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Oscarpalooza – Hell And Back Again

Ugh. This is a documentary about American soldiers in Afghanistan. I’ve heard some stories that don’t leave me with a high impression of US soldiers, and this documentary did little to help that. This soldier was shot a few days before his tour of duty ended. The film documents his time in Afghanistan and his time recovering at home with his wife. He’s a psychopath. He proudly proclaims that the reason he joined the US Marines was that he wanted to kill people. He also claims that the recruiters told him that was the best reason. Personally if I were a recruiting officer for my country’s forces, I would have… Read More »Oscarpalooza – Hell And Back Again

What Toronto City Council taught me

So it seems that if you’ve been found to be in breach of the city’s code of ethics for abusing your influence, the solution is to bide your time until you have greater influence and then you can walk away scot-free.

Oscarpalooza – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I’d love to have insight into this film, but I don’t. I decided to watch it after getting rather upset, and hoped it would distract me, it didn’t. I had trouble following the plot and no desire to invest the energy into paying attention.

Oscarpalooza – Monsieur Lazhar

Monsieur Lazhar is nominated for Best Foreign Language film. In my country, it’s a domestic language. It was even made in my country. It’s the Canadian entry to to The Oscars. Last year, Canada’s entry was a film called Incendies. Both these films are about immigrants in Montreal. Both these films are depressing. However, beyond that, both these films are completely different. In a Montreal elementary school, a student is heading to class ahead of his classmates, finds the door locked, peaks in to find his teacher’s corpse hanging from the ceiling. Not a happy start. I hope to never work with elementary teachers who would do that to their… Read More »Oscarpalooza – Monsieur Lazhar

Oscarpalooza – Beginners

Watching his father die, and live his last years out of the closet, Ewan McGregor plays a man who sees love for the first time through his septuagenarian father’s eyes. As a child he was close to his mother, and saw her loneliness, this shaped his life view, and how he experienced love. After his father dies of cancer, he meets an actress at a party, and his mentality and attitudes towards his own future and how he lets others into his life. It has Christopher Plummer being FABULOUS as a gay and out man in his seventies. It also has this line, “Jewish girls are not pretty. They can be interesting… Read More »Oscarpalooza – Beginners

Andrew In Drag

The Magnetic Fields have released what’s probably their first video since 1995’s “With Whom To Dance.” It’s for the lead single to their upcoming album Love at the Bottom of the Sea. The description for the video at The Magnetic Fields’ website, The House of Tomorrow says… Our music video for ‘Andrew in Drag’ premiered today on NPR’s ‘All Songs Considered.’ Watch Claudia and Stephin rotate on a lazy Susan while Darrell Thorne and Stormy Leather transform themselves with lipstick and pomade. Scott Valins directed, and the video is NSFW, if your workplace doesn’t appreciate nudity. I like that they capitalized “Susan” as now I’m picturing them rotating on a lazy Susan Anway1.… Read More »Andrew In Drag

Oscarpalooza – The Artist

I’ve seen films about the silent era before, but never before have I seen a film so wonderfully done, nor have I seen a silent film about the silent era. The Artist is an absolutely fantastic love story about a rising star and a falling star. I honestly don’t think I should say anymore except go watch it. Now.

Oscarpalooza – The Descendants

Can you call a film about a man with a dying wife who discovers that his wife was cheating on him a fun film? Well, it was. It was an interesting film about Clooney coming to terms with his wife’s indiscretions and learning to be a father for the first time. In addition, there’s some B plot about his family owning property and selling it. It’s an okay film, fun, entertaining, but in no way Oscar-worthy. There was nothing in this film screaming “FANTASTIC” at me, so I assume other people saw different things in the film than I did. Either way, worth the watch.

Oscarpalooza – War Horse

What the fuck was I thinking? A cheesy Spielberg film, about a horse that goes to war? Why did I even bother? Oh yeah… Benedict Cumberbatch. After watching two seasons (aka six episodes) of the BBC’s Sherlock, how could I resist a film starring the wonderful and sarcastic and funny Sherlock Holmes… er, Benedict Cumberbatch. This film goes to prove that no matter how good your actors are, you need a good script, and the script for War Horse is fucking terrible. I can’t remember the last time I disliked a film so much that I had to turn it off. War Horse, you won that prize.

Oscarpalooza – The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Nominated for best Animated Short, I tried looking for all the films, and this was the only one I could find. I had already played with the incredible iPad app they made to tie into the film. It’s nice to finally see the film itself. Seeing as my playing was limited to 30 seconds. I never knew the plot of the app/film. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a film about a man who gets caught up in a hurricane, only to be directed by a strange woman and some flying books to a library. It goes from there, it’s only 15 minutes, so I won’t ponder… Read More »Oscarpalooza – The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore