2016 Academy Awards

Every year I get excited for the Academy Awards. They are like my Super Bowl. I have a party of one and have a grand old time :) This year I was super excited to have Chris Rock back as host. I love Chris Rock and I thought he did a fantastic job this year. I also thought he did a great job at addressing the issue of people boycotting the Oscars. I don't want to go into a deep discussion about that so I will leave it to that. Below are some pictures that I took at my Oscar party and yes I have my own Oscar :)

So most years there is someone in either the Best Actor/Actress category or the Best Supporting Actor/Actress category that I would want to win but this year there wasn't anyone that I really cared about winning, There was one person in the Best Actress that I didn't want to win and that was Jennifer Lawrence. I just don't think she is that great of an actress like most people think. It seems like everyone just loves her and that she is an awesome actress and for me I just can't stand her. I also could care less if Leonardo DiCaprio won his Oscar or not. I don't care for him as much as I did in his younger years. I;m just glad that I don't hear next year if this will be his year to win or not.

This year I have seen 5 of the 8 nominated films which is crazy cause I usually see one or none of the nominated films. I refuse to watch 2 of the nominated films because it either looks too stupid
(Mad Max) or too violent (The Revenant). I'm still up in the air if I will watch The Big Short, The reason I don't want to watch it is because Brad Pitt is in it and I can't stand him. I have heard a lot people say it is a really good film and I bet it is but I just can't stand him. I'll probably break down and watch it.

I have enjoyed most of the films that I watched. I was really hoping that The Martian or Bridge of Spies would have won Best Picture because I thought both films were fantastic in their different ways. After watching Brooklyn and Room I could see why they were nominated and they were really good too in their different ways. But any ways onto the winner.


2016- Spotlight



I REALLY did not want this to win and it took a few weeks for me to finally bite the bullet and watch it. To be completely honest I did not like the film and I thought it was boring. For those of you who don't know what the film is about here is a very brief summary about it from IMDB:

"The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core."

The majority of the film is based at the Boston Globe with the investigating unit discussing about how to go about finding the victims, finding the priests and how to break the news about all of this to the Boston area and then to the rest of the country. I don't really know what I was expecting from this film but it was boring and I found myself getting distracted by other stuff and praying for it to end.

1966, 1965 and 1964 Best Picture goes to...

1966- The Sound of Music


I absolutely LOVE The Sound of Music. It is one of my favorite musicals. I love the songs but most of all I love Julie Andrews. How could you not love her? When I was younger I had a little crush on Christopher Plummer who played Captain Von Trapp. There was just something about him that would make me have butterflies when he would appear on screen. Let's be honest I still get butterflies in my stomach when I watch the film :)

One of the things I like to do is look up information/trivia about movies that I watch. Ask anyone in my family and they will all agree that I love doing this and that I like sharing what I have found. So on that note I have some trivia about this film that I would like to share with you. First off Julie Andrews would sing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" to the children between takes. The kids thought she just made up the word for them but the truth is Julie Andrews had finished making Mary Poppins but it hadn't been released yet so the kids had no idea it was from another film. For the longest time I had no idea that Julie Andrews also played Mary Poppins. When I was younger I think my mom told me that the actress who played Maria was the same actress who played Mary Poppins. I didn't believe her so I had to watch both films a couple of times before I believed her. Being older I can totally tell that Julie Andrews played both of them but when I was younger she looked so different when she played Mary Poppins and Maria. Another bit of trivia is that Julie Andrews nearly turned down the role of Maria because she feared it was too similar to Mary Poppins. I am certainly glad that she didn't turn down the role because it would not have been the same film if she was not a part of it. One last bit of trivia is that the day after the Von Trapp family left Austria Adolf Hitler ordered the borders of Austria to be shut.

