movies

Popping in to talk movies

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Is anyone watching movies these days? They’re like long-form TV but usually less enjoyable and often more boring.

As I do every year when nominations are announced, I watch as many as possible. Perhaps it’s because of my list-checking obsession but most likely because wins like Parasite and Coda made me jump up and down like a proud parent. I want to cling to this feeling every year.

So here’s where I’m at—Movies by the numbers.

  • I am 12 movies in, with 42 to go
  • I have watched 7 of the 10 Best Pictures
  • I have watched 2 of the 12 in the theatre, 2 on a plane and 8 streamed (legally!)
  • I watched 22 movies (that I recall) in 2022 and wonder why NOPE and The Swimmers were not nominated for anything.


And Because nobody asked for it, here is my unprofessional hot take about the nominations for the 95th Academy Awards.

My current ranking for BEST PICTURE is based only on the seven I’ve seen:

  1. WOMEN TALKING. This is my 2023 Parasite, and I will make posters and scream from Cabot Street to give Sarah Polley an Oscar. Sadly, she was robbed of a Best Director nomination.
  2.  EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE. Although it was not my favourite movie, it’s fantastic that it got the most nominations. The sci-fi parts are not to my taste, but it is well done; I loved the family’s story, and I will 100% cry if Ke Huy Quan wins Best Supporting Actor.
  3. TOP GUN: MAVERICK. Did I fist pump and cheer at the big screen? Hell, yes, I did! Tom delivered everything I wanted in an action movie, and I am here for it.
  4. TRIANGLE OF SADNESS. I thought this was going to be funnier. It was a good movie, but I had to cover my eyes for 5 minutes during the barfing/seasick scene.
  5. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. Oh, hey, grade 11. We watched the original in history class, and I have to say, this was very well done. I don’t think it should win Best Picture, but it should win Best Original Score.
  6. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN. Ireland is beautiful. The acting was great. I’m sad about Jenny the donkey. That’s all.
  7. ELVIS. Dear Baz Luhrmann, I will forever love you for giving me Romeo and Juliet; however, despite how adorable Austin Butler was, I am not a fan of biographical drama movies about musicians. 

As for the remaining three I have not watched, here are my thoughts:

  • AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Do I have to? If I have to invest time, I am not investing money. I predict it will be #10 for me.
  • THE FABELMANS. I want to see this, and I predict it will be #5, ahead of Triangle of Sadness
  • TÁR. I really, really want to see this, and I predict it will be #2, possibly #1. Sorry, Sarah Polley.

And finally, here are a few others I must mention:

  • THE FLYING SAILOR is about the Halifax Explosion, you can stream it for free, and it’s like 10 minutes.
  • TURNING RED. I loved this movie! Go Domee Shi Go. I will literally turn red if GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO wins Best Animated Feature Film.
  • FIRE OF LOVE is the only documentary I’ve watched, and it was great, so I guess that’s my vote.
  • Paul Mescal – I see you on that Best Actor list. Hey.

So happy watching, and may the best WOMEN win!

(all images from imdb.com)

oscar-noms-2023-fileDownload

100 films for 100 reasons

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Have you seen any good movies lately?

One of my forty before forty goals was to watch all of the movies from the AFI’s 100 Most Inspiring Films Of All Time. I’ve watched +40 so far and some are just meh… I am sure they’re there for reasons beyond my armchair expertise, but regardless, I decided to ditch that goal and replace it with “choose an actor and watch their full IMDB profile.” As I contemplate and research who I will commit to, I thought it’d be fun to make my list of the top 100 films that impacted my life for 100 different reasons. I will admit, some films (actors) are questionable in 2019 but there are many things from our past that we can not hold judgment on and I will ALWAYS standby Grease 2 making my list over Grease!

In alphabetical order, the top 100 films that impacted my life for 100 different reasons

