Category Archives: Lists

Every year I post my picks of who I wish would win in nine of the major Oscar categories. Since the Oscars are tomorrow, I figured I’d better hurry and do so. This isn’t necessarily who I predict to win, just the ones that I think should.

Normally, I’m really good at seeing the majority of the nominated movies before Oscar night. This year I haven’t seen most of them which makes me sad. What makes me even more sad is that I don’t really want to see a lot of them: War Horse, Moneyball, and even Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close don’t tickle my fancy at all. I’m sure I’ll see them one day, but for now here are my votes:

Best Picture
The Artist
Out of the nominated Best Pictures I would really like to see The Artist win, even though I loved Midnight in Paris.

Best Director
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Midnight in Paris and I would love to see Woody Allen to win another Oscar.

Best Actor
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
If George Clooney wins for The Descendants there will be serious eye rolls where I’m at. He’s a great actor just like Julia Roberts is a great actress… I guess. It’s not that I don’t like him, I just see George Clooney saying different lines in every movie he’s in. I don’t see the character. The Descendants feels like Michael Clayton: I Left My Job and Now I’m Living on the Beach. I really hope Jean Dujardin wins for The Artist. Carrying a silent movie on your shoulders, especially in this day and age, is nearly impossible and he did it.

Best Actress
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
This category is a really tough one for me. Meryl Streep hasn’t won an Oscar in years and probably deserves to win for her performance in The Iron Lady. I love Viola Davis and she was wonderful in The Help, but I didn’t feel like it was a very difficult role for her to play. Michelle Williams defied a lot of naysayers by tackling the role of Marilyn Monroe, a task most actresses wouldn’t even dare try to do. I’m crossing my fingers for this one.

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
I really loved Beginners. From the lovely Mélanie Laurent to that adorable dog, this movie was a hit. Christopher Plummer delivered a beautiful performance and I just know he’ll win.

Best Supporting Actress
Jessica Chastain, The Help
I am SO glad Melissa McCarthy was nominated for Bridesmaids and Octavia Spencer gave the most memorable performance from The Help. But with The Tree of Life, Take Shelter, The Debt, Coriolanus, and The Help Jessica Chastain had an unprecedented year full of five unique and diverse performances, and she truly shined in The Help.

Best Original Screenplay
Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids was easily one of my favorite movies of the year. Clever as always, Kristen Wiig wrote a great movie. And the thought of this winning an Oscar makes me really happy.

Best Adapted Screenplay
George Clooney, Grant Heslov & Beau Willimon, The Ides of March
I was really impressed with The Ides of March. It was a captivating political thriller and I was glad to see it recognized. I hope it wins.

Best Animated Feature
Rango
I liked Kung Fu Panda 2 which was unexpected, but I want Rango to win.

I finally finished my list of favorite movies of 2011. Of course there are a few movies from 2011 that I would still like to see, such as The Descendants, Shame, The Skin I Live In, and We Need To Talk About Kevin, but I suppose they will have to wait.

Three films that just missed the cut but I wanted to applaud are The Future, The Tree of Life and Young Adult, all of which I enjoyed immensely.

Let me know your favorites! Here are mine:

1. Drive
2. Bridesmaids
3. The Muppets
4. Midnight in Paris
5. Weekend
6. Warrior
7. Bill Cunningham New York
8. Beginners
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
10. The Help
11. Rango
12. Crazy, Stupid, Love
13. The Debt
14. Melancholia
15. X Men: First Class

The Oscars are coming up and, once again, I wanted to post my picks (main categories only) of who I wish would win, not necessarily who I think will win.

Best Picture
Inception
Inception was so good, so fun. Easily my favorite nominee of 2010.

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Not sure why Christopher Nolan wasn’t nominated, but oh well. My second favorite is Darren Aronofsky for the Black Swan.

Best Actor
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
Maybe it’s because I think he should have won last year for A Single Man, but give this piece of man-heaven an Oscar!!

Best Actress
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
I loved Jennifer Lawrence and Nicole Kidman’s nominated performances and I really want Annette Bening to win an Oscar… one day. Natalie Portman, however, knocked my socks off this year.

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter
I love Christian Bale and I’m glad he’s getting so much respect.

Best Supporting Actress
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
This movie was so under-rated and effing amazing. I wish it would have been nominated for Best Picture. Jacki Weaver stole the show and was my favorite out of all the other nominees. And EFF stupid Melissa Leo.

Best Original Screenplay
Mike Leigh, Another Year
I’ve loved every single Mike Leigh film and not just a little. I LOVE him. I want him to win an Oscar every time he touches something.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini, Winter’s Bone
These two should definitely win for the most subtle and thrilling film of 2010.

Best Animated Feature
How To Train Your Dragon
I LOVED Toy Story 3, but I REALLY LOVED How To Train Your Dragon. It brought me to tears and was so original and fun.

This is how it was last year. I decide my best of 2010 list without having seen all the movies that I’d like. I still really want to see 127 Hours, Another Year, Rabbit Hole, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and The King’s Speech. And although I will eventually see The Social Network it’s not one that I’m dying to see, even with so many people freaking out about it.

