Whatcha Watching?

In the month leading up to my Annual Oscar Party I try to see 2-3 movies a week. During the past week I saw, Avatar, Nine and Leap Year. This week I am planning on seeing Young Victoria, It's Complicated and Crazy Heart. Last night's Golden Globes was a glimpse into awards season but I only watch the last hour or so since I don't watch enough television to know about the TV shows nominated.

In my opinion it's been a banner year for movies, I've enjoyed almost every film I saw in 2009 with the exception of the WORST movie I can remember, The Ugly Truth. Seriously I was embarrassed for the actors in the film and pissed off that I spent money on watching such a vulgar, insulting film. On the flip side, the movie that has often been called vulgar was the funniest film of the year. The Hangover made me laugh like nothing else. Loved it, bravo for winning the Golden Globe last night, can't wait for the sequel.

The movies I saw this week ranged from the unbelievable (Avatar) to the slow (Leap Year) to a jumbled mess (Nine). I do appreciate that even in a muddled film there can be great performances. Everyone in the musical Nine gave it their all...Daniel Day Lewis, Marion Cotillard and Penelope Cruz were excellent. I have no idea why they put Kate Hudson and Nicole Kidman in for 5-10 minutes each, their parts gave nothing to the film. The real standout was singer Fergie, she was mesmerizing to watch and her voice was terrific. Leap Year, the romantic comedy starring Amy Adams as an American woman who goes to Ireland to propose to her boyfriend on Leap Day was slow and silly but the last 15 minutes was full of the romance and magic of Ireland that should have been throughout the movie. I can't remember that last time I saw a film set in Ireland that didn't utilize the stunning scenery and charming people, but Leap Year didn't use either. A definite wait-for-it-to-hit-DVD film.

Avatar. I don't know what I can say about Avatar that hasn't already been said. You have to see it to believe it. I think my mouth was hanging open through most of it at least when I wasn't tossing M&M's in. I saw the movie in 3-D which I haven't done since Jaws 3 back in the 80's. I and was a little concerned I would get ill since I have vertigo and any jumpy camera motion makes me dizzy. But surprisingly not one bit of this film made my head spin. I enjoyed every minute of it, it's like stepping into someones dream, a visual feast and not to be missed. I saw James Cameron on Oprah last week and he said they created an entire language for the film and named every insect, animal and plant. That's fricking amazing, more so if you've seen the movie and the scale of the world he created in Pandora.

I hope you've seen many of the films out right now, let me know your favorites. I'm off to see some Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart soon, I've got a thing for his long hair.