Idol 2012: Top 13 Girls

Well well well. It's absolutely a girl's year on Idol this year, apparently. I've said that before, I know, and I know how "America" votes, but there's very little competition here. The performances from the girls tonight were MUCH better than the guys last night. Without further adieu, my 10-words or less reviews...

• Chelsea Sorrell - Cowboy Casanova (by Carrie Underwood) - Bad song choice. Could be better, hard to judge vocals.
• Erika Van Pelt - What About Love (by Heart) - Interesting tone, confident performance. Safe song choice. I liked, though.
• Jen Hirsh - One and Only (by Adele) - Too sweet sounding for the song. Loved the high note.
• Brielle Von Hugel - The Dock of the Bay (by Otis Redding) - Someone wants to show she has a big voice… Meh.
• Hallie Day - Feeling Good (Michael Bublé version) - Yes, yes, yes. Confident, sexy, intelligent, strong. Spot on.
• Skylar Laine - Stay With Me (by Faces) - High energy, but vocals could have been more consistent. Player.
• Bayley Brown - Amazed (by Lonestar) - Holy train wreck, Batman. Looked great, but that's about it.
• Hollie Cavanaugh - Reflection (by Christina Aguilera) - Isolated pitch issues, but overall, bravo. Girl can sang.
• Haley Johnsen - Sweet Dreams (by The Eurythmics) - Interesting vocals, didn't really fit the song, though. Sloppy.
• Shannon Magrane - There Is a Candle In Every Soul - Sleepy performance, but strong vocals. Good first impression.
• Jessica Sanchez - Love You I Do (by Jennifer Hudson, from Dreamgirls) - Hot vocals, but borderline yelling. Careful with the chords, girl.
• Elise Testone - One and Only (by Adele) - Some pitch issues, screamy at times… but girl brought it.

Again, I'm not going to name a winner for the night or anything like that, beyond that the girls destroyed the guys. That's all. I shall start that whole schtick next week.

I do believe I'll make a post tomorrow, when the top 13 is announced.

Idol 2012: Top 13 Guys

IDOL IS BACK.

Now, I know Idol's actually been back for a while, but it's actually back for me now. I tried to watch the auditions, I did... but I can't handle them. They keep drilling that Idol is a singing competition, yet the audition episodes are at least 80% filler and gags. After an hour or so, I grow tired of the schtick. I had planned on watching Hollywood, but things came up and I didn't get around to it. I actually am more than happy to start my Idol journey here: I'm not going to be influenced by the endless Idol sob stories or biased editing and/or difficult behavior in Hollywood. At least for these semi-final rounds, I'm going in almost 100% cold (I am vaguely familiar with a few people on the show, but basically only know their names).

I plan on once again posting regular blogs with my Idol thoughts. I am going to try something new, though, and keep my thoughts to 10 words or less. If you are a regular reader you know I'm wordy, however, but I shall still try.

Disclaimer for tonight's episode: I spent time with the usual crew tonight, so I am watching the show by way of Youtube clips provided by mjsbigblog.com.

Without further adieu, the top 13 guys!

• Reed Grimm - Moves Like Jagger (by Maroon 5) - Strange musical choices, simply adequate vocals. Brave, but meh.
• Adam Brock - Think (by Aretha Franklin) - Safe, boring choice. Fine performance, but meh.
• Deandre Brackensick - Reasons (by Earth Wind and Fire) - WAY too much falsetto, WAY too much conditioner. Blech.
• Colton Dixon - Decode (by Paramore) - Some pitch issues, but otherwise LOVED IT.
• Jeremy Rosado - Gravity (by Sara Bareilles) - Oversung a bit early, but nice tenderness.
• Aaron Marcellus - Never Can Say Goodbye (by Jackson 5) - Mostly well sung, but not all that original or memorable.
• Chase Likens - Storm Warning (by Hunter Hayes) - Somewhat boring, but could be worse. Love the song.
• Creighton Fraker - True Colors (Cyndi Lauper) - Oh hey, overdramatic, what's up? Too much.
• Phillip Phillips - In the Air Tonight (by Phil Collins) - Interesting arrangement, but again too much. Didn't hate it, though.
• Eben Franckowitz - Set Fire to the Rain (by Adele) - Holy attrocious song choice, Batman. 
• Heejun Han - Angels (by Robbie Williams) - Nervous, but I dug it. Needs work on presense, though.
• Joshua Ledet - You Pulled Me Through (by Jennifer Hudson) - Close to the OTT line, but just shy. Well played. 
• Jermaine Jones - Dance With My Father (by Luther Vandross) - Strange disconnect in this performance. Highly underwhelming.