If you have not seen The Sound of Music (where have you been if you have never seen this film) I would say get up, go get it and watch it. It's FANTASTIC!! If you have seen it but not in a very long time I would say get up and watch it. It's FANTASTIC!!. I just might watch it again this weekend :)

1965- My Fair Lady


I LOVE this musical! I just love musicals in general :) One of my favorite memories is laying on my parents' bed and watching this with my dad. I have a lot of memories of watching movies in their room with my dad. 50% of the time we watch the movie. The other 50% is us talking about anything and everything that had nothing to do with the movie. It's always fun watching movies with my dad :)

I have 2 favorite scenes from this movie and the first one is when Professor Henry Higgins, Colonel Hugh Pickering and Eliza Doolittle are working on having Eliza say the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain and then she can say it and they all sing and dance to it. It's just silly and a lot of fun. The other scene I really like is when Henry Higgins takes her to do the horse races. She comes in all fancy like and can speak so nicely and then she says "Come on, Dover! Come on, Dover! Move your bloomin' arse!" I am actually laughing about that as I type this. It's a fun musical and everyone should go watch it. You should just spend the weekend watching this film, The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, West Side Story and any other musical you can think of. They are all wonderful films.

1964- Tom Jones


I did not like this film. I wouldn't go as far as saying I hated it cause I didn't hate it, I just didn't like it. There are plenty of films on this blog that I absolutely hated and there are plenty of films on the blog that I just didn't like if that makes sense. Pretty much the film is about a guy named Tom Jones who pretty much chases anyone in a skirt and sleeps with a lot of ladies but is a kind man who will defend anything and anyone that he believes in. He falls in love with a girl that another man is in love with and that man makes things very hard on Tom. Things happen and will Tom get the girl? To be completely honest it's been a while since I watched this film that I had to look at IMDB for a summary of it and what I wrote is not even that good of a summary. If you are interested in watching it from reading my spectacular summary of the film go ahead and watch it. If you have no interest or are completely confused by it, you are not the only one ;)

One interesting factoid about this is that the singer Thomas John Woodward aka Tom Jones took his stage name from the title character of this film.

Upcoming attractions: 1963, 1962 and 1961 winners

Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

2014- Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)



This film won Best Picture at the 2015 Academy Awards. It has taken me 4 months to finally watch this film. The reason it has taken me so long is that it just looked so incredibly STUPID. I am not sorry to say that. I have watched some of the other nominated films that were nominated along with this film before I finally gave up and watched Birdman. The ones that I watched were The Theory of Everything (which I LOVED), Selma (the film was ok but interesting. I really like the song Glory that was written for this film) and American Sniper (I actually really liked this one). I would have picked any of these films to win Best Picture.

To be completely honest I HATED this movie. Five minutes into the film I was like I have made a terrible mistake by watching this film but I have to watch if I want to say that I have seen every Best Picture winner. I am still trying to figure out why it won. I was talking to my mom about this film and why on earth anyone would pick this one to win and she told me that she thinks it's because it's about this has been actor who is trying to start back up his career after being Birdman for so long and since the people who decide who will win are made up of actors and people in the industry they can relate to that. Maybe there is other stuff in the film that made it a winner but what I watched was just a stupid movie that made no sense at times.

I really should be the one to decide who wins the Best Picture. The members of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences can pick the winners in all the other categories but leave the Best Picture category to me. To be honest a lot of films that I have seen for this blog would not have won if I was in charge. For example Birdman, The English Patient, The Hurt Locker, The Departed, The Silence of the Lambs, and a whole lot more would have won. I would have picked The Theory of Everything to win Best Picture for 2015. It was so good. I would recommend watching it as well as American Sniper. The Theory of Everything is about the life of Stephen Hawking. I am just really happy that Eddie Redmayne won Best Actor for portraying Stephen Hawking. He did just a great job in the film.

The blog is getting a little long so I need to wrap this up. In closing I would say watch any other film other than Birdman!

1969, 1968 and 1967 winners are...

1969- Oliver!



