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.

Argo

2013- Argo



A couple of weeks ago I rented Argo and watched it for the first time. I actually really enjoyed the movie. I could have done with much less of the f word but it's rated R so oh well. It was really interesting to learn about this hostage situation. I know that it is not all factual but it was still interesting. Since I wasn't alive at this time I wouldn't have known about it but shouldn't it have still been taught in history class at least in high school history? Oh well I guess I doesn't really matter now since I am out of high school (thank goodness). I really like the characters that John Goodman and Alan Arkin. They pretty much made the movie I think. I was actually pleasantly surprised with Ben Affleck. I thought he did a really good job. He hasn't made the best choices in movies and he has proven that he is a pretty good actor. I am so glad that this movie won best picture and I would recommend this movie to any one who wants to see it.

The Academy Awards 2013

Yesterday was the Oscars and I was pretty excited about it. I had my predictions in hand ready to see if I was right with any of them. I got some right and some wrong. I am still mad about who won Best Actress because I don't think she deserved it. I will get into that in a sec. I just have to let it go but not for a while. In words of my Grandma Hammond I will forgive (the academy for this dumb decision) but I will not forget.

I was a little nervous when I heard that Seth MacFarlane was going to be the host. He is the creator of Family Guy and that show is pretty awful in my opinion. Any way I thought he was so so. He wasn't bad but he wasn't that great. I think my favorite past hosts of the Oscars were Billy Crystal and Chris Rock. To be honest I really like Chris Rock when he isn't being really crude. Seth had some jokes that were kind of funny and some that there were not. I don't think he should be a host again.

So on to my thoughts about the winners of Best Actor/Actress, Best Director and Best Picture cause really there are the only ones that really matter in my book.

Best Actor- Daniel Day- Lewis
My 11th grade English teacher LOVES Daniel Day-Lewis and I could just see her sitting at home, watching the Oscars and jumping for joy when they read his name. She probably didn't do this but with the amount of time she talked about him in class I would not be surprised if she did. I predicted that he would win cause I didn't think any of the nominees really deserved the award. Here is the list of the other nominees and the reasons why they didn't deserve it.

Bradley Cooper- Was in the movie Hangover, need I say more.
Hugh Jackman- If he won I wouldn't have been too disappointed but I still really wanted Daniel to win.
Joaquin Phoenix- He is just flat out crazy.
Denzel Washington- I don't really have a good reason why I didn't want him to win. I just didn't want him too.

Best Actress- Jennifer Lawrence
I was sooooo mad when they read her name. I don't think she deserved it. I didn't see the movie but from what I have read about it her character isn't all that impressive. I just don't like her. I believe Jessica Chastain should have won. For goodness sake she played the woman who found Osama Bin Laden. I think they should give an award to that lady. If it wasn't for her who knows if we would ever find him. So I don't understand how a person who plays a sex addict and has other issues beat the person who played a real person who helped the U.S. take down a horrible person. I really should be on the voting panel for the Oscars.

Best Director- Ang Lee
This is another category that my person didn't win. My only reason that I didn't want Ang Lee to win is that he made the file Brokeback Mountain. I have never seen the movie and I have absolutely no desire to. It's my reason and I don't care if you think it's a silly one. I was rooting for Steven Spielberg to win. I don't care if he has a billion awards for being a director, I really think he is a great director. When the Oscars were done I called my mom to talk to her about it and I told her that how in the world can the director of E.T. not win and that is when she told me that he probably has a enough awards. I love E.T and I have pretty much liked every Spielberg movie that I have seen.

Best Picture- Argo
I have not seen Argo but I still wanted it to win and it did. I just have to wait for it to come out on DVD so that I can watch it and then do a post about it. I heard/read a lot of good things about this movie. It sounded like a very interesting movie. To be honest I didn't know that this was based of true events. I don't know when this took place so I might have been not born or was really little when this happened. I don't remember hearing about it in any of my history classes so I don't know why they didn't talk about. Feel free to let me know why that is. I am curious about it now.

So that is pretty much my thoughts about the Oscars. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

1978, 1977, 1976 Best Picture winners are...

