Tuesday, September 28, 2010

A look at the Oscar race

So, I thought, why not make some predictions for the Oscars? Yeah, sometimes you ask yourself things like that.


I'd like to share my thoughts on the Best Picture race so I'll predict the nominees in the Director category. Yes, that's the true top 5 movies for me :p

Director

Tom Hooper, The King's Speech

David Fincher, The Social Network

Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

John Cameron's Mitchelle, Rabbit Hole

The Coen Bros, True Grit



That's it for now. I wanted to predict the Actress and Supporting Actress categories as well but I don't have any interesting insights. I mean, in the Actress category I agree with what most people say and in the Supp Actress category I have no idea what will happen.

But I do think Bening (The Kids Are All Right) and Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech) are locked in the Actress and the Supp Actress categories respectively.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

H apoliti (the ultimate one)

So, in case tou didn't know, and why would you, I adore Anna Vissi. Born in Cyprus, she moved to Greece with her family to pursue a career as a singer. Well, she kinda made it. For many years now she is considered the number one star in Greece. I haven't been a fan for as long as many others have, but I'm a big one and here is why:


This is one of her most famous ballads. The title means "I don't want tou to know" and perhaps you, as well, don't want to know. Well, the lyrics aren't supposed to make you smile :p




Let's visit a more recent performance. The title means "The pain of love". Yep, I prefer the sad ones but it's mostly because they let her show her range and power.





Not wanting to change the mood, here is one more "Love is hard so let's all embrace the sadness" song. At least I changed the era again! Title: Whatever you ask of me.





These two songs (more like "parts of the songs") were sang the one next to the other but the video is cut in two. Titles: "Things" and "I paralyse"




(Sorry about the tasteless ending of the second one!)


This is one of the first live performances of Anna I fell in love with! Title: Gas (Not the one we use for cars but the one.. whatever)




(That's right, they're getting bigger, just like your enthusiasm for her. I hope..)


And now, her signature song. The one she always sings whenever she is on a stage, a table, a chair, a camel etc Title: "12" (aka midnight)





Thank you Anna for everything!

(I hope these videos will not be down after a while..)

Saturday, September 18, 2010

I didn't fall in love after all but at least the kids are indeed fine

No introduction.. (unless that counts as one)


I Am Love


I don't think I have something to say about this film (or any film?) that hasn't been said before but just so you know, I'm with the people who thought that the movie is beautiful but quite soulless. I mean, I just didn't care much. Nothing really wrong but nothing really captivating. The characters did things that others have done in the past and there wasn't something in the script original enough to make me appreciate the photography or the music or the art direction or...
It did, however, please my senses and that's something but it wasn't enough. Tilda was good but I much prefer her in Julia mode.

6/10




The Kids Are All Right


I'm too lazy to post all my thoughts on this one but the fact alone that it made me think many things is to its credit. Most of the jokes were forced and predictable but the universal truths this seemingly anorthodox family made me think about, were a pretty rewarding element. The characters felt real and that's why I cared a lot about what would happen to them. There was room for more digging in the relationships territory but this movie didn't care to explore much more than the similarities between a gay family and a straight one which is far from a crime.
Bening and Wasikowska were excellent. The rest were pretty good, too.


7/10

Thursday, September 16, 2010

You give me my time back!


Well, if you needed a reason not to think it's almost impossible for me to like a movie, I'm afraid I won't give you one right now.

Please Give is a failure. It raises some questions, yes. But that's not that hard, is it? It has no depth, its wit is limited if not mostly absent and any good idea there is in Miss Holofcener's mind that needs to get to us, just loses its way resulting in awkward scenes.

There is always something that doesn't work and it's kind of frustrating to feel that "this" or "that" could have had an impact if handled more carefully.

Rebecca Hall gives an excellent performance but she deserved a much better film.

It's sad, because the film belongs to a genre that I really admire.

5/10 (almost a 4/10)