ShepAlder Oscar Picks!

Anyone who knows us will attest that the ShepAlders are pretty big film geeks. We own literally hundreds of movies on DVD, and look forward all year to the Academy Awards ceremony.

When I (Josh) was in college, I started making an effort to see all five of the films nominated for Best Picture. This usually wasn't too hard, as I'd generally seen at least 2-3 of them when the nominations were announced. But, last year, the Academy decided to re-introduce a long-dormant practice of nominating 10 films. Surprisingly, we had seen almost all of them the past two years, so catching up was a breeze. This year, I've seen all 10 films, while Emily has seen 9 of the 10. Emily has not seen Toy Story 3 because she is one of perhaps a handful of people on Earth who do not enjoy that series. I, on the other hand, watched the 3D re-issues of the first two films in the theater last year, and then openly cried at the ending of the final installment (I *kind of* have a soft spot for toys. And by "soft spot," I mean that I still have a lot of toys. A lot. As in ones that I don't allow any kids to play with, lest they mess them up. Mine, mine, mine.).

So, here are our picks for the 83rd annual Academy Awards (at least for the major categories):

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
• Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
• Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
• Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
• Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Josh - The Academy has a history of giving this to fresh performances by young and/or first-time actresses (see Tatum O'Neal in "Paper Moon," Anna Paquin in "The Pianist," and Jennifer Hudson in "Dreamgirls."). Fourteen-year-old Hailee Steinfeld was incredible in "True Grit," and I think the Academy will recognize that.

Emily - Although she did an awfully strange Oscar campaign, I think Melissa Leo is a lock for this category. She was nearly unrecognizable as the momager of her sons' boxing careers.

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
• John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
• Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

Josh - Having seen all five of these performances, I can tell you that only two nominees have a chance at winning: Christian Bale and Geoffrey Rush. Both were amazing playing real-life individuals, but Geoffrey Rush already has an Oscar for his role in the 1996 film "Shine." Christian Bale is only 37, but he's already proved to be one of the most versatile, talented actors around. He deserves this award, and I'm pretty certain he will win.

Emily - There's no possible way it won't be Christian Bale. Of course, we all know that I'm seldom correct about anything, so who knows?

Animated Feature Film

• “How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
• “The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
• “Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

Josh - I meant to watch "How to Train Your Dragon," because I hear it's excellent. I'll get to it. I keep hearing lovely things about "The Illusionist," and I do love all things French cinema. But, "Toy Story 3" got the nod for Best Picture... and it's a brilliant film and a fitting end to a wonderful series.

Emily - Everybody says that "Toy Story 3" can't lose. But, I'm going with "The Illusionist."

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• “127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
• “The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
• “Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
• “True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• “Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Josh - Before the nominations were announced, "The Social Network" was the favorite to win Best Picture. I think this will end up being it's only major award, unless David Fincher can also win Best Director.

Emily - Probably "The Social Network." I'm pretty "meh" about this movie.

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• “Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
• “The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
  Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
• “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
• “The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
• “The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

Josh - I think "The Fighter" is a good choice here. It's an incredible film with great performances and hilarious dialogue, especially from all those crazy "Bah-Ston" sisters of Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale (including Conan O'Brien's sister!!). That said, I think "The King's Speech" will ultimately win.

Emily - I would like to think "Inception" would win this. I loved the artistry of that movie. (And it probably won't win much else. Maybe art direction).

Documentary (Feature)

• “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
• “Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
• “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
• “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
• “Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Josh - I've only seen "Exit Through the Gift Shop," thus far, but I hear Restrepo and Gasland are fantastic. I'll go with "Exit Through the Gift Shop," because I think the Academy wants to see what elusive British graffiti artist Banksy will do if he wins, as they told him he cannot accept the award in disguise in an attempt to conceal his unknown identity.

Emily - Probably "Restrepo," but only because it's on Netflix streaming right now so I recognize the title. I saw some of "Exit Through the Gift Shop" and it was good, but I don't think it's the kind of movie that will win the Academy Award.

Actress in a Leading Role

• Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
• Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
• Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
• Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Josh - Natalie Portman will win this. Sorry, Annette Bening... one day you'll win an Oscar. But, Natalie Portman's performance in "Black Swan" STILL haunts my dreams. Seriously. Plus, she's pregnant. The Academy cannot resist giving Oscars to pregnant ladies. But... even if she weren't with child... she'd win anyway. This was, hands down, the best performance this year.

Emily - Natalie Portman. Yup.

