Best Picture Nominee Blogging Assignment

PRE WRITING

-The Social Network
1. Clever dialect
2. Good idea to make a movie about this
3. Flashbacks
4. Who doesn't have a facebook?
-True Grit
1. Jeff Bridges/Matt Damon/Hailey Steinfeld
2. Coen Brothers- filming style
3. First western
4. Slightly childish to be a Coen brothers movie
-Inception
1. Like nothing I've seen before
2. Interesting concept
3. DiCaprio is the man
-The King's Speech
1. Lionel and Bertie's relationship growth
2. Inspirational
3. Truely touching
4. Oscar bait
-Winter's Bone
1. Again, like nothing I've seen before
2. Good costume design
3. Interesting location
-Toy Story 3
1. Classic characters
2. Me = Andy
3. Child friendly
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1. Social Network
    - I really enjoyed watching this movie for a number of reasons. Mark Zuckerberg did an exceptional job of always being the smartest person in the room, outsmarting at least one intellectual individual in more scenes than not. Although you have to give credit to the writers who came up with such clever dialect for that. I also thought that telling the story through the trial while using flashbacks was smart and something I like to see every once and a while. However, the most important reason why I put this movie on the top of my list is the idea. The idea to make a movie about something that almost everybody has and a large percentage is obsessed with, a facebook account.
2. True Grit
    - To be honest, I am almost positive that this is the first western movie I've ever actually sat down and watched, and it's a darn good movie to be the only that I've seen for this particularly well-known genre. Why I think it's a darn good movie is because, for one, I loved the acting. Matt Damon did a decently good job as a supporting actor, and Jeff Bridges is always on top of his game, continueing to be one of my more favorable actors across the board (Surely I am not alone in that regard). Not to take anything away from Hailey Steinfeld however, who played the lead role and performed better than anyone expected, especially when you take into account how young she is. I don't think we've seen the last of her. Another reason I enjoyed the film is simply because it was made by the Coen brothers. I'm sure anyone who has seen a good amount of the Coen's work knowns that they have a pretty unique style about their movies. Which isn't presented to the audience in it's entirety due to it'd rating, but there are definitely bits and pieces of the graphic nature that we've become accustomed to while viewing films directed by the talented siblings. My sole reason why the well-made western isn't tied for best on my list along with The Social Network, is only because I'd rather watch a bloody, R rated, violent, and smart movie that I personally love when it comes to these directors because they've proved to be experts on those types of films. Dispite this, True Grit is still worthy of the silver spot on the list, falling just short of number one. Maybe next time the Coens will think about how they're expected to make movies and not make the mistake of going soft on everyone like they did here (I don't mean to rag on 'em, I think it's good that they're putting a little more variety under their belts).
3. Inception
    - I'm pretty sure everyone can agree that Inception is one of, if not the, coolest movie they've ever seen. I particularly like the unique idea of creating a world that is both realistic and unrealistic at the same time, and serves as the setting for your life-like dream. The livelihood of it is the realistic aspect of the dream, the unrealistic aspect is that pretty much anything can happen. Sometimes things that are too unordinary to imagine. Inception was directed by Christopher Nolan, whom I hold in very high regard because he also directed my favorite movie (His last name can't hurt either). Can you guess what it is? Guess again, it's not The Dark Knight. It's Memento, not a very heard-of movie but it should be for its incredibly unique and fantasticly intriguing way of presenting itself. Needless to say, Christopher Nolan is a hell of a director. Back to Inception, I always love the performance put on by DiCaprio. Inception reminds me of Shutter Island because he's the lead in both movies and both are excellent to say the least. DiCaprio, in my opinion, is a large reason for me putting Inception this high up on the list, so props to Romeo.
4. The King's Speech
    - Call me what you want, but I thought watching the growth in Lionel and Bertie's relationship was one of the more beautiful displays of affection I've experienced in my lifetime. The movie has also probably been an inspiration to many of those struggling with a speech inpediment, giving them hope that they too can overcome their awful burden with hard work, practice, and a whole lot of determination. I was also moved in the beginning of the film when Bertie was telling the bedtime story about a penguin to his children, and his kids didn't know it, but Bertie was telling his life story though this sad bedtime story. A clever way to reach the audience and it definitely worked on me. The reason it's not higher up on the list is because I didn't exactly like the fact that the movie was, at least it seemed to me, too intentionally geared toward being what you'd call "Oscar bait".
5. Winter's Bone
    -Winter's Bone was entertaining at parts, but the independent film could get very boring and time-wasting at parts as well. I liked the aspect of the movie that it is different than most by the way it's filmed to the unknown actors it boasts. The reason I put it as number 5 is because I thought it was better than Toy Story 3, only because it's not a little kid movie. I thought it was a good story and a well made movie for being an independent film. It just wasn't nearly as good as the ones I put in front of this, in my opinion. I'd say the lead role did an excptional job and I'd also say I'm not alone when I say that.
6. Toy Story 3
    -I honestly did enjoy watchimg this movie with my sister who is twelve years old and she thought she was too old for it. Telling me that I'm probably way to old for it but I don't think you're suppossed to look at it that way, because adults are older than me and they're allowed to like it, so I sat back and gave it a chance. Suprisingly, like I said before, I enjoyed it a lot. I thought the story was very original and you've got to love the classic Toy Story crew of Buzz, Woody and all those guys. I also felt that Andy and I shared something while I watched and I realized that it was the fact that we're both guys that liked to play with toys when we were younger and we both grew out of them and never really thought about them after we grew out of the old memories.

My First Movie Review

Billy Madison

    BRAINSTORMING:
1. Funny
2. Adam Sandler
3. School
4. Rich
5. Hot teacher
6. Pinguin
7. PG-13
8. Chris Farley the bus driver
9. O'Doyle rules
10. Weird 1st grade teacher
11. Eric the enemy
12. Academic Triathalon
13. Slip on banana
14. Creative plot
15. Funny characters

REVIEW OF BILLY MADISON:

Billy Madison is one of Adam Sandler's greatest movies. It's in the mix of movies that are considered to be the prime of his acting career. I think he's most hilarious in this one, maybe tied with Happy Gilmore. The plot is the best feature of this movie in my eyes. Just the idea of a guy whose life is screwed up and his dad tells him to redo his whole school career in a matter of months; otherwise the enemy, Eric, gets the family company instead of him. Overall a solid movie and one of the Adam Sandler classics.