  1. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
  2. 500 Day of Summer (2009)
  3. About a Boy (2002)
  4. Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
  5. Alive (1993)
  6. Amélie (2001)
  7. Annie Hall (1977)
  8. Back to the Future (1985)
  9. Beaches (1988)
  10. Beautiful Girls (1996)
  11. Beetlejuice (1988)
  12. Before Sunrise (1995)
  13. Benny & Joon (1993)
  14. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
  15. Boyz n the Hood (1991)
  16. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
  17. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
  18. Brooklyn (2015)
  19. Call Me by Your Name (2018)
  20. Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
  21. Creed (2015)
  22. Dangerous Minds (1995)
  23. Dazed and Confused (1993)
  24. Dead Poets Society (1989)
  25. Dirty Dancing (1987)
  26. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
  27. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
  28. Father of the Bride (1991)
  29. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) or Pretty in Pink (1986) or Sixteen Candles (1984)
  30. Follow That Bird (1985)
  31. Footloose (1984)
  32. Forrest Gump (1994)
  33. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
  34. Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
  35. Garden State (2004)
  36. Gleaming the Cube (1989)
  37. Good Will Hunting (1997)
  38. Grease 2 (1982)
  39. Hair (1979)
  40. Harold and Maude (1971)
  41. Home Alone (1990)
  42. I Shot Andy Warhol (1996)
  43. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
  44. Juno (2007)
  45. Jurassic Park (1993)
  46. La Bamba (1987)
  47. Lady Bird (2017)
  48. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
  49. Little Women (1994)
  50. Lord of the Flies (1990)
  51. Love Actually (2003)
  52. Love Story (1970)
  53. Mean Girls (2004)
  54. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
  55. My Girl (1991)
  56. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
  57. Oldboy (2003)
  58. One Week (2008)
  59. Opportunity Knocks (1990)
  60. Parenthood (1989)
  61. Pet Sematary (1989)
  62. Point Break (1991)
  63. Pretty Woman (1990)
  64. Pump Up The Volume (1990)
  65. Reality Bites (1994)
  66. Return of the Jedi (1983)
  67. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
  68. Romeo + Juliet (1996)
  69. Say Anything… (1989)
  70. Singles (1992)
  71. Sixteen Candles (1984)
  72. Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)
  73. Speed (1994)
  74. Stand By Me (1986)
  75. Surf Ninjas (1993)
  76. Taxi Driver (1976)
  77. The Basketball Diaries (1995)
  78. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
  79. The Breakfast Club (1985)
  80. The Craft (1996)
  81. The Deer Hunter (1978)
  82. The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
  83. The Girl Who Spelled Freedom (1986)
  84. The Goonies (1985)
  85. The Graduate (1967)
  86. The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)
  87. The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (1988)
  88. The Parent Trap (1961)
  89. The Princess Bride (1987)
  90. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
  91. The Sound of Music (1965)
  92. The Wizard (1989)
  93. Thelma & Louise (1991)
  94. Top Gun (1986)
  95. Toy Story 3 (2010)
  96. True Romance (1993)
  97. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
  98. When a Man Loves a Woman (1994)
  99. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
  100. Whiplash (2014)

There’s a podcast I listen to that always ends with rapid-fire questions. One being, what’s your favourite movie? It drives me bananas when people can’t name a movie! I love movies and although it’s hard to narrow it down to my all-time favourite, I could at least say something. Say Anything!

Tell me your favourite! Fight with me about my list (I feel like I am missing a few). Tell me which actor I should pick? I’m leaning towards Christian Slater, Michael B. Jordan, Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke or John Hughes.

xomeg

oh, oscar

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Ya’ll ready for this?

Here they are. The best in show:

arrival1ARRIVAL | Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Aaron Ryder and David Linde, Producers

fencesFENCES | Scott Rudin, Denzel Washington and Todd Black, Producers

hacksaw-ridgeHACKSAW RIDGE | Bill Mechanic and David Permut, Producers

hell-or-high-waterHELL OR HIGH WATER | Carla Hacken and Julie Yorn, Producers

hidden-figuresHIDDEN FIGURES | Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Pharrell Williams and Theodore Melfi, Producers

la-la-landLA LA LAND | Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz and Marc Platt, Producers

lionLION | Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Angie Fielder, Producers

manchester-by-the-seaMANCHESTER BY THE SEA | Matt Damon, Kimberly Steward, Chris Moore, Lauren Beck and Kevin J. Walsh, Producers

moonlight2MOONLIGHT | Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers

***

Welcome to my annual pre-show recap PLUS a printable lists to help make your movie watching experience more enjoyable.

There 32 days until the Academy Awards on February 26 and there are 62 nominated movies so you can easily see all of them if you aim for two a day. Let’s go!

Here’s where I am at… it’s not great.

  • The good news is I saw and LOVED La La Land. It’s up for 14 nominations.
  • The bad news is that I am waaaayyyy behind on movie watching this year. I’ve seen 4 out of 62! (La La Land, Manchester by the Sea, 13th and Moana)
  • The good news is I am really excited to see all of the Best Picture noms – Especially Moonlight and Hidden Figures.
  • The bad news is I am surprised to see Mel Gibson is back on top … but I like Andrew Garfield.
  • The good news is Emma and Ryan, my favourite on-screen couple, are both nominated!
  • The bad news is I have only seen 2 out of the 9 Best Pictures. Manchester by the Sea was wonderful and I love Michelle Williams but I can not support Casey Affleck.

My goal is to see as many of the Best Picture + Best Actor /Actress + Supporting Roles as possible. That’s 15 movies. Again, I’ve see 2.

I did a quick Netflix and iTunes search and here’s what I found so far – I haven’t search all of the movies.

