The Room

There's no other way to explain it: The Room is BANANAS. The Room has achieved cult classic status by being quite possibly the best worst movie of all time. There will always be some who advocate for Manos: The Hands of Fate or Troll 2 - but trust me, they haven't seen The Room.

I first heard about The Room about a year and a half ago via this Entertainment Weekly article, and I had been on the hunt to see it since. Last weekend, my sister art house theater with sweet midnight movies decided to show it as part of the area film festival, so The Hubs and I sucked it up and not only stayed up until midnight, but left the house. Scandalous! But it was totally worth it. This is truly the worst movie I've ever seen. The specifics are so vast that I hardly know where to begin, but I'll give it a shot: the acting is terrible, the plot even more so. There are three gratuitous sex scenes in the first twenty minutes, but they're not sexy - far from it, actually. I'm cringing just remembering it. And to call them "continuity errors" is being charitable.
And then there's Tommy. Tommy Wiseau, actor/writer/producer/director, by far the star of the picture. There's genius in there somewhere, I'm sure of it - but oh. My. God. This movie is just terrible, and things happen that make no sense, and then you see his naked ass, and he's got some crazy Austrian or German accent that just make everything even funnier, and then there are SPOONS, and then Lisa's neck! Her neck!

You have to see it. You HAVE to see it. I can't do it justice, but it blew my mind.

The Room - A

Oscar Re-cap

Yet again, 18 out of 24. Why can't I break this? I do my research, yet I take risks... and yet, I have NEVER done better than 18 out of 24. Sigh.
But those results were good enough for two ties and a win! I tied Charlie this year, and I also tied at a co-worker's office party, which netted me $20. Holla! And I beat my two other co-workers, and already collected by free lunch. FYI, the lunch buffet at Cottage Inn is superb.
Alas, trivia on Monday didn't go so well. We finished out of the money this year, even though we knew all sorts of obscure answers. Better luck next year, Cornados.

Pictured above is my least favorite dress from Oscar night. Really, Zoe Saldana? You look like you're wearing bathmats.

Oscar results - B+

Oscar Watch: My Final Predictions

(thanks to AwardsDaily, where I got this sweet composite of all the best picture nominees)

OK, kids, you know you've been waiting to see this. Here they are, my 2010 Oscar predictions.

Best Picture - The Hurt Locker
Best Actor - Jeff Bridges
Best Actress - Sandra Bullock
Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz
Best Supporting Actress - Mo'Nique
Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow
Best Original Screenplay - The Hurt Locker
Best Adapted Screenplay - Up in the Air
Best Animated Feature - Up
Best Art Direction -Avatar
Best Cinematography - Avatar
Best Costume Design - The Young Victoria
Best Documentary Feature - The Cove
Best Documentary Short - China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
Best Film Editing - Avatar
Best Foreign Language Film - The White Ribbon
Best Make-up - Star Trek
Best Original Score - Up
Best Original Song - "The Weary Kind," Crazy Heart
Best Animated Short Film - A Matter of Loaf & Death
Best Live Action Short Film - The Door
Best Sound Editing - The Hurt Locker
Best Sound Mixing - The Hurt Locker
Best Visual Effects - Avatar

For those who have been keeping track since this blog started, my former boyfriend Chargenda and I have had an Oscar bet since 2001. Boy, it game down to the wire that year, with Charlie and I tied for most correct predictions until the final category of Best Picture. We both really wanted Gosford Park, but he picked The Lord of the Rings. I picked A Beautiful Mind. Sweet victory! You can see the recaps from 2006, 2007, 2008 (I won that year), and 2009. This year, the contest will come down to the following four categories: documentary short, film editing, live action short and sound mixing. I guarantee you that they'll be nailbiters! Loser is supposed to buy dinner for the winner. I also have a lunch bet with my co-workers BriBri and Jjack. Last year I was the ultimate winner, so I look to retain my title of superiority again this year. Jjack no longer works with us, but I bet we can still get lunch out of her if she's the ultimate loser.

Stay tuned!

Oscar predictions - check back tomorrow for the final grade

Oscar Watch: the Final Countdown

With the Oscars only six days away, I thought I'd take this week to share some of my thoughts on the 2010 Oscar-nominated films I've seen this year. 'Cause who doesn't want to know my thoughts?