I can not believe how long it has been since the last time I did a post. I haven't forgotten or got bored with the blog but work takes up a lot of time. Yes I could have watched and done posts on Saturdays but when you spend 8 hours every day with 13 one and two year old's all you want to do on a Saturday is just sleep and recoup before having to start it all again on Monday. Don't get me wrong I love my job but the kids just wear you out. Yesterday at work the cutest thing happened. I was sitting on the floor with one of my kiddos and he was looking at my star shaped earrings. He points at them and says. "stars, stars" and then he started singing twinkle, twinkle little star. It was the cutest thing. The kids are always so interested in my earrings when I remember to wear them. I have one little girl who LOVES to look at my earrings and there have been a few times she has pulled them out. She will sit on my lap and turn my head from side to side to look at them. I will some times take out my earrings to show them to her before she pulls them out herself. I don't let her actually hold them, I do that. It is fascinating to see what interests them. Any way onto the movies :)

1978- Annie Hall



I just finished watching this and I actually liked it. I am not a big fan of Woody Allen but I really enjoyed his character even if the character irritated me at times with some of his quirks. To be honest I liked Woody Allen's character better than Diane Keaton's character. Overall I thought it was a fun movie and I would watch it again.

If you are interested the other movies that were nominated were: The Goodbye Girl, Julia, Star Wars and The Turning Point. I have seen Star Wars but not the other ones so I can't say if this really was the best to win. I guess if you are a die hard Star Wars fan then maybe you feel that it should have won because of all the cool special effects and what not. But since I am not a die hard fan or even a regular fan (thank goodness) I don't really care that it didn't win.

1977- Rocky



I really, really like this movie. Sport movies are usually not my cup of tea to watch but I did enjoy watching this. I did enjoy watching Remember The Titans and Glory Road and those were about sports. Any way back to Rocky. There really is nothing bad that I can say about this movie. I am glad that the movie won. Like I said before I really, really liked it. My favorite part of the movie is when he is training with the music in the background. It pumps me up and I don't know why. It's not like I am going to go out running after watching it. I also like the part when he runs up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. If I ever go to Philadelphia again I would love to go there are and take a picture of me on them and maybe even take a picture by the statue of Rocky that is there. Maybe I should put that on my bucket list. Maybe I should make a bucket list :)

I know that Eye of the Tiger isn't in this movie but I love that song. Every time I hear it on the radio I immediately picture Rocky. I also want to turn the volume up and roll down my windows when I hear it but I am not brave enough to do that. There was one day I was coming home from work and the song came on and I saw a person jogging and I really wanted to roll the window down and blast the song and drive along side them. That sounds really creepy but I just wanted to encourage them during their work out.

1976-  One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest



This was an interesting movie to say the least but I did enjoy watching it. I feel weird saying that I enjoyed it cause in a way it is a sad movie. There are some funny parts in it. I watched this with my mom and she told me that Danny DeVito was in it. I did not believe her but there he was. I am so use to seeing him older and a little bit fatter. The saddest part of the movie to me was the ending. I actually got a little teary when watching the scene. I am going to tell the ending so if you have not seen the movie you might want to stop reading or you can continue if you don't mind knowing the ending. Let me tell a little about the movie before I get to the ending. Jack Nicholson's character McMurphy,  who is a criminal who has been sentenced to prison decides to have himself declared mentally insane so that he can go to an institution where he thinks it will be easier to do his time. He becomes friends with some of the patients and has to deal with the horrible Nurse Ratched. He tries to liven up the place by playing cards and basketball and at times it seems like the other patients are progressing in ways. Towards the end of the movie one of his friends commits suicide and McMurphy blames Nurse Ratched for it because of the way she and the institution treated the friend. He goes over and almost chokes her to death. The orderlies get him off and take him away. Rumors begin to go around about where McMurphy ended up. Some thought he finally escaped while others believed he had a lobotomy done to him. One night the orderlies bring him back to his bed in the night and his other friend named Chief comes over to see him. McMurphy doesn't respond when Chief tries to talk to him and that is when Chief notices 2 scars on his forehead. Chief realizes that his friend is gone and not wanting him to live the rest of his life in a vegetable-like state takes a pillow and suffocates McMurphy. Chief then breaks a window and escapes the way that McMurphy had planned on doing earlier in the movie. I am actually getting teary eyed while I am typing this. In a weird way it was a sweet thing for Chief to kill McMurphy. I wouldn't necessarily go and rent the movie but if it was on TV I might watch it again. I am sorry if I ruined the movie for any one but I would say to go out and watch it any ways.