Actor in a Leading Role

• Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
• Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
• Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
• Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
• James Franco in “127 Hours”

Josh - This one isn't even a contest. Colin Firth received his first Oscar nomination last year for the intriguing, depressing film "The Single Man." He lost that race to Jeff Bridges. This year, Jeff Bridges, who was fantastic in "True Grit," will lose to Colin Firth. His performance as King George VI in "The King's Speech" was funny, inspiring and sensational. He's going to win this. Count on it.

Emily - Colin Firth. I don't think I've read any articles where this is even a debate. He is excellent in this movie and everyone should go see it. And Josh should probably see it again since he fell asleep halfway through (Note: Only for a few minutes! I'll watch it again on DVD -- Josh).

Directing

• “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
• “The Fighter” David O. Russell
• “The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
• “The Social Network” David Fincher
• “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Josh - It's somewhat rare that a film wins Best Picture without netting this award for the person at its helm. BUT... it does happen (see Steven Spielberg for "Saving Private Ryan," Ang Lee for "Brokeback Mountain" and Roman Polanski for "The Pianist" in the past 10 years). However, what almost ALWAYS happens is the winner of the Directors Guild of America award for Best Director also wins the Oscar for Best Director (it's only NOT happened six times since the DGA award was instituted in 1948). I think David Fincher could still win, but my money is on Tom Hooper, who already won the DGA award.

Emily - I would like Tom Hooper to win. I really loved this movie (can't you tell?)

Best Picture

• “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
• “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
• “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
• “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
• “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
• “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
• “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
• “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
• “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Josh - Since I've seen all 10 of these films, I'll give you a quick recap on each one in reverse order of which films I think have the best chance at winning Best Picture.

10. "The Kids Are All Right" -- This is a good movie with some really good performances. But, rest assured, this is the #10 film on the list and could have easily been substituted with favorites like "The Town" and "Rabbit Hole." I like this film, but it has no chance of winning.

9. "Winter's Bone" -- Sadly, this film reminded me a lot of my hometown in Eastern Oregon. A lot of apathy about life... a lot of really young mothers married to disinterested men. A lot of generational poverty. And meth users (which really wasn't like my hometown growing up, but might be now). It's not a particularly enjoyable film, but it's well done. Jennifer Lawrence was great in the film, hence her nod in the Best Actress category. But, "Winter's Bone" is not a viable contender.

8. "Inception" -- I absolutely loved "Inception." I saw it on my birthday in the amazing Cinetopia theater, hands down the best theater in the Portland-metro area. This is the only one of these ten films that I own on Blu-ray and I think it's a downright shame that Christopher Nolan was snubbed AGAIN for a Best Director nod. But, as cool and crazy amazing this film is, "Inception" is not the Best Picture of the year.

7. "127 Hours" -- When I first heard about the story of Aron Ralson, I was pretty happy that I'd never become a rock climber (in fact, it's one of those things, like skydiving, that'd I will never do, unless I'm someday on "The Amazing Race."). My first thought upon hearing about this movie was, "Well, how can you root for that guy? He's an idiot who should have known better." And, bless director Danny Boyle (who won an Oscar for "Slumdog Millionaire")... he allows the audience to preserve those feelings while still having empathy for Ralston's situation. I really enjoyed this movie, even though the money shot/scene is one of the most difficult things I have ever seen on film. I left feeling that we humans are pretty amazing at getting ourselves out of crappy situtations (and probably even more amazing at getting into those situations).

6. "Toy Story 3" -- I'm a man who was once a boy who loved toys. I really like toys. As Emily will confirm, I love action figures, models, figurines... anything poseable that can be displayed, as evidenced by this picture of my computer desk where I'm currently writing this post. "Toy Story 3" deserves to be in this category, though it won't win. I'm not sure an animated film will ever be able to win Best Picture, especially since there is a separate animated feature category. But, if "Toy Story 3" didn't warm your heart even a little... you might be a bit dead inside. It's that good... even if it doesn't make you cry little boy tears like me.

5. "The Fighter" -- This is a really good film and it's going to win Christian Bale an Oscar. But, there's not enough to propel it to win Best Picture. The other films are just too good. Still, the Academy loves boxing films (see Best Picture winners "Rocky" and "Million Dollar Baby," plus Best Picture nominee "Raging Bull" which netted Robert De Niro his second Oscar), and "The Fighter" rightfully belongs amongst the traditional top five nominees.

4. "Black Swan" --If I were picking what I think should win Best Picture, I'd pick Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan." No other film had the same effect on me as this insane story about a ballerina obsessed with her goal of playing both the White Swan and Black Swan in Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake." The film is dark, yet vivid... frightening, yet beautiful. If the other three films didn't exist, or had Natalie Portman previously won an Oscar, I think this could have been the frontrunner.

