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Oscars

March 8th, 2010

NBC pissed me off with their atrocious Olympics coverage. ABC then decided to get on my bad side by making me miss Oscars.

Almost.

I was almost expecting the looping “important message from Cablevision” that blamed all ills on ABC throughout the day on Sunday to be replaced by live Oscar feed just in time for the ceremony. That the feed was restored about an hour into the broadcast partially mitigated my displeasure with both ABC and Cablevision (which, I’ve no doubt, was shared by the 3 million Cablevision subscribers residing in WABC-7 broadcast area), but it still does not excuse either company. The Dolan family, cheapskates extraodinaire, seem to have positioned me and other subscribers as potential hostages in any dispute with content providers (which, judging by the fact that this is the second time this year that a popular channel was taken off the air, may become a regular happenstance). In this particular case, the little I understand about TV content economics does suggest that ABC is more at fault; I can’t imagine why a local affiliate in one specific region of the country, who produces very little of original content beyond local news broadcasts, would be suddenly worth 20% more than before, especially since it is, in effect, a free channel. (And I do know several friends who bought themselves digital antennas to ensure that they could watch Oscars even if the dispute was not resolved in time.)

The outcome will undoubtedly be higher rates for my cable subscription. The Dolans will quote-unquote apologize and blame it on the greedy networks, but that hardly makes me any happier.

As it were, we missed only the opening part of the ceremony, which might have been one of its more entertaining parts. We seemingly did not miss any of the actual awards, joining in when the Best Supporting Actor – which, I believe, is traditionally one of the very first categories to be awarded – was up.

There were surprisingly few entertaining bits in the rest of the broadcast. Only one production number, with brilliant street dancing to the nominated Best Original Scores. No live performances of the nominated Best Songs, which must be the newest trend. Several presenter routines were clever (Ben Stiller, or Diaz and Carell), while quite a few people looked uncomfortable and camera-shy. I liked the recently adopted practice of giving each of the Best Actor/Actress nominees a personal panegyric by a co-star; some of those salutations were quite charming. The Martin/Baldwin duo, conversely, was not at all funny and looked out of place – I can barely recall a joke of theirs that I laughed at (ok, the Paranormal Activity spoof wasn’t half bad); overall, IMHO, they were a huge downgrade from Hugh Jackman’s performance last year.

A number of acceptance speeches for “lesser” awards was quite rudely cut off, which may have helped to move things forward (nonetheless, the broadcast lasted a bit over 4 hours), but also probably contributed to there being very few good ones – I think Sandra Bullock’s was the only one that managed to be both funny and heart-felt without sounding arrogant or patronizing; I can only recall a couple of others (the French guy who won the Best Animated Short, the winner for the Best Score) who stayed away from the tired formula of “I couldn’t imagine this X years ago – Look at me now! – Thank you the managers and the agents and the members of the crew [and James Cameron the Visionary]“.

The Hurt Locker looks like a great movie that I definitely want to see, but its haul of Oscars and especially its Best Picture award look to me a bit of a stretch. Ever since Shakespeare in Love won over Saving Private Ryan in ‘98, the Academy has been trying to over-compensate in favor of the socially- or politically-profound movies, and this must have been the case of the voters being biased towards a current-events, touches-the-nerve story over a fantastic allegory. Still, I felt that a ground-breaking movie a decade in the making, and one that so effortlessly became the most widely seen movie in the entire history, was slam-dunk deserving of the Best Picture Oscar. Makes it even more of an anomaly that The Return of the King cleaned up in ‘03.

Also, the Best Picture award provided a single exception that I noticed this year to the trend of the same people winning all awards during the season. Jeff Bridges won a Golden Globe, a SAG Award and an Oscar for his role. Sandra Bullock did likewise. So did Christoph Waltz. So did Mo’Nique. I can’t imagine that their performances are such stand-outs compared to those of their fellow nominees that different voting bodies would each agree. Only when it came to the best movie, did the Academy of Motion Pictures vote differently from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Weird.

In any case, Oscars always rekindle my interest in watching movies. That, and the sight of gorgeous women in beautiful gowns – hey, I’m secure enough in my masculinity to admit that I enjoy that sight tremendously! – makes the Oscar night one of the most important TV nights in my viewing calendar. Good thing ABC and Cablevision came to their senses before it was too late.