Coming Attractions: 1975, 1974 Best Picture winners

The Artist

2011- The Artist

 
 A couple of weeks ago I finally rented and watched The Artist. After watching the movie I sat back on my couch and wonder for quite some time how this movie won best picture. It didn't bother me that it was in black and white and it also didn't bother me that it was a silent film. To me there was nothing extraordinary about this film that made it a winner. I was talking to my parents about this and we were thinking that maybe because it was silent and in black and white in this day and age that that was the reason it won. Let's be honest how many kids today watch movies that are silent or in black and white? I still believe the movie The Help should have won best picture. Even though the movie I wanted to win lost at least Moneyball with Brad Pitt lost too. I won't bother you with the details in this post about why I am glad Moneyball didn't win. If you want to know why then look in my earlier posts for the answer.

1982, 1981,1980 and 1979 Best Picture winners are...

 It has been for ever since I have updated the blog. Before I had a part time job so it was pretty easy to watch a lot of movies and then blog about it. I now have a full time job which is great but it has not made it easy to do this blog. I have missed doing the blog and I will try to be better at keeping it up to date.

1982- Chariots of Fire

 

I have mixed feelings about this movie. It was a good movie but there were times that it got a little boring. I think that the reason it was kind of boring to me was that I couldn't get interested in two people running. To be honest I really didn't know that much about this movie. I have heard of the title and have seen the clip of the group of guys running on the beach. I had no idea that this movie was based on real people who went to the 1924 Olympics. I might watch this movie again and even though I couldn't really get into the movie I would still recommend it to any one who wants to watch it.

1981- Ordinary People

 
 I thought this movie was a really good movie. It's a sad movie but it's not a cry your eyes out sad type but more of a you feel bad for the family kind of said. It's about a family that pretty much falls apart after the accidental death of the older son. So here is a random fact about this movie, it was the directorial debut of Robert Redford. I believe this is the first movie I have seen where Donald Sutherland is much younger and doesn't have white hair. Donald plays the father to the son that died. With him being younger it is easier for me to see the resemblance to his son Kiefer Sutherland. Mary Tyler Moore is also in this movie and she plays a character that is so out of her usual characters that she plays. She plays the mother to the son that died. She doesn't really show affection to her other son. She is more worried at keeping up appearances than what's going on with her son and her marriage. Even though it is a sad movie I would still recommend the movie and I might watch it again.

1980- Kramer vs. Kramer

 

I thought this movie was a sweet and a little bit sad. I still really liked it though. It's about a man who becomes a single parent when his wife leaves him and their 6 year old son. It's sweet to see the relationship grow between father and son. It's sad to watch him work so hard for him and his son when one day his ex wife comes back and wants custody of their son. Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep do a great job in this movie. I would watch this movie again and I would recommend it to any one who wants to see it.

1979- The Deer Hunter

 

I liked this movie. I feel weird saying that since it's about a couple of friends that go to the Vietnam War. Robert De Niro is in this movie and I'm not a big fan of his but I actually liked him in this movie. I feel like in most of his movies he plays this tough, I don't take crap from no body type of guy and I just don't like that. In this movie he isn't such a tough guy. He cares for his friends and he tries his best in his dealings with people.

Christopher Walken is also in this movie. He plays one of Robert's friends and is a nice guy who ends up getting amnesia and stays in Vietnam. Even though he is nice I still don't like him. He creeps me out and I think he will always creep me out. I don't know if it's the way he looks or his voice or maybe it's the characters he has played but like I said he creeps me out. 

I wish this movie didn't have so many F bombs in it but that's what happens when you watch a rated R movie. I really don't get why they have to use it. It doesn't make the situation any better when you use it and it also just sounds stupid when you say it.


There is a scene where Robert De Niro's character and his friends get captured while in Vietnam and their captures force them to play Russian Roulette for their amusement. I know that it is a film but who would enjoy watching people play that game. Who in their right mind even thought up that game. Yes I want to play a game that consists of me holding a gun to the side of my head and pull the trigger to see if I live or die. It's a stupid, awful game.

