respublica

First drive-in movie for the boys

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Oscar noms

Big morning for movie buffs, the Oscar nominations were announced.

There are 10 nominations for best picture.  Does this seem like a lot compared to other years?  I seem to remember 5 being the traditional number of nominees.

And I'll confess without embarrassment, we haven't seen any of them, so it doesn't matter all that much to me how many or which ones they are. 

The worst movie in the history of the world

No one who has seen the new Little Fockers movie has anything good to say about it.  The original, Meet the Fockers, was fairly well received.  But the second sequel,  well, you may as well save you money.

At last a 3-D push back

A few of Hollywood's better known and influential movie directors and producers are coming out against the 3-D movie movement. 

This is a good thing.  3-D movies not only make the audiences look ridiculous with those paper/plastic glasses, but they also make individuals dizzy.

And, the movies are generally bad to begin with.

Take a lesson, tv program creators, don't do this. 

Jobs are left Up in the Air

Seems neither the administration or Hollywood is all that interested in jobs as legislation or as a movie theme.

All the strong talk about zeroing in on jobs after Scott Brown won the Massachusetts senate race abruptly turned into another long obsession with an unpopular health care bill.  And, the George Clooney movie about job loss, Up in the Air, was totally shut out during the Academy Awards last night.

St. Louis and the Oscars

Around here movie buffs are rooting hard for Up in the Air to win Best Picture Oscar because so much of the movie was filmed in St. Louis.   

Some months ago Up in the Air was something of a front runner, winning early movie awards.

But then Avatar came out and suddenly it was the film to beat.  And now all of a sudden it's The Hurt Locker that's become "a lock" to win.

I guess I'll find out tomorrow, we rarely sit through the Academy Awards show.

Movie recommendations?

We haven't been to an actual theater to see a movie since one summer night in Traverse City when we went and saw Seabiscuit.  2003.  And, we haven't had a working dvd player in years.

But for Christmas we received a Blu Ray dvd player and being more than out of the movie loop we need advice.  Any ideas on movies to pick up and watch?

I'm so out of it, I'm thinking it might be fun to watch The Hotel for Dogs.  Dale may not be quite as interested in that one.  He's more a Bourne Identity or Private Ryan kind of guy.

Made in St. Louis

The awards for the George Clooney movie, Up in the Air, are piling up even before the movie has been generally released.

The Washington Area Film Critics Association gave Up in the Air top honors this week, joining the National Board of Review which did the same last week.

The early betting is on the film being a strong Academy Award contender.

Up in the Air opens in St. Louis tomorrow and should do very well with St. Louisans wanting to see how their city looks on the big screen.

Hollywood blogs

Since this is Oscar night, Hollywood reporting is everywhere including more and more blogs aimed at entertainment.

According to the Financial Times a couple of new Hollywood blogs are going toe to toe to report both breaking entertainment news and find an audience which has been ignored by Hollywood.

The Wrap, by former New York Times reporter, Sharon Waxman, wants readers "disillusioned with the level of Hollywood coverage in the print media." 

 Big Hollywood, created by online news veteran, Andrew Breitbart, wants to "redress Hollywood's liberal bias". 

Both sites are written by a team of contributors and seem fairly interesting, even to someone like me who is not at all interested in the entertainment industry.

The reigning queen of Hollywood blog reporting is Nikke Finke's Deadline Hollywood.