1/30: Kung Fu Panda 2

On day 7 of my 34 days of Oscar, I decided to watch a lighter movie this time. "Kung Fu Panda 2" is nominated this year at the Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature Film.

The Academy Award for Animated Feature is only a decade old, with the first award given in 2001 to "Shrek". The award itself is only given if there are at least 8 animated feature films with a theatrical release in Los Angeles each year. If there are 16 movies eligible, then there will be 5 movies nominated, but if there are less then only 3 will make the shortlist. The award was seen by some in the animation industry as a chance to get wider recognition for animated films and in turn get more animated films made. There are some people who are against this category as they think it removes any animated movie's chance of being nominated and winning the Best Picture award.

There is not a whole lot of explaining I have to do for "Kung Fu Panda 2". Po, voiced by Jack Black, along with his friends must stop a peacock from taking over China. I never in a million years thought I would write that! The story is light and entertaining and the animation is crisp. I did enjoy that for flashbacks, they used a completely different style of animation. It reminded me of how some filmmakers use colored or stylized lenses to show a flashback in a different light. It might have been one of the main reasons this "Kung Fu Panda 2"was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film. The story is nothing really crazy original, except for the villain being a peacock I guess.

I have seen a lot of animated movies in my time, and this one falls close to the middle of the pack. I will give this movie a 3 out of 5 rating. It was a good looking movie and it hits all the right buttons for a family film. It presents nothing original, but it was an entertaining hour and a half movie.

1/29: Hell and Back Again

The movie I picked to watch on day 6 of my 34 Days of Oscar was "Hell and Back Again". This year, "Hell and Back Again" has been nominated for Best Feature Documentary at the Academy Awards.

"Hell and Back Again" is the story of Sgt. Daniel Harris who was serving in Afghanistan in 2009. Near the end of his assignment, he was shot and severely injured. This film covers the first few months after Sgt. Harris returns home and deals with the Physical Therapy and the Post Traumatic Stress he has to endure. He has the help of his wife Ashley to get through the everyday things he cannot currently do, include dressing himself and walking more than a few feet at a time. The filmmakers intersperse footage of Nathan's recovery with his last few months in combat. "Hell and Back Again" also shows you the PTSD that Nathan is enduring without hitting you over the head with it. There are chilling moments at home where Nathan just pulls a gun out and you get the feeling, for a brief second, that something bad can happen here. This kind of tension is part of what makes "Hell and Back Again" interesting and what helped get it nominated for Best Feature Documentary for this year's Academy Awards.

I love the idea of what this film is trying to do, I just wish they had followed it to it's rightful end. The movie feels unfinished and just when I felt the movie was about to peak, it just ended. I wish the filmmakers has allowed more time to film Nathan to the end of his recovery, instead of leaving his future up in the air. The visual and editorial style of the film worked great for me and the footage used from Afghanistan was crisp and enthralling. I liked the lack of narration here, just using the words of Nathan and his wife Ashley to tell the story.

I give "Hell and Back Again" 2.5 out of 5 stars. The story is entertaining and the movie itself looks polished, but I just felt cheated by the lack of an ending. If we had even had just a little summary to let us know what happened to Nathan and his wife, I would have felt better. It felt like the filmmakers were trying to rush their film out and this haste denied us a chance to get some closure here. If there were a follow up to Nathan and his struggles, I would be interested to watch it and then I might look more favorably upon this movie.

1/28: Harry and Tonto

On day number 5, during my 34 days of Oscar, I saw the 1974 movie "Harry and Tonto". This movie was nominated for 2 Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay and it won the 1974 Best Actor award, given to Art Carney.

"Harry and Tonto" is the story of Harry, a 73yr old man who is evicted from his apartment and goes to live with one of his kids. While staying at his son's house, he decides to take a trip to see his other 2 children and heads out on a road trip with his pet cat, Tonto. The majority of "Harry and Tonto" takes place on the road and with the various people Harry comes across on his trip. Besides Carney, there are also appearances by Ellen Burstyn, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Larry Hagman as people Harry and Tonto come across on their cross country road trip.

Art Carney does a great job and was nominated for the subtleties he brings to the character of Harry. On one hand, his character has a laid back approach to life, never acting worried or out of place. He also beings a hint of sadness to his character as you see that he has outlived all of his old friends and that Tonto may just be the last best friend he has. I don't think he deserved to win the Best Actor award for this role, but I can see why he was nominated. I should mention that Carney beat out Jack Nicholson for "Chinatown and Al Pacino for "Godfather 2" at these Academy Awards.