I probably won't watch this movie again cause it is such an emotional movie. I don't even know if I would recommend it. It is a very well done movie and it was very interesting to watch but would you want to watch a movie about the Vietnam War and see the affects it had on those who went. I know that the actors didn't really go to the war and it's just a movie but it's hard to think that people really were captured and who knows what they were forced to to.

Coming Attractions: 1978 and 1977 Best Pictures

1984 and 1983 Best Picture winners are...

1984- Terms of Endearment



I was looking on-line to see when the Academy Awards aired and it was on April 9, 1984. That is exactly a year before my birthday. Speaking of my birthday it is in 20 days. Ask anyone in my family and they will tell you that I just love my birthday and also love counting down to my birthday. I will start counting down at 6 months. I think my mom probably gets tired of hearing me count down but I just love my birthday. It's the only day of the year that it's all about me. Anyway on to the movie.

The movie is about the relationship between mother and daughter. It also shows that different people show love in different ways.

I really liked this movie and I would watch it again. I would also recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in watching. It is a tearjerker so if you don't like crying in movies this is not for you. I was sobbing like a baby in this movie.

When I found out that Jack Nicholson was in this movie, I didn't know what to think. In most of his movies he plays an awful person. I was pleasantly surprised that he actually plays a decent human being in this movie. This is the first time watching a movie of his that I didn't automatically think of the Joker. Usually when that happens the movie is ruined for me cause all I can see is that creepy Joker makeup. I was talking to my mom about how I liked him in this movie and she told me that maybe this movie has helped changed my mind of him. I told her that maybe it has but it probably won't last long cause the next movie that I will watch him in is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. So I might be freaked out by him again after I watch that movie.

In this movie there is a scene that after watching it I wish I could remove it from my memory or maybe pull my eyes out. In this scene Jack's character comes to the door wearing a bathrobe that barely covers his man parts. So it is a REALLY short bathrobe. No one needs to see that especially on him. There is another scene where he is not wearing a shirt. Believe me you don't want to see him shirtless. Here is a little advice, if you have a hairy chest and a beer belly going shirtless is NOT an option. Do the world a favor and keep your shirts and the rest of your clothes on.

1983- Gandhi



This movie is about Mahatma Gandhi who first started out as a lawyer but would become the leader of Indian revolts against the British rule through his non-violent protests.

This movie was really good and I would watch this movie again. If you are interested in watching this movie I think you should. I know a little about Gandhi but this movie taught me so much more about him.

One thing that I thought was interesting was that the film doesn't show or even talk about his younger years. It starts off with the assassination of Gandhi and then it goes back 55 years to 1893 when he was a lawyer in South Africa. For me I would have liked to have learned more about his younger years. You usually just hear about the things that Gandhi did. I'm not saying that what he did wasn't important but that's all you hear. It would have been interesting to see what he was like as a child, teenager and young man before he became a lawyer. Oh well. Also I thought Ben Kingsley who played Gandhi did a fantastic job playing him. I truly felt like I was watching the real Gandhi. No wonder he won the Best Actor award for this movie. The makeup people for the movie did a very good job of making Ben look like Gandhi.

For fun here is some fun trivia about the movie:

*Anthony Hopkins was considered to play Gandhi. I am so glad that he didn't get the role. I could not watch Hannibal Lecter play Gandhi.
*Many of the natives thought Ben Kingsley looked so much like Gandhi that they thought he was Gandhi's ghost.
*Ben Kingsley's paternal family was from the Indian state of Gujarat which is where Gandhi also was from.
* Dustin Hoffman expressed that he was interested in playing the title role but was offered to be in the movie Tootsie. Tootsie was nominated for Best Picture the same year as Gandhi and Dustin Hoffman was also nominated for Best Actor for his role in Tootsie but sadly he lost the award to Ben and Tootsie lost the award to Gandhi. Interesting how things go.

I was watching The Big Bang Theory a while ago and Raj made a comment about Gandhi and I thought I would share it with you guy. Before I share the quote let me explain the scene real quick, Raj and the other guys are playing some video game and they are really getting into the game:
"When Gandhi advocated his philosophy of non-violence, I bet he didn't know how much fun it was killing stuff."

Coming Attractions: 1982 and 1981 Best Pictures