Day 602: Oscar Coverage - A Serious Man

Out of all the Best Picture nominated movies this year, the Coen Brother’s, “A Serious Man”, has left me the most perplexed. The main question I walked away with was, “Why in the world is this movie a best picture candidate?” Honestly, I’ve read all of the reviews touting the Coen Brother as “genius”, however, I still can’t wrap my head around the movie at all… and I LOVE the Coen Brother’s… everything they have ever done! I even like “The Man Who Wasn’t There”… okay, I will admit their remake of “The Ladykillers” is skipable, but everything thing else they’ve done is A+ in my book… but now, there is “A Serious Man”… and is movie evokes very different emotions.

I know there are quite a few people out there who “don’t get” the Coen Brother’s… when friends talk about their films and say, “you know? I just didn’t like it,” I often times advise them to watch it a second time. The Coen Brother’s make films that get better with each and every viewing… however, I wouldn’t wish a second viewing of “A Serious Man” on my worst enemy. Have the Coen Brother’s finally reached that filmmaking plateau where everything they do is considered “genius”, even if it’s not? Possibly.

Why am I so critical? Well, the movie itself doesn’t accomplish ANYTHING. But maybe that’s the genius I am missing. The movie is a about a college professor whose life is crumbling around him, his wife is leaving him, he kids are acting out, his neighbors and students are making strange demands from him, someone is opposing his tenure, and he may or may not have a serious illness… and all of these things happen at the exact same time without warning. The ongoing theme of the movie is, “but, I didn’t do anything.” And he doesn’t… the main character never did anything to set off the destruction of his life. And in turn… maybe the Coen Brother’s opted to accent this theme by making a movie that doesn’t accomplish anything… who knows?
About an hour into the movie Serena and looked at each other thinking, “Something has got to happen… right? There has to be a pay off at the end so everything makes sense.” Regrettably, nothing in this move gets resolved. In fact, the movie essentially pulls an ending out of the “Sopranos” play book. It simply ends in mid-scene leaving the audience saying, “What the f--- was that?”

Although, there was one small redeeming quality about the movie: the introduction of award winning theatre actor Michael Stuhlbarg in the lead role. Even in a film that essentially does nothing but make me long for the time I lost watching it, Michael’s performance was the only thing keeping me from poking my eye out… and for that… I am grateful.

Day 601: Oscar Coverage – Recording Attempt 3…

After two failed attempts to record the Oscars Serena could sense my despair and desperation. “Sweetie, I saw a commercial today for a 7pm rebroadcast.” I gave her a sideways glance, “Wait a minute… you’re right, this morning I noticed two scheduled rebroadcasts… but I didn’t notice what time the second one was supposed to start.”

“I think it starts a 7pm,” said Serena

“What time is it now?”

“6:50pm.”

I was off! Hurdling down the stairs eight at a time, stopping only for a quick bathroom break... as I slid into the living room I snatched a throw pillow hurling it towards my Harmony remote cradle across the room. Hitting my target perfectly, the remote launched into the air, ultimately finding my hand as I flipped over the couch. It was as if the force had intervened.

By the time I landed safely on the couch my entertainment center had already come alive with the sights and sounds of the Oscars… RECORD! I pressed the button with authority.

As I looked over my handy work as wave of relaxation washed over me. I had down it. It was perfect. Tomorrow would be a new day. I would have a do over. I carefully turned off the television, verifying that the VCR and TiVo continued their noble duty… I set my bedside alarm, again, for 5am. I would pretend that Monday never happened. I would wake up again with a second chance at---

And then the power went out.

Yes… the power went out… and then I cried.

Yes... I cried.

Day 600: Oscar Coverage – Recording Attempt 2… FAIL!

After discovering my time zone recording faux pas and a good cry, I went from sad to angry… and from angry to manic problem solver. Jumped online and verified there would be a rebroadcast at 11am Serbian time. I quickly programmed my TiVo for an 8am start time… and then went about getting ready for work… it was going to be a Monday Night Oscar Night and I was excited.

When I got home from work, Serena was giving the boys a bath. I quickly checked my TiVo to verify the recording. It was there! I pressed play… I had to see the red carpet!

Blue…

All I could see was blue… from the lower left hand corner to the upper right hand corner… blue… a landscape of blue. NOTHING BUT BLUE!

Someone had turned the VCR off!

“Honey?”

“Ops, sorry sweetie!”

FAIL!

To be continued…

Day 599: Oscar Coverage – Recording Attempt 1… FAIL!