The screenplay was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, and I can see why it didn't win. The biggest beef I have with this movie is the last 15 minutes. I won't tell you the ending, but it felt too rushed and insincere. I think the script and the performance by Carney let the ending of the movie down. I blame the script more than Carney's performance for the flat ending, but I was expecting something better than what I got.

I give "Harry and Tonto" 2.5 out of 5 stars. The script made me laugh at times and Art Carney gave a great performance, but the ending made me feel somewhat cheated. It was a good movie with good performances, but very middle of the road.

1/27: If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

On the 4th day of my 34 days of Oscar, I decided to watch "If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front." This movie is nominated this year for "Best Feature Documentary". This is usually one of favorite categories and most years I find myself loving several of these movies nominated here.

"If a Tree Falls" is the complete story of the ELF, the Earth Liberation Front. The Earth Liberation Front was the collective name of groups of people who were dedicated to using "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment". They were called Eco-Terrorists by the government and radicals by other environmentalists. The primary focus in this documentary is on one member of the group, Daniel McGowan. "If A Tree Falls" discusses Daniel's life, what made him join the ELF, what he did as a member and the consequences of his actions. There are interviews with other members of the ELF, as well as law enforcement officers tasked with shutting this group down ans also by people who's businesses were targets of the Earth Liberation Front.

I thought this was a great documentary. It presented both sides of the ELF, and was able to

mostly stay somewhat neutral. There were a couple times the image on screen was being used to contradict what was being said on screen, but luckily that was rare. I was glad to see the interviews with a couple businesses targeted by the ELF and the law officers included in the hunt, and see their side of this. I was also drawn into the story of Mr. McGowan and appreciated the film's ability to make me see things from his side as well. I can certainly see why "If A Tree Falls" is nominated this year for Best Feature Documentary at the Academy Awards.

I give "If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" 4 out of 5 stars. It is not the best documentary I've ever seen, but it manages to be entertaining and informative at the same time. I would absolutely recommend this movie to others.

1/26: War Horse

On Day 3 of my 34 days of Oscar, I saw "War Horse". This Steven Spielberg directed film has been nominated for 6 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing & Best Sound Mixing.

I think that when it comes to the 2 award categories that cause the most confusion at the Academy Awards, the awards for Best Sound Editing & Best Sound Mixing take the cake. Even I had to look up what differentiates each award as they both sound very much alike to me. Sound Editing is recording sound effects, creating background music, and creating certain sounds for use in the film (like horse clops when the horse is running in mud). Sound Mixing is when you take all of those sounds, and the recorded dialogue and mix them all together and make sure all sounds are at the right levels (so a horse whine isn't louder than the spoken dialogue happening at the same time). Most people automatically assume that the 2 awards go hand in hand, but since 2000 only 4 movies have won in both categories.

Overall, I liked "The War Horse" and can see why it was nominated for Best Picture. There were issues I had with the actor who played the lead as it was a 1 note performance and not good enough to carry a full movie like this. I also didn't care much for the nominated score. I thought that the John Williams score spent more time trying to tell you what you should be feeling and not enough time just helping tell this story. There were performances that were really good though, particularly Tom Hiddleston as a young army captain and Niels Arestrup as a grandfather who's granddaughter crosses paths with the horse. If you are an animal lover, I would caution against seeing this movie though as there are certainly some harsh scenes to watch in "War Horse".

The Art Direction was very impressive and realistic. While watching "War Horse" you forgot that this movie was filmed in the present day. I have an untrained ear when it comes to passing judgement on Sound Editing and Sound Mixing, but with all the explosions, gunfire and horse galloping I would say this movie has a good shot at winning one or both of those categories. The Cinematography by Janusz Kaminski was breathtaking at times. There were certainly scenes where he captures the sky in the most absolutely beautiful moments. I can see why a movie like this was nominated in so many technical categories.

"War Horse" gets from me a 3.5 out of 5 rating. It is technically a beautiful movie, but the acting of the main lead brings it down a notch and the score hams the movie up unnecessarily. The story itself is good and the look of the movie is realistic looking and beautiful.

1/25: The Anderson Platoon (1967)

In 1967 "The Anderson Platoon" won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. This award winning movie is my focus in day 2 of my 34 days of Oscar.