I was absolutely bored with movie. I was so bored I ended up calling my mom to talk to her about how boring it is. While I was talking to her about it my dad came in and he asked what we were talking about. My mom told him that I was watching Oliver! and that I was bored. He then said "I don't know why it won". I am glad someone agrees with me. I have no idea why it won. If any one knows what it is about that movie that made it win please tell me because I am still trying to figure it out. This is one movie I will not be watching again.

1968- In the Heat of the Night



I really liked this this movie. It was really interesting and there were some funny parts. The movie is about an African-American police detective from Philadelphia, who becomes involved in a murder investigation in a racist town in Mississippi. I would recommend this movie to anyone.

My mom was telling me a little about this movie and one of the actors in it named Rod Steiger. She told me that he might look familiar to me. I looked him up on IMDB and he didn't look familiar so I decided to look through the movies that he had done. As I was looking through it, I noticed that he was in my all time favorite musical, Oklahoma! He played the horrible Jud Fry. Once I learned that whenever Rod Steiger would speak I could hear Jud in his voice. He is much older in this movie than he was in Oklahoma and he also was creepy in this movie. He was a tad bit creepy in Oklahoma.

There is a scene in the movie where Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger's characters are arguing about who the killer was cause the chief (Rod) was sure they got the right person but Sidney's character Virgil is saying that they have the wrong person. The chief then says that Virgil is so sure of himself about who killed the person and that Virgil is a funny name for someone who came from Philadelphia and says what do they call you up there? Virgil then says "They call me MISTER Tibbs." I laughed when I heard that quote because there is a scene in The Lion King where Pumbaa says "They call me MISTER Pig" I just think it is funny that they used it after changing it to Pig from Tibbs.

1967- A Man for All Seasons



I have never heard of this movie and even though it dragged on at some spots I still like it. The movie is about Thomas More who stood put to King Henry VIII when he (the King)  rejected the Roman Catholic Church so that he could obtain a divorce from Catherine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne Boleyn.

Towards the end of the movie I was ready for it to be done because it was just dragging. At  the end of the film the narrator said " Thomas More's head was stuck on Traitor's Gate for a month, then his daughter, Margaret, removed it and kept it till her death." If for some odd reason my dad got beheaded I would not be keeping his head with me until I died. If you are reading this Dad I love you lots and lots but not enough to keep your head with me. I would bury your head but keeping your head is not going to happen.

Coming attractions: 1966 and 1965 Best Picture winners

1972, 1971 and 1970 Best Picture winner is...

It's been a while since my last post and I also never got around to blogging about the 2014 Academy Awards. To be honest this years Academy Awards was so so. There were not any movies or even actors/actresses that I really was hoping to win. There were a few people that I didn't want to win but there was really no one that I really wanted to see win and that also goes with the Best Picture nominees. I still have not watched the 2014 Best Picture winner but it is on my list to do so.

 I felt like there were way too many movies nominated for Best Picture this year. I think 9 pictures is too many to pick from. I think the academy should just have the top 5 movies for this category. I really think I should be in charge in deciding what movies are nominated for Best Picture. If it was up to me the following movies would not have been nominated: The Wolf of Wall Street, Her, Gravity, American, Hustle, Nebraska, and Philomena and Dallas Buyers Club. I have my reasons for picking pretty much every film that was nominated and my reasons may sound silly to others so I am not going to explain them. Also I don't think many people even read this blog so I guess I won't have to worry about people questioning my reasons.

For the Best Actor/ Actress and Best Supporting Actor/Actress there was no one that I was really hoping to win. If I had to pick someone from those categories their names and reasons are listed below.

Best Actor:
Christian Bale: I didn't like any of the other nominees so that is why I picked him. I like the Leonardo DiCaprio from Titanic but I don't like who he has turned out now. I also don't think he is as cute as he was in Titanic. And yes I know that Titanic was made 20 years ago and of course he is going to be better looking then. I REALLY can't stand Matthew McConaughey so I was a little upset when he won. I also don't think he is that great of an actor.

