January Adventures (part 2)
As I mentioned in my last post, there were two weekends in January that really elevated the month as far as the extracurricular activities that I am bringing into my life. The first was detailed in the previous post meaning that now I must detail the second of the two.
January 26-28: Oscar Prep Movie Marathon Weekend
One of my New Year's Resolutions was to go to a movie each week as a way to get out of the house and do things. Let's just say that on this particular weekend, I far exceeded my goal of one each week. In fact, I hit five movies in three days.
Flashback to 2011 with me for just a moment.
For whatever reason, I fell in love with Natalie Portman during 2010 and 2011 and when she was nominated for (and won) the Golden Globe, the Screen Actor's Guild award, and the Oscar for Best Actress in "Black Swan", I took notice. Now, I have always loved awards shows but never paid close attention to them until Ms. Portman ushered in my fanatical love of movies that are nominated for major awards. I did not see "Black Swan", but in the subsequent years I have sought to see at least a couple of nominees each year.
This year, my hope is to see all of the Best Picture nominees prior to the Academy Awards on March 4th. This particular weekend of which I now detail, all five movies fit into this category. In order of how I saw them, they are as follows:
Darkest Hour - This is an amazing movie...arguably the best of the weekend for me. Gary Oldman was brilliant in the role of Winston Churchill during a period in World War II where England was in real trouble. The addition of Lily James as Churchill's secretary was equally brilliant. I will always highly recommend this movie.
Lady Bird - Saoirse Ronin is a breath of fresh air in real life and brings that to the role of a high schooler seeking respect and independence from her mother while still holding a reliance to her. We often see coming of age stories of young boys becoming men but now finally a triumph from the female perspective. It was a bit reminiscent of "Juno" while still being brand new and unique. The minor role from Timothee Chalamet (to be mentioned later) also elevated the movie.
Phantom Thread - This movie was pretty boring to be honest. Daniel Day-Lewis did a great job portraying a 1950s fashion designer who doubles as a bit of an OCD playboy. As one of his conquests seeks to break the mold and tame his wandering eye through manipulation and possessiveness, the plot only momentarily caught my attention enough to really see character development. I did however relate a bit too closely to the maiden trying to stay the beast.
Dunkirk - Now to be fair I must pre-empt my view of this movie with the fact that "Dunkirk" was the third movie that I saw on Saturday and I was quite tired when I watched it. I know for a fact that for this reason my opinion of this movie is skewed. In fact, even after watching it, I had no idea that Harry Styles was in it. This was another movie that didn't keep my attention. I had high hopes for it considering that "Darkest Hour" parallels this movie in time period and historical context. The movie however just seemed one note with water bombings, dogfights, and attempts to recover between German attacks.
Call Me By Your Name - For the purposes of those who are my regular readers, this was by far the most scandalous of all of the movies. The cast led by a brilliant Timothee Chalamet (see, I told you I would mention him again) and Armie Hammer explores a semi-secret love affair of a young man and his father's research assistant who visits the family in Italy for a while during the summer. The plot and the development of the story were amazing while the gratification would be excessive for most (especially those who are my normal readers).
In the end, I will say this.....FIVE MOVIES IS FAR TOO MANY FOR ONE WEEKEND.
I didn't hate the weekend and I don't regret the journey of the movies at all I just know that it altered my opinion of some of the movies and it somewhat destroyed my brain with all of the deep characters and intricate themes that became tangled together.
I think I will stick to one or two movies per week for the future.
January 26-28: Oscar Prep Movie Marathon Weekend
One of my New Year's Resolutions was to go to a movie each week as a way to get out of the house and do things. Let's just say that on this particular weekend, I far exceeded my goal of one each week. In fact, I hit five movies in three days.
Flashback to 2011 with me for just a moment.
For whatever reason, I fell in love with Natalie Portman during 2010 and 2011 and when she was nominated for (and won) the Golden Globe, the Screen Actor's Guild award, and the Oscar for Best Actress in "Black Swan", I took notice. Now, I have always loved awards shows but never paid close attention to them until Ms. Portman ushered in my fanatical love of movies that are nominated for major awards. I did not see "Black Swan", but in the subsequent years I have sought to see at least a couple of nominees each year.
This year, my hope is to see all of the Best Picture nominees prior to the Academy Awards on March 4th. This particular weekend of which I now detail, all five movies fit into this category. In order of how I saw them, they are as follows:
Darkest Hour - This is an amazing movie...arguably the best of the weekend for me. Gary Oldman was brilliant in the role of Winston Churchill during a period in World War II where England was in real trouble. The addition of Lily James as Churchill's secretary was equally brilliant. I will always highly recommend this movie.
Lady Bird - Saoirse Ronin is a breath of fresh air in real life and brings that to the role of a high schooler seeking respect and independence from her mother while still holding a reliance to her. We often see coming of age stories of young boys becoming men but now finally a triumph from the female perspective. It was a bit reminiscent of "Juno" while still being brand new and unique. The minor role from Timothee Chalamet (to be mentioned later) also elevated the movie.
Phantom Thread - This movie was pretty boring to be honest. Daniel Day-Lewis did a great job portraying a 1950s fashion designer who doubles as a bit of an OCD playboy. As one of his conquests seeks to break the mold and tame his wandering eye through manipulation and possessiveness, the plot only momentarily caught my attention enough to really see character development. I did however relate a bit too closely to the maiden trying to stay the beast.
Dunkirk - Now to be fair I must pre-empt my view of this movie with the fact that "Dunkirk" was the third movie that I saw on Saturday and I was quite tired when I watched it. I know for a fact that for this reason my opinion of this movie is skewed. In fact, even after watching it, I had no idea that Harry Styles was in it. This was another movie that didn't keep my attention. I had high hopes for it considering that "Darkest Hour" parallels this movie in time period and historical context. The movie however just seemed one note with water bombings, dogfights, and attempts to recover between German attacks.
Call Me By Your Name - For the purposes of those who are my regular readers, this was by far the most scandalous of all of the movies. The cast led by a brilliant Timothee Chalamet (see, I told you I would mention him again) and Armie Hammer explores a semi-secret love affair of a young man and his father's research assistant who visits the family in Italy for a while during the summer. The plot and the development of the story were amazing while the gratification would be excessive for most (especially those who are my normal readers).
In the end, I will say this.....FIVE MOVIES IS FAR TOO MANY FOR ONE WEEKEND.
I didn't hate the weekend and I don't regret the journey of the movies at all I just know that it altered my opinion of some of the movies and it somewhat destroyed my brain with all of the deep characters and intricate themes that became tangled together.
I think I will stick to one or two movies per week for the future.
Comments