3. "True Grit" -- The Coen Brothers are great filmmakers, and "True Grit" is their first Western ("No Country for Old Men" may seem like a Western, but it's set in modern times). I loved this movie. It had great performances by Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon... and Hailee Steinfeld was fantastic. But, I think the Academy is so used to the Coen Brothers constantly churning out good stuff (they've had three films nominated for Best Picture in the past four years), that expectations are really high. Those expectations are generally met... but it makes it easier for other films to slip in ahead, which is the case this year.

2. "The Social Network" -- I was one of the first people I knew to join The Facebook when it came to my college, the University of Oregon (and yep, it was called "The Facebook" back then, as was the corresponding URL), and I've been a fan ever since. Before I even knew this film was being made, I read the book on which it's based, "The Accidental Billionaires." And, last year, I even went to visit Harvard, where an old roommate is attending law school. From the stories he's told me about fellow Harvard students literally RIPPING pages out of reserved library texts so that no one else can finish an assignment, I can sense that Ivy League students can be rather terrible to each other. I have no doubt that Mark Zuckerberg really did burn many bridges on his way to becoming the youngest billionaire on Earth, and the story is pretty much better than anything someone could have made up. Jesse Eisenberg is excellent, even if not a spot-on carbon copy of Zuckerberg. Two months ago, THIS was a shoo-in to win Best Picture. But, as always happens with the Oscars, it's not JUST about quality; it's about timing.

1. "The King's Speech" -- First of all, I must comment that, yes, when Emily and I saw this movie, I did doze off a bit. But... not because it wasn't interesting. We had gone to the gym and then had lunch where I had some fairly yummy, but very filling lasagna. My body was just too comfy and I dozed off. But, I honestly only missed a few minutes. It happens. I'm only human.

That said... this film is really, really good. No, it would not be my choice for Best Picture, only because my choice would be based more on the film that had me LOVING cinema all over again this year. And... that was, hands down, Black Swan. If you haven't seen it, GO NOW. It's amazing!!

But... this post isn't about the films I think SHOULD win... it's about the films I think WILL win. And, this year, it's going to be The King's Speech. I'm sad to hear that money-grubbing producer Harvey Weinstein plans to censor this down to a PG-13 rating, but, really, when a film like this gets slapped with an "R" rating, not for vulgarity, sex, or violence -- of which there is absolutely none --, but specifically language that is integral to the story, it just further proves that the ratings system is a joke. Do yourself a favor: See this film. It's fascinating and cool, inspiring and sensational. And when it wins tonight, I will applaud its victory.

Emily - I won't do a recap. "The King's Speech" is going to win. I suppose "The Social Network" could do an upset, but I think this is pretty much the most confident I have felt about my picks. Of course, I have a horrible habit of being wrong about pretty much everything all of the time.

30 Books Before I'm 30: Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights 
by Emily Bronte
"It was a strange way of killing: not by inches, but by fractions of hairbreadths, to beguile me with the spectre of hope through eighteen years!"

For some reason, I always thought Wuthering Heights was a gothic romance; I figured it would be similar to Jane Eyre or Sense and Sensibility. I thought Heathcliff was supposed to be a tragic, yet romantic man who pulls himself up by his bootstraps to make something of himself in society.

Um. Not quite. The entire time I was reading it, I kept asking myself, "Where is the part where people are not crazy?" Because everyone in this book is absolutely nuts. The story follows the course of the Earnshaw and Linton families, who lives across the moors from each other. The Earnshaw pater familias dies after bringing home an orphan boy (Heathcliff) who may or may not have Antisocial Personality Disorder. The other Earnshaw kids-- older son Hindley and daughter Catherine-- have a spectrum of feelings for Heathcliff-- mostly negative, though Catherine apparently falls in love with him (because they were close during childhood), even though she treats him like a jerk and marries another man for his money. Heathcliff takes revenge by being a general a-hole. The narrator is Mr. Lockwood, who rents Thrushcross Grange (the Linton home), and may or may not be gay, but he is told the story of the Earnshaw and Linton families by the head housekeeper, Ellen Dean. Lots of people die, but no one is murdered. There may have been a ghost or two.

What I Liked: I prefer this book to Jane Eyre because, though all of the characters are awful, they stay awful. Heathcliff is only redeemed (spoiler alert!) when he dies, and Catherine Jr. and Hareton are able to love each other because they were never actually terrible people themselves but were only raised by terrible people. There is more depth to this book than I gave it credit in the beginning, and I probably shouldn't have read half of it on a treadmill because I would have gotten more out of it.

What I Didn't Like: I can't decide whether I liked or hated the narrative device. I realize that it was a stylistic choice that reflected the time period, but it felt removed to be getting the story from the housekeeper.