As is usually the case with the semis... a mediocre mixed bag. Tough to judge completely, because people are still feeling out all the extraneous stuff at this level (the big stage, the crowd, the cameras, the band, etc). I'm not going to name any "winners or losers" for this round for that reason. Interesting start to Idol this year, I can't wait to see where it goes from here (it can only go up!).

Oscar Watch 2011 Predictions & Wrap-Up

My annual run up to the Oscars is officially complete. For the third time in 4 years, I've seen all the Best Picture nominees, something I'm geekily proud of. I will freely admit, however, this year's "accomplishment" didn't really fulfill me in the way last year's did. I'll get into that after I present my list.

To create this list, I ranked all sixteen films I saw for this project in order, 1-16, ignoring what was actually nominated for Best Picture or not. I then went through my list to come up with my offical Best Picture nominee rankings, but opted to leave the list as-is when I looked at the results. 

Without further adieu...

timmmc.com's Official Oscar Watch 2011 Rankings
Best Picture nominees indicated with an asterisk 

1. The Artist*


2. 50/50


3. Drive


4. The Descendants*


5. War Horse*


6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo


7. The Ides of March


8. The Help*


9. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close*


10. J. Edgar


11. Midnight in Paris*


12. The Iron Lady


13. Moneyball*


14. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II


15. Hugo*


16. The Tree of Life*

Yes, The Artist is the best film of the 2011 for me, by quite a margin. Did I love it so much because of what it was, something so new and so fresh to me? Maybe. I'm only speaking the obvious when I say silent films just aren't made much anymore. But The Artist is more than just a silent movie: it's a very funny comedy with a whole lot of heart, something I happen to appreciate a ton. The performances were wonderful, the screenplay funny and unpredictable, the direction spot-on, everything. Without a doubt, to me, this is a film that deserves every accolade it's recieved and will recieve. And it will recieve quite a bit come the Oscars ceremony, I'm sure of it.

Looking through the rest of the list, I have to say... WTF, Academy? I understand nominations for some of the nominees, and, hell, I even understand some of the glaring snubs (in my opinion). But The Tree of Life or Hugo nominated? Really? I'm sure I could go back through 2011 and find at least 5 other films I'd consider nominating over either of those two. I'd also consider Moneyball to be in this WTF category. I find it disappointing how mediocrity is rewarded.

As I discussed in my open, I didn't find this year's project as fulfilling as year's past. Last year, I enjoyed comparing The Social Network and The King's Speech in my head, coming up with pros and cons of each, thinking over which film was better made, all that good stuff. This year? Not so much. The Artist was a clear winner for me. Last year, the project led me to watch a whole bunch of great films... this year was filled with disappointing mediocrity, or worse.

Some other predictions (only half-hearted, as I admit to not seeing all the nominees in most categories)...

• Best Actor: in a two-man race between George Clooney and Jean Dujardin, I have to go with Clooney... but I haven


• Best Actress: I haven't seen Albert Nobbs or My Week With Marilyn, but I love me some Viola Davis. That said, Meryl Streep was a force as Maggie Thatcher, and she's past due...


• Supporting Actor & Actress: I haven't seen enough of the performances to really judge. Of the ones I HAVE seen though, I'd go with Max von Sydow & Bérénce Bejo.


• Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist


• Adapted Screenplay & Original Screenplay: again, I haven't seen all the nominees, but The Ides of March and Midnight in Paris of the ones I have seen. 

But, anyhoo, there you have it. It's been real, 2011 film year. Here's to hoping 2012 is more like 2010!

OW11: Drive

Image via Wikipedia

First, a warning. I cannot say what I want to say about this film without partial spoilers. So, consider yourself warned.

We've all seen or at least heard of this whole "driver" genre, if you will. Epic chases about dudes finishing their jobs to protect and/or exact revenge. They all follow more or less the same template, their appeal lying in their bad ass action star leading man or the sweet cars or the epic chase sequences or whatever. Seen one, seen them all, for the most part.

Except Drive.

Drive takes that whole driving action gimmick genre and turns it into a legit film. All the cliche elements are there, sure, but Drive is sexy, dangerous, exciting, bad ass, suspenseful, dramatic and heartwrenching, often all at the same time. Ryan Gosling turns in an absolute tour de force performance here, one of the best I've ever seen in an action film (from an acting standpoint). 

One of my favorite parts of this film is how much is said with so few words. The performances from the cast and the slick, perfectly stylistic direction always told exactly what was going on, even if the characters weren't doing a whole lot of speaking. The performances and the dramatic action speak for itself, which I thought was extremely effective and, frankly, refreshing.

