Oscar Wins Versus My Picks

Overall, I didn't do too badly.  I correctly picked more than half of the actual wins.  I think the academy went very traditional with "The King's Speech"  for  best director and Picture.  I know many of us thought that something as different as "The Social Network" might win.  Otherwise I would have choosen "The King's Speech"  anyway, had "The Social Network" not been nominated.  My picks and winners are in purple and the winners I didn't pick are in gold, as in the color of Oscar.

The show was much faster and shorter, thank goodness.  James Franco and Anne Hathaway as hosts were good, but Anne was exceptionally good.  The  inserts of the hosts into the nominated films are always fun.  I liked seeing Alec Baldwin and Morgan Freeman in them.  Great job, overall.  Kirk Douglas stole the show for a moment and the show moved along better than usual.   I hope they will try to beef up the comedy in the future, it helps to keep it more entertaining.

Below are my picks with a few comments and the actual wins where I didn't get it right.



Best Picture

“Black Swan”

“The Fighter”

“Inception”

“The Kids Are All Right”

“The King's Speech”

“127 Hours”

“The Social Network”

“Toy Story 3”

“True Grit”

“Winter's Bone"

Best Director

“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

Best Actor

Javier Bardem “Biutiful”

Jeff Bridges  “True Grit”

Jesse Eisenberg “The Social Network”

Colin Firth  “The King's Speech”          I got it right.

James Franco “127 Hours”

Best Actress

Annette Bening “The Kids Are All Right”

Nicole Kidman  “Rabbit Hole”

Jennifer Lawrence “Winter's Bone”

Natalie Portman “Black Swan”          I got it right

Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale in “The Fighter”          I got it right.

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”

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams in “The Fighter”

Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”

Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”      Did anyone notice that I originally picked her to win and then changed it to Amy Adams.  Oh well, It's not like I had money on it or anything!

Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”

Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Best Adapted Screenplay

“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy

“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin      I got it right.

“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

Best 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     I got it right.

Best Animated Feature Film

“How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois

“The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet

“Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich          I got it right.

Best Art Direction

“Alice in Wonderland”    How did I miss this one?  Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan

“Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat

“The King's Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr

“True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Best Cinematography

“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique

“Inception” Wally Pfister           I got it right.

“The King's Speech” Danny Cohen

“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth

“True Grit” Roger Deakins

Best Costume Design

“Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood       Okay, I got this one right.

“I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi

“The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan

“The Tempest” Sandy Powell

“True Grit” Mary Zophres

Best Feature Documentary

“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

Best Film Editing

“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum

“The Fighter” Pamela Martin

“The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar

“127 Hours” Jon Harris

“The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Best Makeup

“Barney's Version” Adrien Morot

“The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng

“The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey       I couldn't miss on this one.  The makeup was fantastic!

Best Original Score

“How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell

“Inception” Hans Zimmer

“The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat

“127 Hours” A.R. Rahman

“The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross  Anyone recall that I couldn't even remember there was a score when I reviewed the movie?

Best Original Song

“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey

“I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater

“If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong

“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman       I still think my pick was a better song choice.

 “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Best Sound Editing

“Inception” Richard King      I got it right

“Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers

“Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague

“True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey

“Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Best Sound Mixing

“Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick           Don't ask me how I didn't pick this, when I picked it for best sound editing.  I screwed up!
“The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley

“Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin

“The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten

“True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Best Visual Effects

“Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi

“Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell

“Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb       Oh, please this was a no brainer.  Did you see the movie?!  Special effectorama!

“Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick 

Quote of Week

I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then. 

Lewis Carroll 
                                                                              

Back at the Library...

I've always loved going to bookstores and libraries all of my life.  I especially like small old bookstores tucked inside a brick storefront.   You know the ones with a little bit of character.  There's usually a cat napping on a bookshelf or on the counter up front.  The air is a tiny bit stale, the lighting is dimmer, but you can still read the print.  The store is neat and tidy and smells a bit of new print with just a touch of mustiness.   Here and there an old wooden chair or maybe a worn upholstered chair is stuck near the shelves beckoning you to sit for awhile and read through a good book.  Now that's my idea a of great little bookstore or library.  Unfortunately that does not describe my library.

I decided to try a different library today.  I had the last straw with my library after the latest episode of gross behavior I encountered.  No sooner had I sat down, than a man sat at the computer next to me.  Let me tell you that I can't for the life of me understand why libraries don't provide more privacy for the computer stations.  I know they need to monitor who's on them, but how about having the staff walk around once in awhile instead?  Every library I've been to has these open work stations.  You can see and hear everything.  That's where the problems begin...