I wish I had known from the beginning that the story wasn't really a romance (in the way I conceptualize romances) and that Heathcliff wasn't going to be a likable character. I kept waiting for him to get nicer (and was a bit shocked when he hanged a puppy), but he didn't. 

This Book Would Be Best When Read: On a sunny Sunday in your favorite reading chair, or wherever you read when you're comfortable (NOT THE GYM!)

I Would Recommend this Book to: Anyone feeling slightly morbid (as the characters are all pretty awful and abusive).

In my Psychological Opinion*: I would diagnose Catherine Earnshaw with Borderline Personality Disorder due to the following criteria: pervasive pattern of interpersonal instability (I mean, come on, she marries one guy, has an affair with her adopted brother, and hardly reacts when her father dies while stroking her hair), frantic efforts to avoid abandonment (locking herself in her room and wailing that she's dying until someone notices), pattern of unstable relationships characterized by vacillation between idealization and devaluation (her entire relationship with Heathcliff), impulsivity, affective instability, and inappropriate and intense anger. 


Examples from the book: "There she (Catherine Earnshaw) lay dashing her head against the arm of the sofa, and grinding her teeth, so that you might fancy she would crash them to splinters! Mr. Linton stood looking at her in sudden compunction and fear" (inappropriate anger and self-harm behaviors?) and "A minute previously she (Catherine Earnshaw) was violent; now, supported on one arm, and not noticing my refusal to obey her, she seemed to find childish diversion in pulling feathers from the rents she had just made, and ranging them on the sheet according to their different species: her mind had strayed to other associations" (possible dissociation?)

This Book Wins my Award for: Most intolerably incomprehensible colloquial language used by the servants (except, thankfully for Ellen Dean who tells most of the story). For example: "They's nowt norther dry nor mensful abaht t' place: nowt there isn't!" 

Up Next: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, though I'm currently reading a non-30BBI30 (see what I did there?), At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie. I needed a palate-cleanser.


*Note: This section is intended as a joke only; I would never diagnose someone, real or imagined, without an appropriate clinical interview.

A Very Super (Bowl) Weekend

Last weekend, we celebrated the Super Bowl by spending the weekend in Eugene at my parents' house. We did all sorts of fun stuff, like:

 Go to the "Tie-Dye and Tofu" exhibit at the Pioneer Museum and listen to my parents talk about their commune days and what it was like to live in Eugene during the '70s. 

My sister and her friend Emily (which, believe me, I am always confused hanging out with other Emilys) also came along, but unfortunately Josh had to work. (Helen's the one on the left wearing the awesome shirt of a polar bear fishing with a narwhal and the owl skirt).

 Go to TWO basketball games where I finagled second-row tickets (because they were already my family's but I laid claim to them).

We made my parents sit in the stands with the rest of the lowly fans, but they were nice enough to wave to us.

We were on screen during the televised broadcast of the game for all of two seconds. Josh got a bunch of text messages as we were leaving Matt Court from friends saying they had seen us.

In addition to cooking all morning, we also watched the game. My mom even bought cheeseheads for us! We were so excited the entire time-- it was such a good game!

 My niece Alice wore her Packers cheerleader outfit. She made sure Josh displayed double the cheesehead pride.

 This is my sister with her daughter. My bro-in-law was in Utah with my nephews, so they didn't get to watch it with us.

Me, eating all the food Josh made.

That pretty much summarizes our fun, awesome weekend. Totally do.

BNAT 12: THE DIRTY DOZENTH

It's been nearly two months since we ventured to Austin, Texas to attend Butt-Numb-A-Thon (BNAT for short, pronounced "Bee-Gnat") for the fourth-straight year, and I've been meaning to write about it. Check out this previous post for this year's photo.

For the uninitiated, BNAT is a 24-hour, invite-only film festival held by and for the birthday of Harry Knowles, founder of Ain't It Cool News, a Web site I started frequenting back in college. Shortly after Em and I got married, Emily's sister moved to Austin, and I convinced Emily that we should apply to this film festival I'd read so much about over the years.

This year was the 12th edition, hence the title. Without further ado... here are the films we saw (in chronological order) on Dec. 11-12 (I know this post is quite late, but at the time, none of the new films had been released, so it was a pretty big deal to see them early):

TRUE GRIT (2010)

Every BNAT we've attended has started with a vintage film, so we were really surprised when Harry started things off with the latest Coen Brothers film. Between the two of us, Emily and I have seen almost all of their films, and this one is definitely one of their best. It's also the Coen Brothers only remake of their career, the original being mostly known for netting John Wayne his only Oscar. It probably won't have the same effect for Jeff Bridges this year, but only because he won last year and is up against Colin Firth (who I'm 95% sure will win). This is a great Western film about revenge and redemption, and the precocious Hailee Steinfeld (just 14 when she shot this) is fantastic.