Books & Movies, TV

2009 movie round-up

December 30th, 2009

With my very limited movie-watching programme of the second half of the year, I was surprised to learn that I managed to see more films for the first time this year than I did last year (50 vs 47). Below the fold is my by now traditional year-end round-up.
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Books & Movies

Movie review: Avatar

December 23rd, 2009

I freely admit that I’m not a cinema-going type. My misanthropic tendencies are acutely tested in the presence of inconsiderable louts with their cell phones, eating habits and inability to refrain from talking to one another during the showing. As a result, I rarely go to the movies, unless it is for some kid-oriented viewing with my children, or a personal can’t-wait-must-see-now target such as a new 007 movie.

Occasionally, though, a new release rises to a level of an event, and I make specific effort to go see it.
 

 
In my eyes, Avatar was clearly such an event. Everything I saw and heard in the weeks before it came out, suggested that this movie will open a whole new chapter in the history of cinema.

I was not disappointed.

Below the cut I try to explain what I liked about this movie and why it deserves in my book. If you are not afraid of a vague spoiler or two and interested in my musings, feel free to read on. Otherwise, just go and see the movie. In 3D, preferably.
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Books & Movies

Not watching movies (but two drive-by reviews included)

October 29th, 2009

Four months since my last movie overview – and only a couple of movies watched in that period of time. Before I get into an explanation of why my movie-viewing habits have become so insignificant, let me tell you what those two viewings were, and anyone who couldn’t care less would be then free to skip this post altogether. (As always, there’ll be spoilers, too.)

Hancock 2008
No Country for Old Men 2007

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Books & Movies

15 Movies Meme

September 9th, 2009

In the absence of truly original content, I sought to fall back on a gimmick today, that being the trebly-symmetric date of 09/09/09. Except, to keep the symmetry intact, I would have to talk about something related to the Olympic Games, as I did both on 07/07/07 and on 08/08/08. Alas, Olympics are lately as much as on my mind as, say, Newton’s binomial theorem. Not a lot, in case you did not get the allegory. Not at all, in fact.

What is on my mind are what we hope the last remaining bits for fully re-integrating ourselves back into American life. Closing on a house and such. Not the topics I am willing to blog extensively about.

Instead, realizing that I’ve been increasingly neglecting my blogging host responsibilities of late, I decided to resort to the true and tried crutch of a meme and followed a recent one via Jason. If interested, look below the cut.
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Books & Movies

Late June movie round-up

June 27th, 2009

In less than three weeks since my last movie-watching summary I managed to see 11 movies, some of them fairly recent releases. Half of them were watched on transatlantic flights, plus I worked through the DVR queue a bit, in anticipation of fast-approaching cancellation of my satellite TV service.

Here is the lineup, with drive-by reviews as always below the cut (few spoilers cannot be avoided).

10,000 B.C. 2008
21 2008
Fool’s Gold 2008
Gran Torino 2008
sex, lies, and videotape 1989
Taken 2009
The Incredible Hulk 2008
The International 2009
Valkyrie 2008
Watchmen 2009
We Own the Night 2007

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Books & Movies

Early June movie round-up

June 7th, 2009

This is a bit of an inertia post. I do not feel ready to completely abandon my drive-by movie reviews, but none of the movies I caught in the last month or so were truly on my to-watch list (not even Star Trek, an impulse decision, or Coraline, watched at the behest of the kids, both of which I enjoyed). I’m overdue for an installment of the feature, so even though I have few illuminating thoughts on these, here they are.

Coraline 2009
Ghostbusters 1984
I Am Legend 2007
Star Trek 2009
Wanted 2008

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Books & Movies

Coraline in 3D

June 6th, 2009

The girls and I went to see Coraline today, which was my first experience with “real 3D” movies. Not the old spectrum-shift type that looked very confusing when not seen through special glasses; and the glasses themselves were not of the flimsy cardboard variety with one red eye and one blue eye. Instead, we were issued very sturdy old-fashioned-looking glasses with clear, almost imperceptibly tinted lenses; putting these glasses on outside of the cinema did not produce any discernible changes to the clarity of vision. When we tried looking at the screen without them, the display was obviously flat and a teeny tiny bit blurry but nonetheless watchable. With the glasses on, we were treated to excellent 3D effect and a very enjoyable experience.

Way cool!

The movie is quirky and beautifully made, and there are enough ominous moments to make the young members of the audience uncomfortable (Kimmy confessed to being a bit scared in certain episodes). Neil Gaiman’s stories are always very imaginative, often with strong dark undertones. The cinematographers did an outstanding job of visualizing his novella. There are very few all too brief hilarious moments, the colors are all muted, you constantly feel that something sinister is afoot…

I did not think it was a children’s movie at all, but the girls liked it overall. I did as well. What spoiled it a bit for me was my usual pet peeve of having a Russian character speak in broken Russian. Mr Bobinsky at times spoke brilliantly in Russian (and Ian McShane did a reasonable job of faking Russian accent when Bobinsky spoke English), but there were enough of goofs – putting a given name where a patronymic should have sounded, repeatedly using a diminutive for flies when mice were the subject (мушки vs мышки), mis-stressing a syllable of a long word – to kick me out of my reverie so that I could contemplate this perpetually burning question: How expensive could it be to hire a native Russian speaker to proof-read the few Russian lines in a movie script?

