Two for One Special in Honor of Watching Them ALL!

I rounded off my Oscar nominated movie watching spree with In The Loop and The Last Station. I wish I had watched them in reverse order because one was so funny, and the other was so sad!

In The Loop unfortunately has a lot of really good writing running against it. An Education was brilliant, Up in the Air, candid and heartwarming, Precious, powerful and hardhitting, and District 9, innovative and real. It was hilarious; it's true, but the schtick got old fast. It's often that way with British comedy I find. I feel like the whole movie was made up of one liners. Some characters made me imagine the writers holed up in their offices coming up with the most insane thing they could find for this ridiculous man to say. Therefore, the only times he got a laugh from me was when he threw in a pop culture reference that was priceless. His dialogue got old fast. For me, I don't think it will be enough to snag the Oscar. Maybe I just can't handle British humor in such large doses (don't get me wrong, I love a good Monty Python skit any day), but either way, I think the Adapted Screenplay Oscar should go to An Education or Precious. Sorry, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, and Tony Roche!

The Last Station was both a good thing for me to see and an unfortunate thing for me to see. It was good because I saw some of the best acting I've seen all year, and it was bad because I will now start throwing things if Sandra Bullock walks away from the Oscars with a golden statuette. I'm sorry, I love her, but it HAS to go to Helen Mirren. It just has to. Words can't describe the raw emotion that she exuded. Every line held vast meaning. Every word gave us a glimpse into her soul. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. As for Christopher Plummer, even though his performance was admirable in many ways, I really think there's very little chance of his walking away with a golden man. It must go to Cristoph Waltz. I feel like everyone who has seen his work as Hans Landa can attest to that. It was nice to watch such a venerable actor work with such charged work as Tolstoy! I enjoyed every minute of the movie. I mean, his LIFE was a Russian tragedy! It started out great, and then came the family drama that did not relent until the very last minute. A powerful movie to sit through, the kind where you feel drained at the end from investing so much emotional energy into it!