Oscar Mania

So, I stayed awake for almost all of the Oscar marathon. And I did so after not sleeping so well the night before and having only a tiny power nap right before.

We got to the theatre two hours early in order to get primo seats--the last two on the back row that have only aisle in front of them. The theatres (because we had to switch early in the AM from a digital theatre to a film theatre) were fairly small, so it wasn't that far back.

I only slept through a portion of District 9--right after I predicted how it would go and no longer had the strength to keep myself awake (it was like 8am-ish then). I also slept through a dinner break right before Up in the Air.

Here are my reviews:

Avatar--something everyone needs to see in 3-D. Totally hackneyed storytelling BUT somehow super enjoyable anyway.

Up--simply wonderful and sweet and great and everyone should see this movie because it is awesome. Squirrel!

A Serious Man--I think that you need to know more about Judaism and Jewish Mythology and the Torah and Torah teachings to understand what this movie is about. I suspect it is digging deep into the world of that symbolism, but since I know very little about that, I kind of sat there going, "Huh?"

District 9--Exactly what science fiction should be. Smart, well turned out, believable and causing you to think. I felt bad sleeping through it and will likely watch it again someday.

Inglourious Basterds--My favorite of the ten. A beautiful homage to 60's and 70's war movies and spaghetti westerns and Hitchcockian tension. Just loved it to death. Probably my favorite Tarantino move ever by quite a bit.

The Blind Side--Super charming and well done sports movie that has a good soft side. If you don't like movies like Rudy and Hoosiers, you won't like this one. If you do, go see this and get off your hype horse.

An Education--A wonderfully sweet little movie about a girl coming of age in early 60's London. Has Adele from Dollhouse and Emma Thompson in supporting roles and is wonderful if you like this kind of movie (I do).

Precious Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire--Actually much more of an independent art movie than I expected. If it weren't for Oprah, this would've only played in small art houses and faded away, but Mo'nique is SOOOOOO AMAZING in this that if you like good acting see this movie even if it seems like nothing you would ever like. She gives possibly the best performance I have ever seen.

Up in the Air--I had seen before and liked very much. I liked seeing it again. It is a good movie but a little slight next to the real heavy hitters I saw this day.

The Hurt Locker--This was the other best movie of the day. It is incredible and wonderfully written and acted and made. I really loved it. My preference for Inglourious Basterds is merely a matter of taste--because of course I like the lush period piece over the gritty modern drama but someone else might not.

I am still sort of reeling from seeing that many movies in one day and my body seems confused when I want to just let it sleep. Someday soon I will catch up.

Also, I ordered the book The Blind Side for my Kindle which is much more about the history of a football position than I expected, but really well written and interesting in spite of that. I just really wanted a more complicated look at the story of Micheal Oher than I felt the movie gave. The movie clearly sanded out the rough edges to make a better movie, and I was curious about more of the complications of life.