My Oscar Predictions

Im calling an audible and changing my best picture choice because I feel the Hurt Locker should win. But the academy has proven me wrong plenty of times before. So here it is, the cuttoff is now. My Academy Award selections for this year. May the best woman or man win!
Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Diretcting: Katherine Bigelow
Lead Actor: Jeff Bridges
Lead Actress: Sandra Bullock
Supporting Actor: Chritopher Waltz
Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique
Animated Feature: Up
Animated Short: A Matter of Loaf and Death
Art Direction: Avatar
Cinematography: Avatar
Costume Design: The Young Victoria
Doc. Feature: The Cove
Doc. Short: China's Unnatural Disaster
Film Editing: The Hurt Locker
Foreign Language: The White Ribbon
Makeup: Star Trek
Original Score: Up
Original Song: The Weary Kind
Live Short: The Door
Sound Editing: Avatar
Sound Mixing: The Hurt Locker
Visual Effects: Avatar
Original Screenplay: Inglorious Basterds
Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air

Alice in Wonderland: Movie Review

I have never read the original Lewis Carroll Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking-Glass and all of my knowledge regarding the tale of Alice as she goes down the rabbit hole comes from the Disney animated movie and the caterpillar ride at Disneyland. I thought this would suffice for a midnight screening of the new Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, but alas…I felt a little left in the dark. Too many references to names an places I never really new distracted me from a better experience. Everyone will have a good time, don’t get me wrong. Tim Burton has always been a master at macabre wit and fantastic set design, but here, you’ll just have to settle for the set design.

Of course this movie will be wildly popular and everyone will go see it. My midnight screening was packed. Mainly by high schoolers whom use the excuse of a midnight screening in Utah to show their rebellious side. It was weird sitting in that meat-market setting with everyone talking to everyone else, yelling at the previews, making jokes etc. But when the movie got into full swing, a hush fell over the audience as they allowed themselves to be sucked into the fantastically twisted world that Alice believes she had dreamed up for herself.

Alice, played by Mia Wasikowska holds her own as the title character but suffers the same fate as poor Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. The really have not much to do. Alice does scowl a lot and focus really intently on getting her accent right and the Queen seems to have had her arms frozen up in the air and always talks to nobody in particular like a bad version of Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter films. Its easy to see who are Tim Burtons favorite characters in this tale and that would be the Mad Hatter played by Johnny Depp and the Red Queen played by Helena Bonham Carter. Both relish their parts and give all out nutty performances. You really could have a lot of fun with the two except the film never allows them to grow as characters. There is so much going on with this film; you never really feel the camaraderie of any of the characters.

That hardly matters though when you’ve got a world like Wonderland. Keep in mind this is not Pandora (nerdy Avatar reference), but it is indeed a dark and dreary place that is fits the story, but not the fun that should be Alice. It’s a lot of fun to watch things emerge in 3D and the depth and color off all the weirdness going on up on the screen. However, it’s as if little 3D gimmicks were thrown in just for the kids. Kids? I know this has a PG rating but ripping out eyeballs and moats filled with floating severed heads hardly qualify as children’s entertainment (unless you have an equally morbid son like mine). And herein lies the main problem with the film. It can’t decide if it’s a kid’s film or an adult. There is no middle ground here. The over explanation, awkward dancing, silly music score and funny characters all point to a film geared towards kids 8 and under. But the dark story, visceral visuals, twisted humor and star power all seem to model and Adult film. In general, this is a very beautiful, awkward, disjointed movie.

So, I’m really torn with this movie. The Visuals alone are worth the price of admission to the theater (especially in 3D), but the content makes me want to recommend renting it. I’ll let you decide, but if patched up endings, horrible editing and befuddled story lines bother you, I would stay away. If you love incredible imaginations, gruesome creatures and weird not-really-makes-sense randomness, then you’ll like the film. Your call.


Final Consensus:
See it now!!!!
See it in theaters!!!
Rent it on DVD/BluRay!!
Wait for it on TV!
Don’t Bother

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Win FREE movie tickets and be a guest reviewer

Every year I hold a competition with my family to predict the Academy Award winners. I would pit their brains and film knowledge against mine to see if anyone could out-predict me when it came to naming the winners of all the major categories. We had a lot of fun, and usually I would win out. A few times I was bested though and some of my family won some sweet prizes (trip to Hollywood, tour a studio, DVD’s etc.)

This year I am opening up the contest to EVERYONE!!! What does that mean? Well, you have a chance to outsmart me by predicting more winners of the Academy Awards than I do. I know, I know…your asking why would you be interested. The winner of the contest will get to be a guest writer on my blog and get to Review a film of their choice! In order for you to review a great film, I will give you two free movie tickets (through the miracle of a modern technology called the interweb) and a gift certificate for concessions for the theater of your choice! So…here are the rules:

1. Fill out this ballot, or write out who you think will take home the Oscar from each of the major categories.
2. E-mail me your predictions to ckhutch03@hotmail.com with the subject ‘Oscar Competition’
3. You must send your prediction by 3pm on Sunday March 7th to qualify.
4. To prove I’m not cheating, I will post my predictions here before the show begins.
5. The winner will be notified the following week and arrangements will be made through Fandango or another online site for concessions and tickets.