LE SAMOURAI (1967)

One thing I love about BNAT is getting to see films that I've never seen nor heard of previously. Such was the case with this glorious minimalist French noir film. I'll admit to having a bit of a bias toward French cinema in general, mostly because the language fascinates me (I understand a lot of it... but it's enough of a mystery to keep me intrigued). That, and French directors are known for their incredible use of staging, lighting, music and locations. This film features debonair Alain Delon as a no-nonsense assassin for hire who's life is upended by betrayal. Good stuff. According to Harry, the 35mm print we saw of this film is impossible to find from film rental companies, and this particular print came to us from the personal library of director Quentin Tarantino. Awesome!!

ON THE TOWN (1949)

We've only seen a few musicals at BNAT, but I grew up watching some of the classics, as did Emily (although, curiously, it seems we've often seen different ones than the other, leading to many a "How could you NOT have seen that?" conversations. Yep... it happens, even amongst a couple of film geeks.). I, for whatever reason, had never seen this film. All you need to know is that it's about three sailors on leave in NYC for 24 hours. There's a lot of singing, dancing, canoodling and innuendo. And the BNAT crowd didn't miss ANY of it, rewarding the 61-year-old performances with plenty of laughter and applause. It was a real treat to see this with 200+ of the geekiest people on Earth.

COWBOYS and ALIENS (2011, first two reels)

During BNAT, we usually get at least a 5-minute break between films (which, when you add all that up, can easily add an extra 50+ minutes to the already long schedule). But right after ON THE TOWN ended, Harry said, "Nobody go anywhere. Everybody... give it up for Jon Favreau and Ron Howard."

If those two names don't mean anything to you, then perhaps we shall not be friends... (j/k... but really, you should [and probably DO]) know who they are. Click on their names if you want to check Wikipedia really quick to check.

My eyes grew wide as I watched JON FAVREAU and RON HOWARD walk through the theater door, along with producer Bob Orci (literally right next to where Emily and I were sitting... we're talking inches here.). Jon explained to us that he wanted to show us his next film, "Cowboys and Aliens," but it was still in post-production (movies are made in three phases: pre-production, principal photography and post-production), so he could only show us the first two reels, or roughly 40 minutes of non-yet-ready-for-theaters footage. Was that OK with us? The crowd roared it's approval and away we went.

Some of my friends and family have expressed doubt about this film. All I can say is based on the 40-ish minutes we saw at BNAT, I'm really excited to see the whole film. The plot is still kind of mysterious to me, not having seen more than a chunk of the film... but if you're a fan of Daniel Craig as James Bond and Harrison Ford as, well, anything... I think you'll want to check this out. And, that's about all I can say as we were asked not to reveal any plot details. Sorry, Charlie.

RANGO (2011, 8-minute exclusive clip)

I will make a confession. As a 30-year-old adult who is not a parent, I'm usually not that interested in a lot of the current slate of CG-animated films, save those by Pixar that are not about talking automobiles and a few others (sorry, no "G-Force" nor "Gnomeo & Juliet" for me...). So, I was a little reticent when I heard that we were going to see a clip from "Rango," a CG-animated film directed by Gore Verbinski, best known for directing "The Ring" and the first three (but not the fourth) Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

But, when GV's face showed up on the screen in a personalized message for Harry and the BNAT crowd, I thought that this must be something interesting. And... in fact, it was. Rango (voiced by Johnny Depp) is a chameleon who lives in a terrarium... and ends up in an old West town. Through a series of hilarious events, Rango is deemed the Sheriff of this town. Based just on what we saw, I will definitely check this out when it hits theaters in early March.

SANTA FE TRAIL (1940)
This truly bizarre film takes the Civil War and completely turns the tables by making the abolitionists (particularly, John Brown) the BAD GUYS!! It also shares three of its main cast members (Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland and Alan Hale) with the epic 1938 film, The Adventures of Robin Hood. It also stars a 29-year-old Ronald Reagan as a young George A. Custer. Most of the movie centers around Flynn (as future Confederate Army General J.E.B. Stuart) and Reagan trying to win the hand of Olivia de Havilland. It's available in various public-domain releases on DVD, so seeing it in stunning 35mm on the big screen was a treat, even with its gross inaccuracies and strange portrayal of the abolition movement (plus, Flynn's inability to lose his Australian accent for a Southern drawl). Still, this is a film I might never have seen were it not for BNAT, and certainly not in a theater.