I also could have added The Prophet and The Hedgehog to my list, but they were 2009 releases that came to the US in 2010. Both are fantastic movies.

With that said, let me know what some of your 2010 favorites are!

1. Inception
2. Black Swan
3. How to Train Your Dragon
4. Toy Story 3
5. The Town
6. The Fighter
7. Babies
8. The Kids Are All Right
9. True Grit
10. Shutter Island
11. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
12. Winter’s Bone
13. Despicable Me
14. The Ghost Writer
15. Easy A

I’ve been watching quite a few movies lately. It’s just become the thing to do when I want to forget about things, and I’ve needed to do that quite a bit lately. I usually blog about the ones that really resonate with me, but that isn’t to say I haven’t seen some amazing movies over the past few months. I thought it’d be fun to post a little movie roundup of some of the best movies I’ve just recently seen for the first time.

1. Camille Claudel, 1988
A really great biopic with an incredibly moving performance by the gorgeous Isabelle Adjani as the French sculptor, Camille Claudel. It’s slow in parts, but it’s also very touching and sad.

2. The Trip to Bountiful, 1985
Geraldine Page won her Oscar for her role in this movie and she was so good in it. It sort of reminded me of The Straight Story, which is one of my favorites.

3. Bronson, 2008
Hunka Tom Hardy plays the title role in this story based on the life of Charles Bronson, one of Britain’s most dangerous criminals. It is really great to see Hardy so totally unrecognizable and amazing.

4. Far From Heaven, 2002
I love this movie. Julianne Moore ripped my heart out, and it really is Dennis Quaid’s finest moment.

5. Funny Girl, 1968
Barbra is at her best in this fantastic musical, especially when she sings “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” Yowza!

6. Gran Torino, 2008
A few months ago, my mom actually recommended I watch this. She said that for as much as they say the “F” word in this movie, it is extremely tender and sweet. She was right. It was so good.

7. Kiss of the Spider Woman, 1985
This movie blew me away; it is so dramatic and touching. William Hurt and Raul Julia are great together and I give it a huge recommendation.

8. Klute, 1971
This movie is so strange, but so interesting. I’ve loved Jane Fonda ever since she was in 9 to 5 with Dolly and so I wanted to watch her in one of her early Oscar-winning performances. This movie is a slow thriller that really grabbed my attention and I really liked it.

9. Nanny McPhee, 2005
Emma Thompson is altogether incredible. Duh. I never wanted to see this movie until someone told me they loved it and it is soooo good. I loved it. And it’s a great kids movie.

10. Ordinary People, 1980
I had to see the movie that beat Raging Bull as the Best Picture of 1980. While I am way surprised that it won, I still thought it was very very touching and sweet.

11. Taxi Driver, 1976
This is probably my favorite movie by Martin Scorsese. It’s right up there with Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Both are very very different, but both are so so amazing.

12. Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice?, 1969
Great performances by Geraldine Page and Ruth Gordon in this really entertaining thriller about a woman who kills her maids for their inheritances. Sound weird? Well, it is.

13. Raging Bull, 1980
I loved this movie. I actually think that Martin Scorsese should have won his Best Director Oscar for this movie and that this movie should have won Best Picture. I’m just sad it took me so long to watch it.

14. Chloe, 2009
Good movie, though not amazing. I do recommend it if you liked Fatal Attraction, like me. And if you like watching girls make out, like me.

15. The Deer Hunter, 1978
This movie is crazy CRAZY good. Christopher Walken is amazing in it. It’s a little long, very sad, but it is also incredible.

So there it is. I hope you’ll catch one of these movies sometime when you need it most. And I hope you like it.

I finally finished my top 15 movies of the decade list. It was surprisingly pretty easy, even though I could have easily added another 5 or 10.

This list contains the movies that I connected with the most. They’re ones I still love, ones I can watch over and over.

Hope you enjoy!

1. Moulin Rouge!, 2001
2. Kill Bill, 2003, 2004
3. Volver, 2006
4. Let the Right One In, 2008
5. The Lord of the Rings, 2001, 2002, 2003
6. Mean Girls, 2004
7. In America, 2002
8. The Dark Knight, 2008
9. The Bourne Identity, 2002
10. Happy-Go Lucky, 2008
11. The Road, 2009
12. Billy Elliot, 2000
13. The Hours, 2002
14. Brokeback Mountain, 2005
15. The Descent, 2005

This list was a little more difficult to make than my best of decade list. There are still so many movies from 2009 that I haven’t seen yet, and they just might belong on my best of 2009 list: The Hurt Locker, Nine, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Up in the Air, An Education, Invictus, and Zombieland. Of course, maybe I would hate them. I’ll let you know once I find out.

In the meantime, here are my favorites.

1. The Road
2. A Single Man
3. Broken Embraces
4. Up
5. Inglourious Basterds
6. Avatar
7. Where the Wild Things Are
8. District 9
9. Star Trek
10. Precious
11. The Princess and the Frog
12. Whip It
13. The Hangover
14. Coraline
15. Earth