There are many differing opinions on what makes a documentary good, interesting or informative. For me, it is how well it tells the story is told. All documentaries are trying to tell a story, and usually present it from one point of view - the filmmakers. In my opinion, the ones that avoid hitting are the better ones.

"The Anderson Platoon", the first Vietnam movie to win an Academy Award, is the story of a platoon in Vietnam led by 24yr old Lt. Joseph Anderson. It was filmed by French War cameraman Pierre Schoendoerffer. He was with the platoon from August 1, 1965 until October of 1966. He was right in the trenches with the soldiers and was able to capture the day to day life of a soldier in Vietnam. He shows the mucking through the jungle, the aftermath of a firefight, even the down time one soldier in the platoon has in Saigon.

I understand that the format of a documentary has changed in many ways since 1967, but I can't help feeling that a little more narration would have helped this movie a lot. There is an introduction to the soldiers of the platoon, but the following 40 minutes have no narration at all. I would have loved to know what was going on and where the soldiers were going and what their mission was. The footage seems to be edited together in no real order either. There is a scene of a helicopter crash cut into a scene of the soldiers having a meal and I would have loved to know the significance (if any) this had. I did enjoy a few scenes, but after being introduced to the soldiers we never returned to see what happened to them. I understand that there is another documentary that was made in 1989 called Reminiscence that checks in with the survivors of "The Anderson Platoon" but no mention of survivors, other than Lt. Anderson, is made in this film.

Overall, I would give "The Anderson Platoon" 2 out of 5 stars. It was a little too short (54 minutes) and although what I saw was interesting, I wasn't sure what was happening a lot of the time.

1/24: The Tree of Life

So I started my 34 days of Oscar with "The Tree of Life." This film has been nominated this year for 3 Academy Awards. Best Picture, Best Director: Terrence Malick and Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki.

For anyone wondering what exactly a cinematographer does, it is the person responsible for the camera and lighting decisions on a film. The artistic and technical decisions that decide what the image looks like to the viewer on screen are made by the cinematographer. If you are watching a movie and think it looks too dark or you think a shot of a sunset is beautiful, that is the responsibility of the cinematographer.

I mention all of that because the movie "The Tree of Life" is a very beautiful film. Only natural light was used while making it and the results are amazing. There were numerous shots where the true colors of nature stand out and you can't help but think of how beautiful this film is. I can certainly see why "The Tree of Life" was nominated for Best Cinematography.

Terrence Malick did a decent job directing this, but I feel as if he has taken all of the emotion of of the movie with his scatter shot directorial approach. Too many times, the camera swings up and away from the actor and actress on camera never giving them time to actually act and set up their character. The times he lingers on a actor, it feels as if he is trying to make the camera act for them. There is also an extended 15 minute break during the movie where Malick suddenly decides to give the viewer a history of the Universe. Overall, the images are beautiful, but the directorial style Terrence Malick uses ends up making a very cold film.

This movie was also nominated for Best Picture. For the life of me, I can't see why. I have rarely been so confused and bewildered by one movie before. The plot is non-linear and there is no real story to speak of. If you were to gather 5 people who say they understood the film and ask them to describe "The Tree of Life" you would get 5 completely different responses. If you know someone who finds "Inception" or "Pulp Fiction" confusing, tell them to see this movie. I guarantee that after "The Tree of Life" their definition of a confusing movie will be forever changed.

Overall I would give "The Tree of Life" 2 out of 5 stars. The cinematography is beautiful,

but the movie is just not my cup of tea. I will be the first person to admit I didn't quite understand what Malick was aiming for with this movie. I will give it 2 out of 5 stars and unless someone gives me a very good reason, I will not be watching this 2 hr, 20 minute movie again.

Tonight I have a softball game (maybe), so the chances of a review are slim. If that happens, I will make up that movie this weekend.

34 Days of Oscar

This year, I have decided to see roughly 1 movie a day over the days between Academy Award nominations and the Award ceremony itself. That is a total of 34 days.
I am limiting myself to seeing either movies that are nominated this year or movies that have won at least 1 award in the past. I will, more often than not, be choosing these films at random the day I see them. There will be some days I will probably not watch a movie and other days where I see several. My goal is to have seen 34 nominated or winning movies by February 26th. There is a very good chance that this will steal from me the very little sanity I currently have left, but if that happens, you get to reap the rewards of that.
Today, January 24th, I will be watching a movie when I get home from work. Tomorrow I will be writing about that movie and discussing what awards it was nominated for (or won for).