THE FIGHTER (2010)
Readers of this blog may remember that back in August 2009, Emily and I spent nearly two weeks in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. While in Philly, I insisted that we go to the "Rocky Steps" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her response to my since-childhood love of the Rocky films has always been that she doesn't like boxing movies. However... she does like Christian Bale. And, essentially, this movie is not a boxing movie; rather it is a "Christian Bale as a crackhead" movie... and there's plenty to like about that.

Bale plays washed-0ut fighter Dicky Eklund who is currently the subject of an HBO documentary, which he is certain will help him rebuild his career. Meanwhile, his younger brother, Micky Ward (played by the in-real-life-older-than-Bale Mark Wahlberg), whose boxing career is on the rise. It's a particularly heartwarming, true story about the drugs, talent and love... boxing plays a secondary role. As a result, Emily really enjoyed it. As did I. I'll be shocked if Christian Bale doesn't pick up the Oscar for this role. As for Wahlberg... he's good, but he always gets cast in this type of role.

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1939)

For whatever reason, I've never seen any of the film adaptations of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, including the 1996 animated Disney version. I knew the basic story, but this film is considered the definitive classic. Charles Laughton is completely lost in the role as Quasimodo and the then-19-year-old Maureen O'Hara is stunning as Esmeralda. The film set a standard for makeup, set construction, lighting, stunts, etc., all in the same year that saw the release of The Wizard of Oz. Of Mice and Men, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Gone with the Wind, Stagecoach and Wuthering Heights!!! 1939 was an amazing year for the cinema, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a true classic.

CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT (1965)
I've always enjoyed the films of Orson Welles, though, to be honest, there are so many I haven't seen, just for lack of focus in seeking them out. In the case of Chimes at Midnight (also known as Falstaff, the character played by Welles), it has never been made available in the United States on any home video format for a myriad copyright reasons. Harry told us that getting this print was a bit of a miracle in itself, and when the film stopped abruptly during the screening, everyone GASPED, for fear that we had been witness to the destruction of history. But, it turned out just fine.

Orson Welles said that this was his most favorite of all of his films, and he considered it better than Citizen Kane (well, Welles was an eccentric, for sure...). I've always had difficulty following Shakespearean prose in film, mostly because I've just always found it much easier to grasp through reading. Welles doesn't really help the viewer with his vague setups and hazy transitions. But, the action sequences are pretty impressive and have been cited as inspiration for films like Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan. If this ever makes it onto DVD or Blu-ray, I will definitely revisit it, as Welles' films are always worth multiple viewings.

RICHARD PRYOR: LIVE IN CONCERT (1971)

When Harry announced that we were going to watch a comedy film, I was ecstatic. Emily always tells the story of how I tried to woo her with my cache of standup comedy DVDS back in our early dating days, but the truth is that she had shown some interest in them and I thought, "Awesome! I love standup." I grew up listening to Bill Cosby records on car trips, and as I got older, I loved trading standup CDs with my friends. Richard Pryor is one of the edgiest comics ever, and during his prime in the 1970s, he could get away with pretty much anything.

That said, this was an absolutely perfect pick for this early morning time slot (roughly 2 a.m.) as it had no real plot to follow, just an endless supply of jokes and physical humor. Comedy films like this don't really exist anymore... comedians still make DVDs, certainly, but this film played in the rotation in regular theaters. Now, we have Comedy Central, HBO, etc., so it makes little sense for distributors to spend the money to put this out in cinemas (plus, it seems like every standup comic eventually makes it to just about every corner of the world these days, so seeing someone live is less of a rarety). Pryor had me laughing so hard during this film that I couldn't help to clap, whoop and wail with the audience in front of him, suspended almost 40 years in the past!

THE GREEN HORNET (2011)
I had a feeling that we would see either The Green Hornet OR The Green Lantern at BNAT 12... and my money was on the former, being that, at the time, it was only a month away from being released. The film was released in both 2D and 3D, but we only saw the 2D version. I've heard the 3D was quite good. Before seeing this, the only thing I really knew about The Green Hornet was that Bruce Lee had played his sidekick Kato in the short-lived 1966-67 television series. But, I had faith that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg would do a great job with the script because I absolutely loved Superbad, which they also wrote.

Seth Rogen plays Britt Reid, a lazy rich kid whose rich dad dies, leaving him with his entire fortune and empire to run. Through a series of events, Britt and his dad's former mechanic, Kato, decide to become vigilante superheroes. If you're a fan of action and/or comic book movies, that's about all you need to know. What ensues is a crazy romp of explosions, gadgets, chases, etc. I really enjoyed it... more than I thought I would. I'm sure Emily would have preferred we had seen The Green Lantern, but only because she's in love with Ryan Reynolds (Not that I blame her... he is pretty dreamy.)