Not to spoil my OW11 wrap-up post (which is due around 6pm on Sunday evening), but I have absolutely no idea what the Academy was doing this year. Drive is an effective film that keeps the audience guessing, filled with stunning performances, solid direction, a fantastic screenplay and was a success at the box office... and was largely ignored by the Oscars. Extremely disappointing. This film deserves better than that.

OW11: The Ides of March

Image via Wikipedia

What an interesting, interesting filmThe Ides of March is.

I don't mean interesting in reference to the plot. Everyone knows politics is a dirty game. The people involved will do or say anything to win an election. Turn on CNN or MSNBC or whatever today and you'll see it clear as day in this primary season. Plus, any film-going audience has seen all the backhanded political tricks in any film that has any sort of political/election background. The Ides of March doesn't really offer anything new on this front. Nothing new is offered, it's not viewed from a radically different angle, no fresh commentary is offered. 

All that said, I absolutely loved this film. I can honestly say this is the first time I actually got Ryan Gosling (I wasn't enamored with him in last year's Blue Valentine). George Clooney's direction is top notch, filled with wonderful pacing and some truly fantastic choices (the press conference, for one).

Having seen all 9 Best Picture nominees, I would officially call this a snub. Snubs all around, actually. Gosling, Clooney's direction, Best Picture, everything. Sure, the film could be something more than it was, but for what it was, it was wonderful. Now, to read the play the film is based on...

OW11: Hugo

Image via Wikipedia

Hugo... To be blunt, Hugo was a troublesome film for me.

The film's plot is long winded, filled with twists and turns... but not suspenseful twists and turns. Instead, the twists and turns are the tone and point of the movie; first it's a story about how bad this kid's life sucks, then it's an adventure story, then it's a mystery, then it's an ode to the silent film era, then it's.... you get the point. What is the point of the film? After seeing the film I read various online writeups, all of which praised the film as a love letter to a forgotten era... if that's what this film is, why do you not even get into that until past the film's midpoint? If it's an adventure film, why does the adventure stop about a quarter of the way through? 

I know the argument against me. Maybe that's the point. Sure, whatever. I don't like that in a film.

All the other elements in the film are strong enough. The performances are nothing to write home about, but nothing glaring either. The imagery is downright stunning. The 3D gimmick here is used masterfully, truly enhancing the film (which usually doesn't happen). I just can't get past the composition of the film.

 

And with this, I've seen all 9 2012 Best Picture nominees, and with two weeks to spare (well, one as I write this, but I saw Hugo over a week ago). If I can swing it, I want to see some "snubs" this week, will write if I do. Do stay tuned for my OW11 recap, to be posted on Sunday!

OW11: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Image via Wikipedia

Next stop on the Oscar Watch 2011 Express is Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Tom Hanks's mostly-annual Oscar bait flick. As a whole, I enjoyed this film quite a bit, and don't really understand the outrage from some film blogs about this being nominated for Best Picture. It's not a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination nor is it anything groundbreaking or important or anything like that, but it is far from the worst film of the 9 nominees this year. 

One of the biggest problems this film faces is the 9/11 background for the story. This is a story that simply cannot be told without almost reliving that nightmare of a day, and director Stephen Daldry does not tread lightly here. For that reason, EL&IC may not be an easy watch for some. All of the 9/11 imagery and descriptions and everything may be necessary to the story, but I'm not sure all the superfluous details and speculation was necessary (if you see the film, you'd know exactly what I'm referring to).

Another problem for the film is the unabashed sentimentality in the film. The story is clearly a story that will draw tears, something else Daldry is not shy to go for. In fact, some portions of the film play to that effect far too much, bordering on overkill. Had there been a little more restraint in this department, this film could be something special.

Beyond those two things, everything else about this film is absolutely lovely. The cast is top notch, with especially wonderful work being turned in by Viola Davis (again), Jeffrey Wright, and Mac Von Sydow. As was the case in War Horse, the supporting cast had to be strong and make an impression in limited screentime, and they most certainly did just that.

Based on the reactions to this film being nominated, it's clearly a polarizing one. In fact, I'd say I enjoyed it a whole lot more than Marissa, who saw it with me. Other people I've talked to was the same thing - some really like it, others not so much. For that reason, this is a film that has next to no chance for the Oscar... in fact, I'm going to guess it was the 8th or 9th nominee, which is a shame. Nonetheless, it's a film worth seeing.

Random sidenote, almost a postscript... I enjoy that James Gandolfini's name is on the poster I've embedded, courtesty of Wikipedia. His role was cut from the film.