was such an amazing, dramatic actress?

The entire ending to the film is the greatest part. Her final performance as she transforms into the Black Swan is breathtaking.

I'm trying to see all of the movies that I believe will be nominated for Best Picture before they come out so I can now check this one off the list. I definitely (so far) want this one to take the Oscar. It's just that perfect.

Movie Review: Titanic

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

(out of four stars)

Happy New Year! As promised, a movie review for my all-time favorite movie! Naturally, I'd give it four stars. Haha. Here we go!

My History

Before we start, I just want to explain my unusual history with Titanic. I was 8 years old when this movie came out and before even seeing it, I became obsessed with it. I don't even know how to explain it. Everybody else in my class was saying how amazing it was (don't ask why 8 year-olds were watching that movie) so I wanted to love it too.

Sadly, I never saw it in theaters (which is why I'm so excited for the movie to be rereleased in 3D), but I made my dad go out and buy it for me the day it was released on VHS! Then I finally saw it and fell in love. To this day, I stand by that movie, it's actors, and the ship itself. I'm quite impressive with the knowledge I have about the ship itself. I'm a loser like that.

So that's my odd, random, and bizarre history with the movie Titanic. Now on with the show.

Story

We'll get the bad out of the way first.

Okay, bad is a strong word, but we all know that originality isn't James Cameron's strongest area. Pocahontas Avatar.... nuff said. Many would say that Titanic is Romeo and Juliet on a boat which is partially true.

The story that everybody focusses on is the most obvious one that Jack and Rose (J and R or Romeo and Juliet) want to be together but Rose is riches and Jack is rags and their love is forbidden. But mix in the fact that Rose and her mother are simply trying to keep their upper-class status although they are far in debt because of Rose's father's death and the story gets better. Rose is being forced to marry her fiancé, Cal, by her mother because of his wealth.

But that's all just the flashback! Let's going to present day where Brock Lovett is searching for the Heart of the Ocean, a priceless diamond that Cal gave to Rose while on the Titanic. Brock is desperate to find it and uses old-lady Rose to get information as to where it is.

So the story isn't Oscar-worthy. I would never say that it is. But I don't think people are very fair when judging it. Think past the obvious and you'll see a better story. Not amazing, but decent. Remember, it is James Cameron. The only amazing original thing he created was the Terminator!

The Actors and their Acting

Breakthrough and career-launching performances for Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Everybody gave amazing performances. Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart both received Oscars for their portrayals of Rose.

I personally enjoyed watching Leo, Kate, Billy Zane (Cal), Frances Fisher (Rose's mother), Ewan Stewart (Murdoch), Victor Garber (Thomas Andrews), Bernard Hill (Captain Smith), and Kathy Bates as Molly Brown.

Directing

James Cameron may be a Nazi, controlling, perfectionist, but he wouldn't have gotten the Oscar for best director if he wasn't. Kate Winslet said that she would never work with him again unless she was paid a lot of money. Apparently, while filming Avatar, if anyone's cell phone went off while shooting, he'd nail it to the wall.

Special and Visual Effects

This movie did an amazing job with its effects…. particularly visual. During production, they only built half of the ship and used a mirror image to complete it.

The movie won Oscars for its costumes, music, sound, art direction, cinematography, visual effects, film editing, and sound effects editing. And they were all well deserved!

Overall

Nothing will ever be able to top this movie for me. I've loved it for 13 years now and I doubt anything will change that. It's one of the most underrated overrated movies made. It deserved all of the Oscars it won. I love it.

James and Anne to Host the Oscars!

Super exciting!

The 83rd Academy Awards will be hosted by Oscar-nominee Anne Hathaway and James Franco.

I loved Ellen and I loved Hugh Jackman, but I'm really liking this idea. Anne Hathaway was great two years ago in the opening number with Hugh Jackman. I expect great things from her. And what's also interesting is that James Franco is most likely going to be getting an Oscar nod for his new movie 127 Hours.

Can't wait! February 27th, 2011!

