Coming Distractions March 9th, 2010

Up in the Air: The heavily Oscar-nominated film (Best Picture, Best Director, 2 Best Supporting Actress noms, Best Adapted Screenplay) starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, & Anna Kendrick takes on both our current economic crisis and one man's inability to connect with others. Apparently, in preparation for this film Jason Reitman was concerned with being unable to write believable dialogue for characters who had recently been laid off, so he went and conducted interviews, which were so successful & moving he ended up using these "real" people in the final film.

Precious: An Oscar favorite (Best Picture, Best Director, Leading Actress, Supporting Actress, Film Editing, Adapted Screenplay) about an abused teenager struggling to find any self worth, and any one thing she can be good at. Mo'Nique's performance is singularly terrifying. Even if Up in the Air and Precious may not be frontrunners for Best Picture in the expanded 10 nominee category (I've seen all except 1, and enjoyed most), but these two may very well be my personal favorites & the films I am most likely to watch a second time.



Capitalism: A Love Story: The new Michael Moore.
Old Dogs
Hachi: A Dog's Tale: Richard Gere in a tearjerker of a dog movie by Lasse Hallström (director of such disparate dramas as What's Eating Gilbert Grape & Dear John). I would have felt really satisfied if they had named it A Dog's Tail. It's a shame to just let a pun of a title go like that, right?
The Stoning of Soraya M.




Here is a list of the Oscar-nominated films we currently have for rent:

Coco Before Chanel (Costume Design)
Coraline (Best Animated Feature Film)
The Cove (Best Documentary Feature)
District 9 (Best Picture, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Adapted Screenplay)
Food, Inc. (Best Documentary Feature)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Achievement in Cinematography)
The Hurt Locker (Best Picture, Best Director, Leading Actor, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects)
Il Divo (Makeup)
Inglourious Basterds (Best Picture, Best Director, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing)
Julie & Julia (Leading Actress)
A Serious Man (Best Picture, Original Screenplay)
Star Trek (Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Sound Mixing)
Up (Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Original Score, Best Animated Feature, Sound Editing)
Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (Best Animated Short Film)

The ballots for our Oscar contest will be collected mid-afternoon Sunday so be sure to get your picks in tonight or early tomorrow! Big winnings!