The man that sat next to me had a problem with sniffing in what ever should have been blown out of his nose.  Now mind me, it wasn't one of those little sniffles people usually have.  It was loud, sounded like something big was stuffed up in there and was moist.  That went on for and hour and twenty five minutes.  That's how long I took to do my business and get the heck out of there.  I cut my allotted time because that was all I could take.  However, that wasn't the only thing he did.  He also belched.  A lot.  The smelly, I know what you just ate kind.   And he passed gas a few times.  Of course you guessed it.  The very smelly kind.  Like something had died inside and stewed for awhile.   

Never once did he say excuse me.   Perhaps if he had, I would have been less appalled and completely forgiven it.  I mean after all you can't control all of your bodily functions.  I can ignore a lot of things.  But to not at least apologize, or feign to acknowledge your embarrassment to the person who becomes the victim of your emissions...  It makes me wonder what he does in the privacy of his own home.   Oh wait, I don't even want to get a visual about that in my head!

I had gotten used to the loud cell phones ringing or singing, the conversations and the personal ticks.  But this took the cake!  I must either have the face of someone who is so oblivious to the world, or someone stuck a sign on my back that says, "Sit next to me I love annoying, disgusting behavior!"  

I only sort of like that in the movies!

My Picks for the Oscar Awards

Okay kids, the moment we have all been waiting for is almost upon us. The Academy Awards are tomorrow night!  Below are my picks for the bests.  I highlighted each of them in a different color so that you can see all of the nominees.  I chose purple, the color of royalty, because they will be Oscar royalty if they win!  Yes, I am very visual, couldn't you tell by my blog?  I removed two categories because I hadn't seen more than one of the films and it isn't fair for me to pick based on only one film.  Now these choices are not my favorite movies, but rather the choices based on the overall content and the category.  Here are my picks in royal purple;


Best Picture

“Black Swan”

“The Fighter”

“Inception”

“The Kids Are All Right”

“The King's Speech”

“127 Hours”

“The Social Network”

“Toy Story 3”

“True Grit”

“Winter's Bone"

Best Director

“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

Best Actor

Javier Bardem “Biutiful”

Jeff Bridges  “True Grit”

Jesse Eisenberg “The Social Network”

Colin Firth  “The King's Speech”

James Franco “127 Hours”

Best Actress

Annette Bening “The Kids Are All Right”

Nicole Kidman  “Rabbit Hole”

Jennifer Lawrence “Winter's Bone”

Natalie Portman “Black Swan”

Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Best Supporting Actor

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”

Best Supporting Actress

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”

Best 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

Best 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

Best Animated Feature Film

“How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois

“The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet

“Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

Best Art Direction

“Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan

“Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat

“The King's Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr

“True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Best Cinematography

“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique

“Inception” Wally Pfister

“The King's Speech” Danny Cohen

“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth

“True Grit” Roger Deakins

Best Costume Design

“Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood

“I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi

“The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan

“The Tempest” Sandy Powell

“True Grit” Mary Zophres

Best Feature Documentary

“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

Best Film Editing

“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum

“The Fighter” Pamela Martin

“The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar

“127 Hours” Jon Harris

“The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Best Makeup

“Barney's Version” Adrien Morot

“The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng

“The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Best Original Score

“How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell

“Inception” Hans Zimmer

“The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat

“127 Hours” A.R. Rahman

“The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Best Original Song

“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey

“I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater

“If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong

“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

 “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Best Sound Editing

“Inception” Richard King

“Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers

“Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague

“True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey

“Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Best Sound Mixing

“Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick

“The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley

“Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin

“The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten

“True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Best Visual Effects

“Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi

“Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell

“Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb

“Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick 

Whatever Happened to Silence in the Library?

It was winter again today.  It seems like it's been winter for about three years now.  It looks like it's never going to end.  I woke up this morning to more snow.  So I decided to never say that if it never, ever snows again I would be happy.   By writing that, I think I may have jinked everyone here.  SORRY!

Thankfully after a week of gloominess, hail, rain and snow; the sun finally made an appearance.  Yeah!  It quickly went away again, and came back a couple of hours ago, but at least I was outside when it happened.  So I had my moment in the sun, so to speak. 