A Film that Shall Not Be Named (2011)

This film has a name. BUT... I can't tell you what it is. It played at Sundance... but we were asked not to divulge it's title nor anything about it, as it had yet to find a distributor. All I can tell you is that it was very bloody, super violent, fairly ridiculous... and also pretty cool. If you enjoyed films like Maniac Cop and Evil Dead, you'd enjoy this. For sure.

DRIVE ANGRY (2011; in RealD 3D)

Two years ago at BNAT, we saw My Bloody Valentine 3D. It was one of the craziest 3D films I've ever seen, making the absolute most of gimmicky blood spatters and blunt weapons that appear to protrude from the screen, right into your face. I wasn't sure I'd ever see another film quite like it.

And then... we saw this. Now, I'll admit... I watch pretty everything Nic Cage does. He gets a bad rap sometimes because, like Christopher Walken, he'll pretty much do ANY film. Plus, he's such a versatile actor that you never know if you're getting crazy Nic Cage... or Academy Award-winner Nic Cage (hmm... probably not much of a difference there, actually). This film has crazy 3D effects... cars and bodies explode, shrapnel flies in your face, etc. There's a lot going on, including a plot involving an agent of Satan coming to collect the souls of the damned. I can't give it many points on substance alone, but if you enjoy mindless popcorn movies as much as I do, than you'll enjoy this. I certainly did.

TRON: LEGACY (2010; in IMAX 3D)
At this point, Harry told all of us to gather our things and head outside, where charter buses would take us to a secret location. As soon as we boarded the buses, I told Emily, "I bet we're going to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. Emily and I had actually already been there a few years before with her sister and kids, who live in Austin. It's a cool place no doubt... but, the one thing it has is a full-sized IMAX theater (for my friends who live in Portland and Eugene... I know that Bridgeport Village in Tigard and Regal Cinemas in Eugene claim to have [or soon will have, in Eugene's case] IMAX screens. That's true and false. What they have is IMAX Digital screens, which, for a $5-per-person surplus, offers a slightly bigger screen and better sound quality. It's what cinephiles like me affectionately refer to as LieMAX.).

But... a true IMAX screen is a mammoth. If you've been to the Pacific Science Center at the Seattle Center, you've seen one. OMSI in Portland has an OMNIMax dome, but that's also not a true IMAX screen, just an IMAX brand. The only true IMAX screen in the Oregon is at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, and it doesn't show first-run films, just really cool educational films.

Anyhow... once inside the Bob Bullock museum, I knew what we were going to see.. and I was excited. We only saw it a week early, but that was good enough for me. I was only two-years old when the first TRON film was released in 1982, but I saw it plenty of times on video as a kid. I was always obsessed with video games and computers, so it was natural that I would dig it. Seeing TRON: Legacy in IMAX 3D was incredible. I enjoyed the movie so much that I've since seen it twice more in the other two 3D formats (RealD and Dolby Digital 3D).

Everything about this movie is super cool... the effects are amazing, the music is by the French electro-synth duo Daft Punk (one of my favorite groups), and Jeff Bridges reprises his role as Kevin Flynn, the master behind The Grid, a digital frontier wherein programs come to life in an arena of games, portals, light-cyles and circuits. It's pretty far out, man. If TRON: Legacy is your kind of movie... you've probably already seen it. As for me, I can't wait to watch it again on Blu-ray. The soundtrack is even on constant replay in my car. :)

AND... that was BNAT. Here a couple more little tidbits from our weekend in Austin:


Emily and I gave Harry a TRON: Legacy figurine and a pair of Mickey R2D2 ears from Disneyland. He seemed to really like them.


We've also become friends with Harry's wife, Patricia, over the past couple years. We managed to have lunch with her and some other BNAT veterans at Polvo's Mexican Restaurant. The enchiladas were incredible and the queso dip was fantastic.


One of the new BNAT attendees this year was Meghan McCain, daughter of the 2000 & 2008 presidential candidate, U.S. Senator John McCain. A few months earlier, I had just finished reading Meghan's book, "Dirty Sexy Politics," which is the story of her life on the campaign trail with her dad in 2008. It's a fun book to read, especially if you're with me in thinking that Sarah Palin is one of the most ridiculous people to ever grace the public stage. Meghan was super sweet and we chatted for a good 30 minutes or so before BNAT started. Later, I told her that a friend of mine from high school had worked on her dad's campaign, and she said she actually got to know him quite well. A cool connection indeed.


Knowing that she was coming to BNAT, I brought a copy of her book. When I asked her to sign it, I figured she could either be annoyed or flattered (I mean, if I wrote a book, I'd be thrilled if anyone even read it!). It turns out, she was REALLY excited that I read it and brought it.