I wonder if there is an alternative career in that…

Anyway, that’s two trips to the cinema in less than a month. Go me!

Books & Movies

Movie review: Star Trek

May 17th, 2009

If this blog is any kind of a guidance, yesterday was only the third time in a year that I actually went to a cinema to watch a movie. I might as well give my brief expressions of that here. Since most people who are interested in Star Trek undoubtedly have read – or written themselves – tons of illuminating analysis of the movie elsewhere, and those not interested should have a fair chance of ignoring it altogether, I’m hiding the body of the post below the fold. (There will be a few spoilers, too, in case you have not seen the movie.)
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Books & Movies

April movie round-up

May 2nd, 2009

The three films that I watched for the first time during the month of April are all, to a degree, “acclaimed”, if not critically, then at least among some of my friends. That last consideration drove my selection a bit, on the few occasions where I did find time to watch a movie.

Fargo 1996
Juno 2007
The 13th Warrior 1999

As always, my thoughts on each movie are below the cut, proceed at your own risk.
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Books & Movies

March movie roundup

March 24th, 2009

You would think that after a short hiatus I’d come back with plenty of stuff to talk about. You would be wrong. I am not touching any of the current events or political topics (not that I have ever been prolific in that area), there is nothing exciting going on at home (only a couple of weeks left before the next excellent travel adventure, though), and I can’t think of a fascinating expat topic to expound upon.

I’m left pretty much with an assortment of my serialized “features”. So, I suppose, I’ll fall back on one, bringing it forward from its usual slot, because (a) there is little chance that I’ll see more movies until the end of the month, and (b) I actually want to talk about movies for a change.

[I heard your collective groan from here. You don't have to be so obvious. Feel free to not look below the cut - I won't hold a grudge.]

In the first half of the month, I watched a few of recent award contenders, interspersed with a couple of “guilty pleasures”.
 

Across The Universe 2007
Hitman 2007
In Bruges 2008
Slumdog Millionaire 2008
Vicky Cristina Barcelona 2008

There be spoilers – I’ll keep them to a minimum, but please be warned.
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Books & Movies

February movie roundup

March 2nd, 2009

Anyone who pays any attention to the movies widget somewhere on the right-hand sidebar may have noticed that it’s been pretty stale for the last few weeks. Convergence of recently recorded episodes of NCIS, House and ER, the James Bond month on Sky Movies, old Russian variety shows that were long neglected, and a packed football schedule, meant that I only managed to watch two “new” movies in the reportable period.

Charlie Wilson’s War 2007
La Vie En Rose 2007

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Books & Movies

Early February movie roundup

February 6th, 2009

I am of two minds about continuing with this regular series.

On the one hand, I no longer like it: I realize that I lack the wit and imagery necessary to make such reviews captivating and I also recognize the fact that commenting on movies that are all yesterday’s news is hardly of any interest to the majority of you out there. (Unless I happen to accidentally hit on someone’s favorite flick…)

On the other hand, I have this unexplained urge to make some sort of a written statement about every “first-seen” movie.

I’ll allow the “other hand” win, for now. Which means that you are stuck with another one of these.

An Officer and a Gentleman 1982
Desperado 1995
National Treasure: Book of Secrets 2007
The Untouchables 1987
War 2007

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Books & Movies

Mid-January movie roundup

January 17th, 2009

I’ve been searching for something to write about and I realized that in the first half of the month, I’ve already seen 9 movies that I had not seen before. A regular feature to the rescue!

Eastern Promises 2007
Good Luck Chuck 2007
Lions for Lambs 2007
Little Miss Sunshine 2006
Lucky You 2007
The Counterfeiters 2007
The Darjeeling Limited 2007
The War of the Worlds 1953
Transformers 2007

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Books & Movies

December and 2008 movie round-up

December 30th, 2008

There is a slight outside chance that I will reduce my PVR queue tonight, but more likely my movie-watching program for the year is closed. Because I am unsure of whether to continue with this series in the next year at all, I’ve decided to depart from my standard M.O. and have the monthly overview posted now.

December’s list of watched movies that I’ve never seen before contained several of last year’s releases in American Gangster, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Michael Clayton and The Kingdom, slightly older Eragon and School of Rock, and one entry from the previous century, The Avengers.