I was happy to have to work today since it got gloomy again.  I've been in a good mood throughout the entire week, so I know I don't suffer from SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder if you want to get technical. 

Hey I've been in a good mood despite bad news, weird things happening and loosing my Internet connection.  Isn't there supposed to be some big astrological thing happening right now?  I sure am riding some kind of weird tide.

I've been at the library so often that the people working here are getting to know my face.  I've been working on their computers every day.  I even have a favorite station that I like to sit at.  But what I really want to know is, when did libraries stop being quiet places?  Seriously, every day that I've been at the library, someones cell phone rings and they talk on it AT THE LIBRARY!  It just happened again as I am typing this post!  No one from the staff says anything to those people.  They talk as if they are the only one in the room.  It's crazy!  Even the guy from the Reference Desk sits there and talks sort of loud on the phone.  He sits less than 10 yards from the computers.  Apparently people working on computers don't need quiet... 

Then there is the check out desk.  It is not far from the computers and I can hear most of those conversations too.  People talk about the oddest things in a library.  I can shut out most of it, I work in a noisy facility.  Another patron looked up and smiled at me when one guy was talking about his son's personal life to the Librarian.  I had to look away for fear of laughing out loud. 

Yesterday, a 30ish couple came in, sat at separate computers and preceded to talk to each other the entire time and then constantly get up and look at each others computers.  I was the only other person there, but didn't I deserve some respect and quiet?  Seriously are people really that clueless nowadays?  I looked up at them a few times and eventually they stopped talking.  The loud reference guy was no where in sight then.  Good thing its quieter, (but still not quiet) today.  Otherwise they are going to need a referee when I jump up and slap the next person that talks next to me!

On different days that I've been at the library, I've sat near one gentleman with a nervous foot tapping thing.  (Yes, I wanted to step on his foot and tell him to stop.)  Another day I sat next to a man with some sort of tick and throat clearing problem.  I tried to turn as much as possible so that I couldn't see his head out of the corner of my eye.  That didn't work.  At least the throat clearing didn't last the whole hour plus he was there and it seemed to not phase me as much as the tick.  At one point though, every time he twitched his head, I started unconsciously flexing my neck.  I caught myself doing it after a while.  I think I was trying to help him work his tick out.

After a few more days of this I will be very, very happy when my new Internet connection is finally installed.  But I must tell you, without the use of the Internet I have gotten a lot more things done at home.  Now when someone asks me,  "Where does all the time go", I'll have an answer!

Black Swan - Review 5 Oscar Nominations

Best Picture

Best Director

Best Actress

Best Cinematography

Best Film Editing 

This is the last of the 10 films nominated for Best Picture.  I saved it for last, because this is the one I've been waiting to see.  I wasn't at all unhappy that I saved it for last.  


I wonder if during the making of "Black Swan", Director Darren Aronofsky got chills up his spine while directing his star.  I have one thing to say about this film; Natalie Portman.  Natalie channels the madness of the Black Swan character as Nina with such force, that you can see it in every fiber of her body.  She is the movie, she enhances it and she is stellar in her role.  If she doesn't win Best Actress I will be completely shocked.   I am not going out on a limb to predict her as the winner.  Yes, I know all of you Nicole Kidman fans, Nicole was very good and you want her to win.  But she has already won best actress and the academy will prefer to give it to a new person.  Natalie is going to be hard to beat anyway.  


I believe that Nina is the role of a lifetime for Natalie and that she was born to play this part.  She appears to be every inch the prima ballerina she portrays. Everyone in the cast helps to round out this fascinating tale of a dancer's path into madness.  The cast includes Winona Ryder, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey and with a glaring omission for best supporting actress, Mila Kunis.  Mila is excellent in her role. 

I liked the costumes and music.  They add to the drama and feel of the movie.  However, they were not nominated for awards. The film did get nominated for Best Cinematography and Film Editing.  The film is beautifully filmed and edited and it could well win one of these awards.  It is filmed in a documentary style, and is very powerful.  I have to think about who could win these 2 categories.  This will be a close race among several films. 

Although I am a fan of this type of thriller, I am not predicting this film to win.  I still think the general consensus is that "The Social Network" will win.  I agree that may be the case, so I am also choosing it to win.  But I loved "Black Swan" enough to see it again and added it to my Netflix list.  It definitely is worth a second look.  Take a chance and rent it when it comes out on DVD.  I don't think you will be disappointed.  


Rating - 4.5 stars

Profound Thoughts; Something For You To Think About...