Toy Story 3 for Best Picture?

Disney announced that it will campaigning for Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 3 to be nominated in the Best Picture category for next years Academy Awards.

Only two animated films have ever been nominated for Best Picture and they were both from Disney: Beauty and the Beast in 1992 and Up in 2010.

With this new 10 Best Picture nominee thing the Academy is doing, it is very likely that this film will be nominated for Best Picture because it was an all-around perfect film. Whether it'll take the Oscar home, I don't know. I guess we'll see!

Good luck Toy Story 3!

Movie Review: Inception

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

This movie was fucking amazing! I don't even know where to begin!

Let's start with the story. Wow. Christopher Nolan is one brilliant man. It was so complex, but understandable at the same time. This is one of those movies that you may want to see twice, but only to validate your knowledge of what happened. And to enjoy it a second time. ;)

But Nolan has made nothing but brilliant movies (that I know of anyways). Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Memento, and now this! Both directing and writing these movies.

To those who have yet to see this movie, I will give you the following advice: Don't be discouraged by the first fifteen minutes of the movie. It confused the hell out of me. Try to focus, but also try to enjoy it.

Now moving from the story / director to the cast. This casting director, whoever they may be, is a genius. Basically, they gathered a group of Oscar nominees that are using this film as a possible step closer to their Oscar. Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Berenger [and director/writer Christopher Nolan falls into this Oscar Nominated category]. Marion Cotillard and Michael Caine both actually received O

scars.

We see Leonardo DiCaprio in another serious role. Give the guy an Oscar already.

Ellen Page was delightful so watch. I haven't seen her since Juno and she has improved so much. She was perfect for the role and I liked that they had someone young on the "team."

Marion Cotillard scared the crap out of me. Every scene she was in (or when we were supposed to anticipate her presence), I expected her to pop out. Her character was absolutely insane.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt was awesome! I'm sorry, but now I just can't see anyone else playing the Riddler in the next Batman movie. He needs that role. It's his. At the same time I'm still trying to get used to seeing him as an adult. He's been one for some time now, but I still picture him as the kid in Angels in the Outfield, "3rd Rock from the Sun", and 10 Things I Hate About You.

The effects were awesome. I'm a real sucker for visual effects (hence why The Day After Tomorrow is on of my favorite movies). I think the scene that blew me away the most was the hallway fighting scene with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It was so awesome... they were flying around, slamming against walls, spinning in the middle of the air. Awesome. I also really liked when the city started folding over. It looked so real! They did a really good job. Like I said in one of my tweets last week: "Inception looks like a photoshopper's wet dream." Haha.

Now time for something that pissed me off. That stupid ending. I'm not talking about the climax of the film (which, by the way, was the last hour and a half of the film no joke). I'm talking about the last 10-ish seconds of footage. I hate movies that are like that. It was like the post-credits scene from X-Men: The Last Stand when the chess piece fell over last second. Except in this movie, the spinning top continued to spin as the shot cut. Are we to assume that it would never fall because it seemed like it was starting to. This brings me to my last comments...

The possibility of a sequel is there. It would be tough to create, however I think it's quite possible and I'm interested in them pursuing it. Only if it is done correctly like the Batman films. Basically, I want to see Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt again in the leading roles. :)

If you haven't made plans to see this movie, you definitely need to. People cheered at the end when the credits began to roll. Not many movies have that kind of response. I've only seen a few: Avatar, Toy Story 3, and all Harry Potters. ;) Go see this movie! You won't be disappointed!!

New Members of the Academy

Each year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (as in the Oscar's Academy or the Academy of the Academy Awards) invites new recruits into the Academy which gives them voting rights for the awards show.