  • 13th, Zootopia and The Jungle Book are all on Netflix (Canada) – I watch the documentary 13th yesterday and it was excellent.
  • Captain Fantastic, Hell or High Water, Deepwater Horizon, Sully, Suicide Squad, Star Trek Beyond, Kubu, Life Animated, The Lobster, Jim The James Foley Story and Florence Foster Jenkins are NOW available to rent on iTunes.
  • You can purchase Piper and La Femme et le TVG on iTunes for $2.99.
  • Arrival and Moonlight are available on iTunes January 31.
  • Hacksaw Ridge, Trolls, Nocturnal Animals, I Am Not Your Negro and Loving are available on iTunes February 7.
  • Doctor Strange and Allied are available on iTunes February 14.
  • Fire at Sea is available on iTunes February 14.
  • Jackie and Moana are available on iTunes February 21.

Here we go! Game on.

Let me know what movies you’ve seen and want to see.

Let me know your predictions.

hellosunshine_oscar-noms-2017_1 hellosunshine_oscar-noms-2017_2 hellosunshine_oscar-noms-2017_3

PDF download: hellosunshine_oscar-noms-2017

All Best Picture images are from IndieWire

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winona forever

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Are you guys watching Stranger Things on Netflix? So good! Honestly, if Winona Ryder wasn’t attached to the show, I probably would of ignored it on my feed but like Kyle Chandler, there are certain actors that get my attention.MV5BMjEzMDAxOTUyMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzAxMzYzOTE@._V1_

We ploughed through the season in one week – there’s only eight episodes – don’t judge. The show is set in the early 80’s and it reminds me of The Goonies / Stand By Me / E.T. – a lot of Stephen King / Steven Spielberg and even a little John Hughes. Just watch it.

When I was eleven or so, I remember going to a sleepover party at Elyisha’s house and we watched Pet Sematary – it scared me to death and now I want to go back and watch all of the Stranger Things-like movies plus, maybe start a petition to add more Winona to Netflix.

***

Winona Bests (according to me):

Reality Bites (1994): I was about 15 when this came out and Ethan Hawke was my everything. If you haven’t seen this movie, it’s a must. This is all we need, a couple of smokes, a cup of coffee and a little bit of conversation…

Beetlejuice (1988): We didn’t have cable growing up but we did have a VCR and my mom’s friend gave us a collection of movies. On one tape was Beetlejuice / La Bamba / Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, and we watched them over and over. Now, looking back, it’s kind of messed up that my childhood included a crazy ghost that haunts the living, shrunken heads, a plane crash that killed a dreamy and talented singer and a hot archaeologist eating monkey brains… oh Donna.

Little Women (1994): Why did she not choose Laurie? Besides that one devastating detail, I love this movie. Also starring Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Samantha Mathis, Eric Stoltz and Christian Bale – it oozed 90’s coolness but in an Anne of Green Gables kind of way.

Edward Scissorhands (1990): Winona and Johnny Depp – he makes her snow with his scissor hands – need I say more?

Heathers (1988): The full movie is on YouTube… (FYI). Christian Slater as a psychopath killer boyfriend and Shannon Doherty as a mega brat – how can you not watch this right now?

And finally, Mermaids (1990): Marshmallow and maraschino cherry kabobs! This movie is charming and fabulous and also starts CHER and a tiny Christina Ricci – Remember this song? You are so so welcome!

Let me know what your favourite Winona moments are… and no, I did not include Girl, Interrupted because my dislike of the Jolie trumps my love of Winona.

Oh. And watch Stranger Things so we can discuss!

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psst. If you like what you’re reading, please subscribe and share. xomeg

meanwhile, elsewhere

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Friday’s online finds: Inspirational, educational or just silly. Here is what I found this week…

meanwhile_4 meanwhile_6 meanwhile_5 meanwhile_7 meanwhile_3 meanwhile_1 meanwhile_8 meanwhile_9 meanwhile_2

  • And the mom bod response
  • Cheese lovers, live long and prosper!
  • Deep thoughts by Anna Kendrick … Using your laptop to research buying a new one is like asking it to dig its own grave
  • I am going to do this and report back
  • Mountain moms… good advice. Have fun and get outside
  • Extreme kids
  • Guys, have you read the crazy FAQ section of the Mars-One website?
  • Urban Outfitters in now in Halifax. I am kind of excited about their homes stuff… like this. I have been dreaming of a chenille bedspread for ages.
  • Some good movies coming out. I want to see this this this and this.

Have a lovely long weekend! I am running my first half marathon of the season at the Blue Nose and am excited to run with David in the kids event. Did you know – Blue Nose has Canada’s largest youth run event? I think that’s pretty awesome.

psst. If you like what you’re reading, please subscribe and share. xomeg