And honestly, if you're too lazy to send me your predictions for something so awesomely free, then you don't deserve to win anyway. Good luck and may the best cinefile win!


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'Shutter Island' - Movie Review

I have this problem when I go see movies that have really great plots and leave you guessing the whole time. My problem is actually a bad habit where I predict the end of the movie to myself. Usually I watch thankfully as the movie plays out differently than I expected, but then at the last minute finishes with my predicted ending…hence killing any suspense or payoff for me since I already imagined it in my head. This happened to me with movies like Fight Club and The Sixth Sense, and unfortunately came back and did the same thing to me while watching Shutter Island.

I wasn’t planning on seeing this movie anyway, but thought it couldn’t be too bad if Martin Scorsese is directing it and Leo DiCaprio’s in it. Unfortunately, this is no Goodfellas or Raging Bull, and it doesn’t even match Aviator’s entertainment, so what I was hoping for was that somehow the story would take me for a ride that would make up for all its shortcomings and I ruin the ending for myself. Shutter Island is about Federal Marshall Teddy (Leo) and his partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo…who knew) investigating a disappearance at a hospital for the criminally insane. A hurricane forces the Marshals to stay on the island where they end up trying to figure out if the whole thing was an elaborate setup by the Islands head doctor (Ben Kingsley)

Scorsese knows how to do psychological. He is a master when it comes to brutality and the human condition so I can see why this story attracted him. It explores the cause of human violence and the minds ability to succumb/overcome that instinct. What bothered me about the story is that it used the Holocaust and murdered children to elicit the dread we are supposed to be sickened by. I think its personally tasteless and a cop-out. They were giving out free books to the people in my screening if we could name the author of the book, which I couldn’t. The girl next to me not only knew the author was Dennis Lehane, but told me it was the same guy that wrote Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone. Dude has serious issues murdering children. Just sayin’

I thought the film was OK. Weather this was because expectations are so high or I wasn’t planning on seeing the movie I’m not sure. What I do know is that it is not very scary, more creepy than anything. Lots of weird characters make their appearance in the insane asylum and a lot of it comes off as window dressing or merely props to throw back in your face later on in the film. When I try to dissect what really bothered me about the film I really couldn’t place it. The acting is top notch, the script is great, the cinematography is gorgeous and the directing is flawless. Unfortunately, this movie is not the sum of its parts.

I may be so bold to even preclude this film is a little boring. There is lots of talking and exposition and not enough frightening scenes. That’s not to say this movie doesn’t have mood, it’s dripping off the dirty rocks and rusted bars from the drenched hurricane. It won’t scare you as much as it will creep you out and leave you thinking Scorsese is really weird. If you want a thinking movie, this is a good stop, just don’t over think the ending and ruin it for yourself.

See it now!!!!
See it in theaters!!!
Rent it on DVD/BluRay!!
Wait for it on TV!
Don’t Bother

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Percy Jackson and the blah, blah, blah: Movie Review

Percy Jackson has a really long movie title that I just don’t feel like typing out. Needless to say, the title of the film matches the books title and neatly explains the plot of the movie. It is about Percy Jackson…there are some Olympians and someone has stolen lightning. For a little more clarification on the plot, the Olympians are not track stars or bobsledders, but the Greek Gods on Mount Olympus. Luckily they do not appear in this movie very often because the adults who portray them seem to think they are in some Greek tragedy and not in a PG rated kids flick. Luckily Percy (Logan Lerman), his very funny and cowardly sidekick Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) and warrior girl Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) have enough charm and sass to lighten up the tone a bit and save the film from the scowling Gods.

The movie is very much in the vein of Harry Potter without all the lovable character development. Percy just so happens to be related to one of the Greek Gods and therefore comes with some inherent baggage and daddy abandonment issues. Things get thrown into a tizzy when Zeus’s lightning bolt is stolen and Percy is pegged with the crime. If you can suspend your belief that “all knowing” Gods somehow don’t know that Percy has no clue who he is, then the movie is a fun romp through worlds, villains, monsters and mythology as Percy tries to clear his name. If plot holes and bad dialog bother you, then stay away from this film.

I happened to have a great time with this movie. I have not been able to decide if it is because it is the first non-chick-flick I have been able to watch in over a month, or that the filmmakers didn’t take themselves to seriously and honestly had a good time with it. Christopher Columbus has never been a great director but he has been lucky with franchises like Home Alone and Harry Potter. Percy Jackson follows a similar formula of rushing us from one adventure to the next, hopping from one plot contrivance to another with all the subtleness of a slap across the face.

The film also draws strength from its supporting cast. Valentines Day opened the same weekend (Thank heavens I didn’t have to sit through another chick flick) and had everybody in Hollywood as a part of that film. It seemed that whoever didn’t make it into Valentines Day (were they vacationing on Mars during the shoot or something) got cast in Percy Jackson. Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Catherine Keener, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, and Uma Thurman all make appearances with the last three having delicious fun with the parts they’ve been given and going over the top to make the film entertaining.