This year, 135 'artists' were admitted. Here are a few of the big ones:

-Zoe Saldana (of Avatar and The Losers)

-Ryan Reynolds

-Anna Kendrick (of Twilight and Up in the Air)

-Vera Farmiga (of Up in the Air)

-James Gandolfini (of The Sopranos)

-Adam Sandler

-Carey Mulligan (Shia LaBeouf's girlfriend)

-Christoph Waltz (of Inglorious Bastards)

-Jeremy Renner (of The Hurt Locker)

-Mo'Nique (of Precious)

-Gabourey Sidibe (of Precious)

-Saoirse Ronan (of Atonement and The Lovely Bones)

-Tobin Bell (Jigsaw from the Saw Series)

-U2's Bono

-Adam Shankman (director of A LOT)

-Morgan Spurlock (the Super Size Me guy)

Movie Review: Shutter Island

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

This wasn't terrible actually.

Going into it, I thought I wouldn't understand it. Everybody who had seen it before was telling me how you really need to pay attention and I may need to watch it a second time.

Well, I (with the help of Wikipedia) understood it perfectly. Okay, let me rephrase. I watched the movie, understood most of it, and went to Wikipedia to read the entire plot to help fill in the wholes that I missed.

The movie wasn't actually that hard to follow. My problem was that I second guessed myself. I knew the movie would end up revealing that Leonardo DiCaprio was insane all along. I actually double second guessed myself. I knew that Leonardo DiCaprio's character was insane all along, however, I thought the tables would turn a second time making him actually not insane somehow. I thought that making Leo insane all along was just too simple of a storyline for a Martin Scorsese movie. I was wrong... they went simple.

The one of the big things that confused me about the movie was that we saw Leo and Mark Ruffalo arrive to the island on the ferry. But if they were just playing along with his fantasy, does that mean that that never happened? And a second thing: we saw Mark Ruffalo's body off the side of the cliff on a rock, dead. Then he just casually walks into the room when Leo's talking to the doctor. Does that mean see his body dead off the side of the cliff never happened?

Otherwise it was a great thinking movie. Leonardo deserves an Oscar nod (and hopefully the Oscar...finally). And I also enjoyed seeing Michelle Williams again. We don't see her much anymore. I've also decided that Emily Mortimer is really pretty in an awkward way. Random. Lol.

Movie Review: The Hurt Locker: Part II

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

Click here for Part I.

So, it's been about 32 hours since I watched The Hurt Locker, and for some reason I'm still thinking about it. And like I said in part one... a Best Picture winning movie should keep you thinking after you watch it. So I decided that I should write a second part to my review to satisfy my urge to keep talking about the movie (whether I know what to say or not).

I'm not thinking about what the movie meant, but I'm more so replaying the film in my head and the more I go over it, the more I like it. It really was a good movie. It didn't have much of a story but it was still interesting to watch.

I was also thinking about movies that are about the Iraq War or terrorism in the Middle-East. Movies like The Men Who Stare At Goats, Jarhead, Body of Lies, Syriana, The Kingdom, Rendition, Brothers, In the Valley of Elah and this one. I've only seen this one, Jarhead, Syriana, and Rendition and all of these films, to me, seem to have no point (much like the war they represent) and they all flopped at the box office.

Avatar losing to this film still has me befuddled. The Hurt Locker might just be one of those movies that few understand because they look past the story. Kind of like Donnie Darko... either you get what the movie is about, or you don't (but oddly enough, that one I understood completely). I should also mention that The Hurt Locker won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. ...It beat UP!

Right now, I'm trying to decide how I would rate the movie if I had to give it a star rating. And... I'm sorry. I don't think I can. I simply suggest that you go rent the movie, or wait til it airs on television. Trust me, you won't have the need to see it until then. Avatar... you should see right away so you know what EVERYBODY else is talking about!! ;)

Official statement: I enjoyed The Hurt Locker.

My New Quest

I am on a quest to own all of the Best Picture Oscar winners! So far I own 12 out of the 82 winners.

81 - Slumdog Millionaire

80 - No Country For Old Men

79 - The Departed

76 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

75 - Chicago

71 - Shakespeare In Love

70 - Titanic

64 - The Silence of the Lambs

59 - Platoon

34 - West Side Story

32 - Ben-Hur

16 - Casablanca

Only seventy more to go! ;)