Best Actress:
Sandra Bullock: I like her and I think she does a great job. I didn't see her in Gravity and to be honest I plan to never watch it. It just looks so incredibly boring even though I heard a lot of people liked the film.

Best Supporting Actor:
Barkhad Abdi: I really didn't like the other nominees and I had to pick some one. We both have birthdays in April and I am exactly 1 day older than him. I was a little upset when Jared Leto won cause he is just weird and crazy and I don't think he is anything special.

Best Supporting Actress:
Julia Roberts: I have always liked Julia Roberts and I think she does a great job. There are some movies of hers that I don't care for but I still like her. Can we also say HALLELUJAH that Jennifer Lawrence didn't win. I CAN NOT STAND her. I don't understand all the hype going on about her. I don't think she is all that great.

Well I better stop talking about this years winners and nominees and get into the early 70's Best Picture winners

1972- The French Connection



I was so bored watching this movie. I actually fell asleep during the movie but I didn't realize I did until I woke up and saw that the movie was over. I seriously groaned (maybe cried a little too) when I realized I had to re-watch it so that I could write about it. The only interesting thing about this film is that it is based on a true story. To me it was very slow pace movie. I guess growing up in a time where everything is so fast paced in movies that anything slower than what I am used to seems boring. I had a hard time watching and seeing why this movie won for Best Picture. Fiddler on the Roof was nominated for Best Picture with this movie and I would have rather watched that movie than this one. It was a so so movie to me. If this movie was on T.V. I would find anything else to watch. Some people might actually like this film but I am not one of them.

1971- Patton



This is another movie that I was bored watching. I think if I was interested in this type of movie genre or even in history/military/WW II I  might have enjoyed this movie but since I am not interested in those things I was pretty bored. I fell asleep watching this movie as well and had to re-watch it. There are some movies about WW II that I liked such as Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List. Yes I know both these movies are about a horrible time in our history but I believe they were made very very well. I can say that I have seen Patton but believe me I will never watch it again.

1970- Midnight Cowboy

 
I wouldn't say that I liked this movie but I wouldn't say that I hated it either. It was just so so. Jon Voight plays a cowboy from Texas who moves to New York to become a hustler. I know that it is a movie and not real but who on earth decides that they are going to grow up and become a hustler? I want to know what made this character decide to go into that type of "field". Dustin Hoffman is in this movie and he plays a crippled con man and even though he plays a sleazy character I kind of liked his character. I couldn't stand Jon Voight's character. I thought he was a buffoon. There is a scene in the movie that these two characters are talking and Dustin Hoffman's character says that all cowboys are gay and Jon Voight tells him that cowboys are not gay and would he (Dustin's character) say that John Wayne is gay. I thought that was interesting cause Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman were nominated along with John Wayne for Best Actor in 1970 and John Wayne won for Best Actor. I know that the saying was put into the movie way before they were nominated but I still thought it was interesting trivia.

There have been 86 Academy Award shows and I have watched 44 Best Picture winners. I just have 42 movies left to watch. It has been a lot of fun blogging about these movies.

Coming Attractions: 1969, 1968 Best Picture winners.

1975, 1974, 1973 Best Picture goes to...

It has been so long since I have done a post. I guess that is what happens when you have a full time job and just living your life. I am going to try and be better at posting on here.

So without further ado here are the winners.

1975- The Godfather Part II

I did not like the first movie and I did not like this one. I am just so incredibly happy that the third movie did not win a Best Picture award. I am still trying to figure out how this movie and the first one won Best Picture. I feel like both movies are very violent and if I was the one who decided if they won or not I would make sure that they would not win. 