The special effects are on par with the first Harry Potter film but its endearment is not. It’s the most fun that I have had this year at the movies so far, and is a much needed brainless breath of fresh air from all the contrived romances and tear jerker’s that have burned into the retinas of my eyes. It may not have the star power of Valentines Day or the magic of Harry Potter, but the sassy fun it does have…is done very well.

Final Consensus:
See it now!!!!
See it in theaters!!!
Rent it on DVD/BluRay!!
Wait for it on TV!
Don’t Bother

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'Dear John' - Movie Review

I have a sneaking suspicion that Dear John will finally topple Avatars reign as the number one movie of the weekend. I went and saw Dear John on an early Friday afternoon and the theater was ¾ filled. Of course, teenage girls skipping school or groups of mothers who no longer have a Twilight film to swoon over filled the majority of those seats. I guess in the absence of the Twilight hunks, Channing Tatum is the next best thing to look at, and unfortunately, that’s his only job the entire movie.

The group of girls sitting behind me filled my ears with tales of who was kissing who, who was backstabbing who and a humorous number about some people they knew who went swimming in a local pond drunk. I was so engrossed eavesdropping in on their conversation while the previews were rolling, I almost didn’t realize the movie had begun. This is in fact a very low-key romance (no comedy whatsoever) that pales in comparison to the likes of the Notebook, which was also by the same author. In this version of his same story told over and over, we have John played by Channing Tatum who looks great and has all the personality of a pillar of granite, falling in love with Savannah played by Amanda Seyfried who has a goldfish face but can actually act enough to make their relationship seem important (if a relationship between a rock and a goldfish could be important).

What threw me for a loop was the turn of Richard Jenkins as Channing’s father. He may not have any lines and the acting may be subversive, but it was their relationship I ended up caring for more than anything else in the movie. Now, I haven’t paid much attention to Richard Jenkins much in the past, but after his turn here and also in The Visitor (you have to see that) I can honestly say he is a great actor. I also enjoyed the pacing, slow and deliberate, nothing too experimental or boring, but carefully shot and timed conversations that are backed by the right popular music doesn’t present anything new, but makes falling in love seem, well… romantic.

Of course, there has to be a major flaw with the movie that takes it down a few notches and almost destroys the warm fuzzy feelings I was beginning to have for the movie. The ending. Oh how I loathe a predictable and saccharine ending, but at the same time, I feel that if an audience has sat through the pains and heartaches of a relationship throughout the duration of the film, they should be awarded with some sort of payoff. Not so in this film. I guess they were trying to throw us off or something, but talk about a head-scratcher. Granted, the relationship between father and son is way better than the one between granite and goldfish, but as the annoying TMI girls behind me put it… “That was the worst ending ever!” All I could do was chuckle out loud.

Final Consensus:
See it now!!!!
See it in theaters!!!
Rent it on DVD/BluRay!!
Wait for it on TV!
Don’t Bother

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'Extraordinary Measures' - enjoyable actors save this made for TV movie

Extraordinary Measures is not going to do well in the theaters. Not that it doesn’t try, but there was only me and two other people in the entire theater and that was a Friday Night!! I can honestly say that marketing was not where it should have been for this movie. It was actually better than I expected due mainly in part to the leads, Brandon Fraser and Harrison Ford. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this movie could just as well be on lifetime or some cable network, but I still liked it, despite how uninspiring it was.

The film follows a father (Fraser) of two children with a fatal disease that cajoles a cankerous university research doctor (Ford) into pursuing his theories into finding a cure for the disease. Now, from this description I have pretty much told you the entire movie, and I can bet most of you know exactly what happens in the movie and how it all ends. And you would be right. There is nothing special here, slick production, good lighting, quick pacing, OK dialog…but that merely makes this movie average.

What saves the film is the cast. Harrison Ford is far from charming as a dis-likable business partner. Think more ‘What Lied Beneath’ than ‘Indiana Jones’. Fraser does a good turn as a doughy executive and leaves his action persona and yelling from his action flicks to actually portray a desperate, yet very flawed friend. What really save the film are the secondary characters. I don’t know if the kids that were cast do indeed have some disease, but kudos to their very believable portrayal, quick dialog and enduring rough edges. Keri Russell as the wife and especially Courtney Vance as a father of some likewise sick kids does wonders with the five lines he was given in the film.

The film comes complete with trite music (really, have you no imagination), basic conversations and very predictable plot…yet there was nothing that actually bothered me about this movie. Usually, there is something about a film that really gets to me and distracts me from the experience I am having in the theater, but here, everything seems to work despite how boring it is. It will try to manipulate you to cry, though not nearly as shamelessly as well as ‘My Sisters Keeper’. It will also expect you to take everything for fact since it was based on a true story, but despite all its flaws, I actually enjoyed the movie, even if I should have been watching it at night on TV.

Final Consensus:
See it now!!!!
See it in theaters!!!
Rent it on DVD/BluRay!!
Wait for it on TV!
Don’t Bother.

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