What is the world?  It is the earth below and the sky above and the air in space that connects them.  What is light?  It is the fire below and the sun above - and the lighting that connects them.  What is education?  It is the teacher above and the disciple below - and the wisdom that connects them. 

Taittiriya Upanishad

p.s. I am still offline.  I am working from the library!  

Quote of the Week

Strength does not come from physical capacity.  It comes from an indomitable will.                                                

Mahatma Gandhi

Note to Readers:  I was not able to post yesterday due to Internet provider problems.  I will post from wherever I able able to sign on.  The "Black Swan" review will be posted this week.

Rainy, Rainy Day

It didn't just rain today, it rained cats, dogs, buckets and a freight train.  It rained and rained and then rained some more, harder.  I can't quite figure out where all that rain went.  The ground is so soggy from the melting snow mountains and rain, my house should be surrounded by a moat.

A week ago we had 5 and 6 foot piles of snow that I could barely see around in order to get out of the driveway.  Now there aren't any.  I would need to search to find a scrap of snow.  I sure hope the plants are happy, otherwise they could probably just float away.  I couldn't even go walking today for fear of being washed into a storm drain.  The rain pelted down, blew around and slammed into things.  On the upside; its not SNOW!  

The ladies out there will understand this; I got my hair cut today... and styled.  Yeah in a down pour.  I had an appointment, so I didn't want to cancel.  Try to keep your hair from getting messed up in a torrent of rain.  I wore my ski jacket with my hood up and used an umbrella that I could barely hold onto.  I had to go to the local K-Mart to to pick up a couple of things after my hair cut.  I always need something I forgot to get on my last walk.  At least the store was pretty empty.  When I was almost done in the store, I went to the ladies' room and looked in the mirror as I washed my hands.  I was shocked and had to laugh.  I had this piece of hair wrapped around the top of my head in the weirdest shape.  I walked around looking like that the whole time.  Good thing the weather kept most of the people from shopping today.  It did look pretty funny though.  So much for the styling. 

Do you remember awhile back I said that I was no longer hating winter?  Well guess what?  I still don't.  Unless it snows again this year...  I think I have a right to be done with snow now, don't you think?  If it never, ever snowed again, I wouldn't say I was sorry.  So that said, I am now looking forward to the Spring monsoon season!

True Grit - Review 10 Best Oscar Nominations

Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
Best Costume
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing

What a feat to take on a movie legend's most famous role, and make the character and film your own.  That's exactly what Jeff Bridges and the Coen Brothers do.  Jeff Bridges stars as Rooster Cogburn in "True Grit", the movie that finally won John Wayne an Oscar, makes one forget John Wayne, at least it did for me.  Bridges has the ability to morph into the characters he plays, so that you believe he is that person.  Here he does it again.  The nominations for the film are well deserved.

The Coen Brothers, follow the book written by Charles Portis.  So this movie is not a remake of the John Wayne version of the story.  It seemed like a completely different film, in a good way.  The cinematography is great and so is the art direction.  This is a very gritty version of the west.  There is some pretty country in the film, but the Coens do a great job of using visuals to convey a mood.  There is this shot of a double row of trees, that made me think Rooster was entering a dead ominous place.  Those kinds of visuals are everywhere in this movie.  They really give the film a feeling that the old west was a dark, mean and dirty place.  Good job guys, it's not lost on the viewer.  I love the symbolism in the film.  

This film is the surprise of the best pictures nominees for me so far.  Westerns are pretty iffy for me.  I don't generally like most of them.  Okay, I LOVED "Dance With Wolves", but that wasn't your typical Western.  The cast includes the always evolving Josh Brolin and Matt Damon, who is better in his role in this film than Glenn Campbell's version of the character.  Then there is the remarkable little newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, who plays Mattie.  She is nominated for Best Supporting Actress.  Having seen most of the other supporting actress nominees, Hailee won't win, but she deserves the nod.  That race will be between Melissa Leo and Amy Adams.

Had Jeff Bridges not won the Best Actor for "Crazy Heart" last year, he would give Colin Firth a real run for the award.  But like I've said before, the academy likes to mix it up and not reward the same people too often.  Colin is due for it anyway and he will edge everyone else out.  But Jeff does the best job with oddball and craggy kinds of roles.  He excels at playing the kind of a shaggy, but almost lovable characters he often portrays.  Remember "The Big Labowski'?

Good movie, well worth seeing.  Will it win Best Picture?  I really don't think so. 

Rating - 4 stars