Here at my little movie theater, we've embarked on a campaign to educate ourselves about the films we're showing... makes sense,right? but since there are only so many hours in the day, we've taken to watching the trailers at our staff meetings, and giving FIVE-WORD DESCRIPTIONS of the films. That's it, five words! So I present to you five-word descriptions of the 10 Best Picture nominees:

Inglourious Basterds - Tarantino shows Nazi-killin' fun, accents
Up in the Air - Clooney travels 'cause he's lonely
Precious - obese, illiterate, abused - with redemption!
District 9 - apartheid allegory with extraterrestrial refugees
An Education - he's too old for you
Up - adorable animated old guy adventure
The Blind Side - white family fosters homeless footballer
A Serious Man - Jewish dramatization of Job story
The Hurt Locker - don't cut the red wire!
Avatar - technological phenomenon, re-telling of Pocahontas

There you have it - now you don't even need to see them!

five-word descriptions - clever, not meaty enough, B+

Hesher

I think I'm supposed to indicate that I paid money to see this, due to some FCC rules or somethin'. (do I only have to indicate if I got in free?)

Also, spoilers.

There was a lot of pre-Sundance buzz about Hesher - well, at least in my circle. Lots of people asked me if I was going to see this one - and since I'm nothing if not a slave to buzz, I said "Well, I'll try."

Here's the synopsis from the Sundance website:

Hesher is the story of a family struggling to deal with loss and the anarchist who helps them do it—in a very unexpected way.
TJ is 13 years old. Two months ago, his mom was killed in an accident, leaving TJ and his grieving dad to move in with grandma to pick up the pieces. Hesher is a loner. He hates the world—and everyone in it. He has long, greasy hair and homemade tattoos. He likes fire and blowing things up. He lives in his van—until he meets TJ.
Hesher is that rare film that manages to be a completely original vision, a thoroughly entertaining story, and a provocative metaphor. Joseph Gordon-Levitt brings the character of Hesher to life with anger and angst, and Devin Brochu makes quite a splash as the young boy dealing with both the loss of his mother and an unwanted houseguest. Cowriter/director Spencer Susser crafts a multidimensional, darkly humorous film that exhibits an immensely talented storyteller at work.

Except here's the problem: "completely original vision?" Not so much. It seemed like the entirety of this story was something I had seen before. Kid with a dead mom? Check. Bearded dad dealing with his emotions through sleep and pills? Check. Frumpy, sonsy grandma who takes the path of least resistance? Check? Long-haird weirdo who drives a black van? Check. Awkward girl with a dead-end job and unfortunate glasses? Check. Do you want me to keep going? 'Cause I could. The acting was quite good, particularly the little guy who plays TJ, but I think all the cast did a remarkable job with what they were given - which was incredibly trite, overly formulaic, and spelled out like the audience was full of dummies. Another example: if you have any sense of cinematic storytelling, you knew that the dad was responsible for the mom's death, and that the kid was there when it happened. So why, WHY did they director/screenwriter feel the need to show us in a flashback? Ridiculous.

You know who's going to love this movie? People who don't have a lot of imagination.

Hesher - C-

Sundance Update

Here's another reason why the world is so amazing: I am sitting in a theater RIGHT NOW, waiting for my next film to start. Wireless technology is awesome!
So I'm at the Sundance Film Festival. Nestled in the Wasatch Valley in Park City, Utah, Sundance is the grandfather of independent film festivals. OK, probably not. This is only the 26th year. Maybe it's the glorious winner of independent film festivals. Everyone knows about it, and everyone thinks they know what's going on. Well, I'm here to tell you that Sundance is basically a game, a game you can only win by packing appropriate footwear and bringing a stopwatch. My buddy from another theater says that seeing five films in a day means you win, and seeing six films in a day means you're a superhero. I assure you that I'll only see up to four in a day.

Gotta run!

Sundance so far - B+

Movie Madness: Star Trek

Finally got around to watching Star Trek the other night. It probably would have been better on the big screen, or at least a bigger at-home screen... with surround-sound. Anybody want to get me a 50" flat screen?

I really liked this version of Star Trek - I'm a sucker for origination stories. And Chris Pine and Zach Quinto were great as Kirk and Spock! Maybe too much sexual tension... and I really liked that there was some plot to this movie. It was an action-driven story, to be sure, but there was in fact a story. Good times!

Star Trek - A-