Brief impressions, as always, are below the fold. As an additional bonus, I am also listing all of my 47 first-seen movies for the year 2008, with my ratings and briefest of notes.
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Books & Movies

November movie roundup

December 4th, 2008

Long days at the office, plenty of top-notch football on TV, numerous episodes of favorite TV dramas to catch up on – it all conspired to make for a month in which I was able to watch less than a handful of movies that I have not seen before. Of course, I actually managed for once to go and see a true new release, Quantum of Solace. The rest of my viewing this month consisted of 300, The Good German and a token relative “oldie” in the form of Scarface.
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Books & Movies

A book meme

November 21st, 2008

I know that you are all craving for more of these meme thingies from me, and I figured, Why not do two in a row? Especially, since this is a completely different type of meme, dealing with my literary tastes. I picked it up a few days back at Jason’s, my usual source.
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Books & Movies

Movie review: Quantum of Solace

November 16th, 2008

A new installment in the James Bond franchise has an irresistible pull on me. While I have few opportunities to go to the movies and tend to barely tolerate the distractions that accompany the procedure of sharing the viewing experience with a bunch of strangers, certain movie releases to me constitute “events” that I find hard to put off until their future availability on cable.

So, on Saturday, Natasha and I left the children to entertain themselves in front of TV and computers, and went for a matinee showing of Quantum of Solace.

 

 

I’ll give this movie purely on entertainment value, but I am ambivalent about it. On one hand, it has striking locales, fast-paced action, daring escapes, fanciful technology, great stunts, chases and explosions – all that I enjoy the most about Bond movies. On the other hand, I also expect a coherent storyline, and the sequence of events in this movie appears a bit too haphazard and disjointed to me.

There are a few spoilers below, proceed with caution.
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Books & Movies

Alphabet Movie Meme

November 11th, 2008

I am suddenly quite busy at work, with little time to come up with a worthwhile narrative for a post. Seeing how I’ve used one of my regular cop-outs just yesterday, I impulsively decided that I needed to pick up a little meme that Jason had tagged me with. I am not going to recount the rules – head over to Jason’s if you want to learn them in detail – nor am I tagging anyone afterwards (although, anyone interested in picking this up, feel free; and by the way, anyone interested in a free link to their website, please let me know and I’ll be happy to tag you next time). I am linking back to the originator of this meme, Blog Cabins, because it seems like proper etiquette.

The exercise itself seemed fun enough to take my mind off work for a few minutes. Here, then, is the list of my favorite movies, one per each letter of the alphabet. Yeah, in a nutshell, that’s all there is to this.

At first, I wanted to follow a theme, but later realized that I cannot call the selections favorites anymore.

  • Air Force One
  • The Bourne Ultimatum
  • Casino Royale
  • Die Hard
  • Entrapment
  • The Fifth Element
  • Goldeneye
  • Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone
  • Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
  • The Jackal (struggling a bit)
  • Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (this one a stretch, but I can’t think of another movie here)
  • Live And Let Die
  • Mission Impossible
  • Never Say Never Again
  • Ocean’s Eleven
  • Pretty Woman
  • Quantum of Solace (I have no doubt that as soon as I watch it, it will become my favorite movie that starts with Q)
  • Raiders Of The Lost Ark
  • Some Like It Hot
  • Tomorrow Never Dies
  • Under The Tuscan Sun
  • A View To A Kill (when nothing comes to mind, a James Bond flick is always a choice)
  • When Harry Met Sally
  • xXx (a pretty stupid movie, but I did not like any of the X-Men ones)
  • You Only Live Twice (same as V)
  • Zorro

Books & Movies

October movie roundup

November 3rd, 2008

I watched movies with regularity in the first half of the month, before Natasha and I resumed our almost-nightly routine of catching up with the latest episodes of our favorite American TV dramas. I guess I’m finding myself with a bit more spare time than usual these days.

Several of the movie sessions were devoted to repeat viewings of recent instant favorites such as Ocean’s Thirteen or The Incredibles (both of which I briefly discussed last month). On other occasions, I watched recorded movies that I have seen in the past, for instance, the violently hilarious Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Of the new – for me – movies discussed herein, a couple, Chocolat and 2 Days in Paris came to the fore via “Honey, do you want to watch this together?” inquiry from my lovely wife, and one more, Run, Fatboy, Run, via a rarely-seen desire of my elder daughter to watch something with her old father. Three other movies, The Hunt for Red October, Support Your Local Sheriff and Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer, were semi-arbitrarily selected from the PVR queue as usual.
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Books & Movies