Re-invigorated?

I stumbled upon an article on msnbc.com last week about the dearth of "Oscar movies" so far this year. While reading the article I felt inspired to make an appearance on my long-neglected blog and regale you, my faithful readers (reader? singular?), with my thoughts. I was so inspired I even made a little trip over to my tried-and-true Oscar-watch blog, "Little Gold Men" on vanityfair.com to uncover some more possibilities for you. Alas - no Oscar bait over there yet. So we'll press onward with this little nugget.

Of the films mentioned - I've seen two. Oops! I need to continue to hang out at the Arbor after the first week in March, I suppose. Instead I (along with my husband and parents) made my way to the 4-screen theater in Bastrop (where my parents live) on a steamy July day to see Toy Story 3. Unfortunately, I missed the beginning of the short because at this particular theater I HAVE to get a refreshment from the concession stand. Why, do you ask? Because they serve Red Flash (Coca-Cola's answer to Big Red - I'll drink either). Anyways, once the children in the theatre settled down and I settled in (and stopped freaking out about the number of children in the theater), the movie swept me away. What a sweet, bittersweet, honest ending to a wonderful franchise. It was appropriate and fun and still had a great message. While I didn't get to see it in 3D (see aforementioned theater), I don't know that that could have made it any better. The article discussed that this may be another Pixar Best Picture contender now that the ban on animated films being nominated in that category has been lifted.

Towards the end of the summer, my husband and I began taking advantage of his summer off and my Friday afternoons off by catching a matinee movie at the Alamo Drafthouse Village. It was a really fun thing to do together. The film that started this date ball rolling was Inception, the psychological thriller by Christopher Nolan. I know the hipster thing to do is bash this movie, but I don't care. I loved it. I loved that my husband and I spent the whole weekend discussing it and turning it over and basically just thinking about it. I loved being able to suspend my disbelief for a few hours to enter Nolan's dreamworld, literally. The acting performances are excellent and include a well-rounded ensemble cast of characters from across the board. I definitely see the blu-ray of this movie sitting on our shelf in the near future.

The other films mentioned were The Kids Are All Right, Restrepo, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Winter's Bone, The Social Network, True Grit (filmed in and around Austin!), and Hereafter. I'll be honest with you, I've only even heard of half of them and I definitely missed The Kids Are All Right in the theaters. I have a feeling we'll get there, though.

Outside of these films, the one we watched most recently was The Ghost Writer. This is a film directed by Roman Polanski starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, and Kim Cattrall (and her dreadful British accent). The film is based on a book by Robert Harris and is a thinly veiled criticism of Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister (so thin that I even picked up on it and I know precious little about international politics). It is a stark, muted movie set on the stormy Massachusetts coast and follows a ghost-writer (Ewan McGregor) working on the former British Prime Minister's (Pierce Brosnan) memoirs. As the writer stumbles on his predecessor's (recently deceased under suspicious circumstances) research into the underbelly of this politician's life, he discovers more than he bargains for and begins to fear for his life. It is a very interesting movie, albeit a slow build, but one worth watching. The scuttlebutt is that while some of the performances may get nominations for Academy Awards, no one would dare nominate Polanski or this film in their respective categories due to his recent troubles.

The other movie popping up around Austin with Oscar buzz is one called Get Low. This movie stars Robert Duvall and Bill Murray and involves a crochety old man (Duvall) planning his funeral to be staged before he dies. Some say there's a nomination in it for Duvall. I say, maybe it's time to head out to the Arbor...