Best Picture Showcase 2012 Part 1

Time to talk about my (our) other great love.  The movies.  Eric and I absolutely love movies.  In fact, we love them so much we had our reception at a converted movie theatre.  Since we've had our daughter, we don't get out to see the movies we want as often as we'd like so AMC made it easy for us by creating the The Best Picture Showcase. It's all of the movie nominated for best picture IN A ROW.  Since they changed it to being more like 10 movies they now do it over two weekends in our market, but if they had the 24 hour marathon we love the movies enough to do it.  Unfortunately, this year Eric had to work on the first weekend so I went with my Mom, another movie lover. Here's what we saw:

War Horse.  Let me start by saying that I really liked this movie a lot more than expected.  Generally Stephen Spielberg is not my favorite, but this one was actually good enough for me to roll my eyes a little bit less than normal.  I think it's partly because this wasn't his story, it was previously a broadway play. ,and prior to that a children's book. Regardless, it still gets the award for being the most typical movie of the bunch.  It's sweeping, it's epic, it's beautifully shot and it's heartbreakingly sad.  It also tells you exactly how to feel in every moment of the movie through music and mood.  I'm generally not above these emotions, I cried several times but there was one scene in particular in which I had to stifle laughter.  When the main character has been wounded in battle and has a bandage covering his eyes after being blinded, it was just sooo "Oscar Movie" stereotype, it stopped me from being entirely swept away by the story and brought me back to reality with a bit of a thud making it my least favorite movie of the day.

Next up.  Moneyball.  I think the movie poster says a lot by having "Brad Pitt" above everything else.  Brad IS the movie, he's in virtually every scene and is absolutely the heart and soul of the film.  So it's a good thing he's awesome.  A lot of people I've talked to are scared away from this movie because it revolves around baseball, but it's not really about baseball.  It's about everyone's struggle to do something greater, to leave a mark and to make things change.  It's about living up to your potential and being open to the possibility that you potential might not actually have anything to do with what you thought it might be.  This movie really took what seems like a boring subject, putting together baseball teams based on statistical fact, and turned it into something that everyone in the audience could care about and make their own.  Loved it.

Third: Tree of Life.  Oh my.  I think this movie is a little bit love it or hate it.  Although, we'd rented it on DVD and I HATED it.  I thought it was boring and sophomoric.  It seemed to be saying that it turns out our lives are somewhat meaningless in the scope of the universe.  Shocking.  However, as a movie lover I'll sit through anything and it's my opinion if you are going to do something like watch all the nominees... you do it.  Why not? You are already there.  I'm so glad I did.  It was astoundingly better the second time around.  Partly because I think it was played at the proper volume so we were able to hear all the little things going on in the background that I didn't pick up at home.  This really gave it another dimension for me.  I also gave it a lot more leeway and just watched without trying to understand.  I think that was really the key to the movie, and unlike WarHorse this movie doesn't tell you at all how to feel about any of it.  It just puts it out there and lets you interpret it any way you like.  That said, a lot of people left. LOL  LOTS of people were really glad it was over, but as a convert I suggest watching it more than once to really experience this one.

Fourth and Final for the Day, the Descendents. Loved it! The story and the performances were absolutely amazing. Who would have through Blair's boyfriend would be one of the greatest actors we have? The story followed a family that like many families is so busy with the business of living that we forget to actually connect with those that mean the most until a tragedy occurs that shocks everyone enough to remind them to pay attention.  Sounds like a typical movie plot, but it was done so well that you forget you may or may not have seen many movies with the same message.  The girl from "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" surely put in a surprising performance and after this, she'll likely be leaving that show in a New York minute.  Amazing movie, my favorite of the day. 

In case you are wondering, we were at the theater from 9:30 to 9:30.  My tips for getting through the day;  Stay hydrated, I drank 3 large sodas and 2 giant bottles of water.  Don't eat the theater food, it'll make you sleepy and you are inert for about 12 hours.  You don't need many calories to keep going. Go for a 5 minute brisk walk between the movies and stretch.  Wear something comfortable.  Bring a blanket.  Have fun!