This is not my type of movie to go out and watch. It has been fun doing this blog because it has made me watch movies that I would not normally watch and some of them I have been pleasantly surprised that I like and then there are a lot of them that I have just hated and will never watch again. To be honest I thought this movie was really boring and once the movie was over I was so happy to watch something else. Just like the first movie, I want those 3 hours that I had to sit through back in my life. I will never watch this movie again because I didn't care for the violence and the language and did I already mention that it was boring? If people ever ask me if I have ever seen this movie I can tell them that I have but there is no amount of money in the world you could give me to make me watch this movie again let alone the first one again. 

As my family knows I love to read the trivia about movies. So some interesting trivia I found out about this movie was that the director was actually thinking of having Marlon Brando come back and play the younger version of Vito Corleone before he became the Godfather because he thought Marlon Brando could play any part. But then the director remembered that Robert De Niro auditioned for the lead role in The Godfather that he chose him instead of Marlon Brando to play Vito Corleone. Another interesting fact was that Robert De Niro lived in Sicily to prepare for his role and he also spent 4 months learning to speak the Sicilian dialect to play Vito Corleone. 

1974- The Sting

I LOVED this movie. I don't want to spoil the movie so a quick summary of the movie is this: When a mutual friend is killed by a mob boss, two con men, one experienced and one young try to get even by pulling off the big con on the mob boss. The story unfolds with several twists and last minute alterations. I would recommend this movie to anyone. It was fun watching this with my mom. She has seen this movie before so if I was confused about something she would explain it to me or she would tell me to just watch and my question would be answered because she didn't want to spoil it for me. I wish the reason she was in Yakima watching this with me  was for a fun time of hanging out with me but sadly it was because I had the flu and she was taking care of me. Thankfully I feeling a lot better when we watched this movie.

Robert Redford and Paul Newman play the main con men. Paul plays the more experienced con man and Robert plays the young con man. Both are pretty good looking in this film but I have to say that Paul is the better looking one. His eyes are an amazing blue color and they just make you melt. He has always been good looking. I even think he was good looking when he got really old before he died.

I will totally watch this movie again and I might just have to put it on my birthday wish list :) I would totally recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see it.

1973- The Godfather

To be honest I was not that excited to watch this movie but I don't know if anyone would be excited to see The Godfather. I have heard this movie being quoted so many times from people or from other shows that I wasn't really impressed by them when I actually heard them in the movie because I could actually say it along with the actor. When I see a movie for the first time I don't want to be able to quote along with it. I was a little intrigued to see why most guys like this movie. After watching the movie I wanted my 3 hours back and still had no idea why guys like the movie.

I was talking to my parents about this movie and my dad made the comment that he doesn't like it when people say that this film shows the American dream, which is "wealth at any cost". In the movie there are 18 deaths and if you really believe that saying "wealth at any cost" then it seems to me that they are saying it is ok to go out and kill people that are in your way. I know that they are not really saying that but in a way I feel like they are.

My family knows that I love reading the trivia about movies. I was reading the trivia about this movie and one of the things that I thought was interesting but also really disgusting is that the scene with the horse head in the bed is that it is a real horse head. In rehearsals a fake horse head was used but for the actual scene the real head was put there. The reaction that the guy has to it is real because no one told the actor that they were going to use a real head. I just feel like that was really mean for them to do. I think they should have told the actor.

Marlon Brando won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of Don Vito Corleone. He decided to boycott the ceremony and sent Sacheen Littlefeather in his place to explain why he would not be accepting the award. Because of this incident the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences decided that a proxy will no longer be allowed to accept an award for an actor.

This will be a movie I am more than happy to never watch again. If people ask me if I have ever seen this movie then I can tell them that yes I have but will never watch it again.

The following video shows why proxies are no longer allowed.

I was reading on Wikipedia about this and it said that Marlon Brando had written a 15-page speech for her to read on stage but when the producer met her backstage he threatened to physically remove her or arrest her if she goes longer than the 60 seconds. Everything she says on stage is improvised but once she got backstage she read the entire 15-page speech to the press. I am really curious to see what he wrote but I don't want to read 15 pages. 

Coming Attractions: 1972, 1971 and 1970 Best Picture winners.