We had a great time at BNAT 12... and we're already excited, anxious and nervous for BNAT 13. It's Harry's 40th birthday party, so I'm certain it will be amazing.

30 Books Before I'm 30: Sophie's World

Sophie's World 

by Jostein Gaarder

"Dear Hilde, If the human brain was simple enough for us to understand, we would still be so stupid that we couldn't understand it. Love, Dad."

I put this book on my list because it seemed like everyone from my IHS program in high school had read it but me, and even at nearly 30 years old I still felt left out. Sophie's World is essentially non-fiction encased in fiction; the meat of the story is an intro to philosophy from the Greeks to the Absurdists and the fluff of the story is about a girl named Sophie who gets tutored about philosophy by an initially-unknown weirdo/philosopher named Alberto Knox. The rest of this review contains spoilers, so if you're planning to read this book then discontinue reading this post.

Okay? Here's what happens: the philosopher sends Sophie anonymous notes, brought by his dog Hermes, until the dog leads her to the philosopher's creepy cabin in the woods. There was also a whole subplot where Sophie kept finding postcards for some chick name Hilde from Hilde's father. Then Alberto kept talking about Hilde's dad as the creator of the world and Hermes the dog started talking like a person. We finally discover that Sophie and Alberto are actually characters in a book written for Hilde by her father, who is in Lebanon with the UN during Hilde's 15th birthday. Hilarity ensues.

Honestly, I only read this book right now because I can't read my kindle in the tub. This was really important.

What I Liked: I really think I would have liked this book more if I had read it in high school. It's an interesting way to introduce philosophy at a basic level. It made me nostalgic for high school when my brain had just developed the capacity for complex abstract thought and my friends and I would get together and excitedly discuss philosophy as though we had invented it. These conversations usually occurred late at night, sometimes took place at Dairy Queen or backstage during whatever play we were all in at the time, and were completely drug-free and hilarious (but you had to have been there).

Also, the initial mystery of who the philosopher could be kind of sucked me in at the beginning. 

What I Didn't Like: I took Intro to Philosophy my freshman year of college, and during the course of my 10 years of college (yes, with this term it's official), I have learned about everything in this book already. (That doesn't mean that I actually know anything, it just means that the philosophical concepts in this novel are very basic). I admit I skipped the section on Freud. I just couldn't do it again.

This Book Would be Best if Read: In the bathtub, obviously.

I Would Recommend This Book to: A high schooler interested in philosophy or someone who has never had a philosophy class who might like to learn.

If You Liked This Book, You Might Also Like: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

This Book Wins my Award for: Most use of my new least favorite word "bagatelle." Yuck.
P.S. For some reason I misplaced this book more often than any of the other 30 Books Before I'm 30. I think it took me so long to read it because half the time I couldn't even find it! It would have won my award for "Most Misplaced Book," except that the word "bagatelle" grated so much on my nerves.

In my Professional Psychological Opinion: (Note: This section is a joke and I would never officially diagnose a person, real or imagined, without an appropriate clinical interview.) I would diagnose Sophie and Alberto Knox with Shared Psychotic Disorder (or folie a deux) for believing that they are characters in a book who then break free and wander the earth as spirits.

Up Next: Wuthering Heights-- I'm already a quarter finished because I've been going to the gym more often and my kindle fits perfectly on both the elliptical machine and the treadmill.

Super Bowl Sunday Snacks

For the past year or so, Josh has been gifting cake and cupcake decorating books to me because, even though I'm not artistic, I strongly suspect that I would have been a great cake decorator had I not chosen to be a psychologist. But I never get a chance to decorate anything! So for the Super Bowl, my mom and I decided we would make special football player cupcakes in honor of the Packers. 

We started with yellow cake batter, frosted green and then dipped in green decorator sugar:

For the football player heads, we used vanilla wafer cookies, back-to-back and stuck together with frosting. Then I dipped them in green frosting and sprinkled them with green decorator sugar. My mom had the genius idea of propping them up in a wire cooling rack so that they could harden without smearing:

Then we used white chocolate-covered pretzels for the facemasks. It kind of ended up looking like all the players had beards, but I thought it was a cute idea.

Then I piped on some yellow stripes and numbers. I made Josh find out the numbers of the starters so we could have an accurate player representation. (Please ignore my scruffiness, I hadn't yet gotten ready for church).

 The finished product:

Eating while wearing my cheese head during the game: (I don't have a Packers sweatshirt so I wore my UWisconsin sweatshirt instead).

Josh also contributed by making tons of food (enchiladas, green chili, Spanish rice, and beans). He also cooks while wearing his jammies: