4/5 – Ang Lee earned his Best Director Oscar With less than eight hours to go before the start of the Oscars, I upped the number of Best Picture nominees I had seen by one by catching an early afternoon showing of Life of Pi. It’s good we showed up early, because it looked like everyone in the vicinity of Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill Cinemas had the same idea. Before the movie began, the old lady sitting behind me decided to walk her husband through the entire story of the movie in her loud old lady voice. Thanks, lady, you rock. I haven’t read the book, so I thought about turning around and yelling “Dobby dies in book 7!” at Madame de Spoiler. Instead, headphones went in, Foo Fighters came on, and spoilers were avoided. I have to admit, I considered keeping Foo Fighters going a little longer when I saw the first trailer was for the latest  Fast and Furious movie. Life of Pi started, and despite the constant running commentary from the old lady behind me (She loves meer cats! Tigers are scary!), it was a really good movie. First off, it’s beautifully shot, and the 3D looks awesome. This is the best 3D I’ve seen in a live action movie since Avatar. But unlike Avatar, everything doesn’t look like it’s CGI. Oh, a lot of this movie is CGI, but it doesn’t have that telltale fake look that CGI usually has. I was surprised to find out that the tiger in Life of Pi, Richard Parker, was a CG creature throughout the entire movie. I thought they used an actual tiger for at least some of the scenes. Cesi n’est pas un tigre. Life of Pi walks the line between endearing and...

The Oscars are only about an hour away. Need some help winning your party’s pool? Here are my predictions.If you win, feel free to treat me to a movie!  Best Picture – Argo. I’m going with my head this year instead of my heart for my picks, but I’m glad they match up here. I think the Academy feels like they made a mistake for not bothering to nominate Ben Affleck for Best Director and will give Argo the best picture as retribution. Leading Actor – Daniel Day Lewis. If you pick anyone else, don’t even both reading the rest of this post. You’re losing your pool. Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz. Waltz and Tommy Lee Jones are in a dead heat according to the Vegas odds. I’d like to think Waltz’s performance in Django can beat out Tommy Lee Jones playing Tommy Lee Jones in a wig. Leading Actress – Jennifer Lawrence. But Jessica Chastain deserves it. Supporting Actress – Anne Hathaway Animated Feature – Wreck-It-Ralph Cinematography – Life of Pi Costume Design – Anna Karenina Directing – Stephen Speilberg – Lincoln Documentary Feature – Searching for Sugarman Documentary Short – Open Heart Film Editing – Zero Dark Thirty Foreign Language Film – Amour Makeup and Hairstyling – Les Miserables Original Score – Life of Pi (Toss up between this and Lincoln) Original Song – Skyfall Production Design – Les Miserables Animated Short Film – Paperman Liver Action Short Film – Curfew Sound Editing – Life of Pi Sound Mixing – Skyfall Visual Effects – Life of Pi Adapted Screenplay – Argo Original Screenplay – Argo Good...

5/5 – Zero Dark Thirty should be on your Must See list! I didn’t think it would happen, but I might now like a movie from 2012 more than Argo. I loved Argo and am glad that Ben Affleck has been taking a bunch of awards home for it, but wow, Zero Dark Thirty, you are amazing. To be honest, I wasn’t too excited for Zero Dark Thirty. I thought Hurt Locker was great, but it was so emotionally draining that I wasn’t sure if I could sit through another Kathryn Bigelow military movie. I had a feeling I would probably respect ZDT more than I would actually like it. Still, I wanted to see as many Best Picture nominees as I could before the Oscars, so I went with my Billy and Bryan Show co-host and frequent commenter on this blog, Bryan, to see it at at Cobble Hill Cinemas. First, a little about Cobble Hill Cinemas before I get into the movie. I was pleasantly surprised to find that our Saturday screening qualified for the discount rate. Their discount calendar is little complex. Tuesday and Thursday movies are discounted all day. Monday and Wednesday are discounted before 5 PM. The first screening of a movie is discounted on Saturdays, but only if it is before 1 PM. And I think the fifth screening of a movie is discounted on Ash Wednesday if the date ends in a vowel. There’s also some new items on the menu at the snack counter: Mexican coffee, and the Abuelita which is Mexican coffee mixed with hot chocolate. Oooo, how worldly! One Abuelita, please! Unfortunately, the drink becomes a little less exciting and worldly when you realize it’s coming from a Nescafe machine. Okay, enough about the snack counter. The...

4/5 – The movie where you realize Bradley Cooper is a serious actor. It has to stink having the movie where you show the world that you’re a really good dramatic actor comes out the same year that Daniel Day Lewis has a new movie. That’s exactly what happened to Bradley Cooper with Silver Linings Playbook. If Daniel Day Lewis wasn’t in Lincoln this year, I think Bradley Cooper would walk home with the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role. I like Bradley Cooper a lot, but if you had told me this time last year that I thought he would be the runner up for the Best Lead Actor Oscar, I would have called you nutty. Before Silver Linings Playbook, Cooper has been known mostly for his very good comedic skills (Wedding Crashers, The Hangover) and movies that banked on his good looks (The A-Team, Valentine’s Day).  Silver Linings Playbook is the movie that tells the world Bradley Cooper is one damn good actor. In the movie, he plays Pat, a guy who had to do a stint in a mental institution after having the worst day of his life. In Pat’s defense, I think everything he did to that teacher in his bathroom was justifiable. Weird Tie-In Merchandise: Silver Linings Trash Bag Vests, exclusively at Target Pat has issues: rage, insecurity, an obsession with his separated wife, and Cooper plays these issues brilliantly. His parents have issues in the movie too, and you can see how they’ve influenced Pat in how well Cooper plays him to be both a little like his mother and a little like his father.  Speaking of Pat’s father, Robert De Niro turns in a great performance as Pat Sr. Robert De Niro...

5/5 – Super Cute!  I feel like I am stuck in a strange cycle when it comes to Wes Anderson movie. A new Wes Anderson movie is released. I fail to see it in the movie theater. I see it on DVD. I love it and vow to catch the next Wes Anderson movie in the theater. A new Wes Anderson movie is released. I fail to see it in the movie theater… Moonrise Kingdom is adoraballs. This is the movie you want to turn on when you’ve had a bad day at the office. It’s full of whimsy without being too twee. This is definitely one of my favorite movies that was released in 2012. Suzy & Sam Kara Heyward and Jared Gilman are terrific as the movie’s young lovers, Suzy and Sam, who flee the watchful eyes of their parents (or scout masters, in Sam’s case). It’s amazing that this is both of their first movies. They both did fantastic jobs in their lead roles here. Scout Master Ward Wes Anderson movies are known for their very memorable supporting characters and Moonrise Kingdom is no exception. Edward Norton is great as the very earnest Scout Master Ward. But if I had to pick a favorite character from the film, it would be Bob Balabin as The Narrator. I loved the way Anderson filmed him, addressing the camera in a variety of poses, like an older Ferris Bueller. The Narrator Moonrise Kingdom is nominated for Best Screenplay at this year’s Academy Awards. Will it win? I hope so. I think it should have been nominated for Best Costume Design as well. That would have been a harder category to win against the period pieces that tend to dominate that category, but it would have been nice...

“Make sure you see The Cabin in the Woods before it’s spoiled for you,” my friend warned after he saw it in the theater. It was a warning I heeded. I avoided all discussion about the movie from then until now, having just recently seen the movie on DVD. I avoided anything and everything about the movie in fear of accidentally reading one sentence too long and having it spoiled. I didn’t even know Chris Hemsworth was in the cast until he appeared on screen. To those of you who haven’t seen the movie yet, I would recommend heeding my friend’s advice. A big part of what makes Cabin in the Woods work is the twist behind the movie, so try to have that not ruined for you if you can. Like Scream, Cabin in the Woods is a good deconstruction of the horror movie genre. And Bradley Whitford is awesome in it, in his snarky Bradley Whitford way. SPOILER WARNING: I plan on discussing that twist directly after this awesome poster.   Okay, the only people left are those of you who have already seen Cabin the Woods, right? Good. This movie is a big metaphor about making horror movies, right? We, the audience, are ancient demons they’re trying to appease. I liked that the crew had every type of horror villain available to them in their subterranean holding cells. I also really liked that the projects being done in other counties reflected what horror movies are like there, like the ghost-children in the Japanese project. I just wished they went further with it. Once Dana and Marty make it to the base, the movie sped along to its finish. I wanted to know more about this place. Yes, too much exposition is...