What with having seen all 10 best picture nominations and after felling the painful void which is a year without the Oscars in 2009… I was determined to watch the Oscars before the media got hold of the broadcast and spoiled all of my fun. So, it took a little doing, but, with the help of a European VCR and a PAL/NTSC converter I rigged up a way to record live television with my TiVo in Serbia. It works! I’ve tested it! As long as it’s not the Oscars… .

So, the plan was noble. I set the TiVo to records starting at 2am and set my alarm clock for 5am. This would give me two and a half hours to watch, commercial free, before having to leave for work. And in theory, the plan worked out great… I actually got up… made myself a cup of coffee… walked into the living room and immediately noticed something… the TiVo was not recording. To be safe, I had set the recording for 5 hours… yet… it wasn’t recording.

What went wrong? Well… as I soon discovered… the internal clock of my TiVo is set to US Pacific Time… however, I programmed the recording based on the Serbian broadcast times. I know what you are thinking… “huh, what?” Yes… I felt the same way at 5am Monday morning as I choked on my own tears. Apparently, in order to initiate a recording at 2am, Monday, Serbian time… I should have scheduled the TiVo to start recording at 5pm, Sunday.

Yeah… I don’t know what I’m talking about either… but it’s the Inconvenient Truth.

Attempt 1 = Fail!

To be continued…

Day 598: Oscar Coverage – My Triumph? Or My Defeat?

As many of you have probably realized by now… I actually saw all 10 movies up for best picture prior the big event. This is a feat I have only accomplished one other time in my life, 9 years ago when “Gladiator” won… and there were only 5 movies up. And I have to admit, I really worked hard for it this year… at dawn broke on Oscar Sunday, I only had 9 under my belt, however, with the encouragement of my lovely and supportive wife I managed to see Avatar just under the wire.

I don’t know why I love the Oscars so much, but there is something strangely comforting about them… maybe it’s the fact I’ve watched them religiously ever year for the last 22 years… well… almost every year. Last year, I missed them… and I’ve felt strangely incomplete ever since. You see, although AFN broadcasts the Oscars live, staying up for a 2am start time in Belgrade when I have to work the next day isn’t exactly realistic. Plus, I didn’t have any way to record the broadcast either. So, last year I went to work Monday morning without watching any of it. And as soon as I sat down at my desk I saw a list of all of the winners… it was hard to avoid. So… when I got home that night, having discovered all the outcomes, I wasn’t feeling motivated to watch. I think this greatly offended the Oscar gods. Seriously… because for 2010… Murphy’s Law was out to get me… not just once… but three times.

To be continued…

Day 597: Oscar Coverage - Best Costume Design

Although she may have come across a bit snotty at first, I found Oscar Winning Costumer Sandy Powell’s acceptance speech to be quite refreshing:

“Wow, well. I already have two of these, so I'm feeling greedy. I'd like to dedicate this one to the costume designers that don't do movies about dead monarchs or glittery musicals. The designers that do the contemporary films and the low budget ones that actually don't go recognized as they should do and they work as hard. So this is for you, but I'm gonna take it home tonight. Thank you.”

The two previous wins she’s referring to were “Shakespeare in Love” and “The Aviator”. But she has a point. Designing contemporary costumes are just as intense as making historical costumes, which is her specialty. Yet, the Academy only seems to honor period pieces and musicals in its Best Costume category.

I think it was admirable for Sandy to use her time chastising the Academy voters and remind them that costume design goes far beyond poufy dresses.

Day 596: Oscar Coverage - Best Picture

Oscar Poll 2010, Final Score
99 out of 127 = 77.95%

“Avatar” vs. “The Hurt Locker”
Wow. Can I just say “wow”? Best picture completely and totally blew me away... not to mention Best Director. Now, don’t get me wrong. I knew “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” were the only two contenders for Best Picture no matter how many movies were stuffed into the category. But honestly, I thought “The Hurt Locker” was a long shot, even though it’s my favorite of the year. A very long… long… shot. I’m stunned.

Some folks in the media have been likening The Hurt Locker’s victory to that of David over Goliath… but I don’t really see the comparison unless David was a Kung-Fu Master and Goliath simply had a glandular disorder. Hands down, The Hurt Locker is better movie… and its victory proves that just because a movie is the most expensive or makes the most money doesn’t make it the best… unless we’re giving out an award for Marketing.

I’m not saying Avatar was a bad movie. Quite the opposite. It was very good. When I, finally, saw it over the weekend, I felt comfortable with the possibility of it winning Best Picture. However, for me, the measure of a true Best Picture is the marriage of four very important components of film making: Direction, Writing, Acting, and Technical Achievement. Although Avatar had amazing Direction and mind-boggling Technical Achievement… it was lacking in two very important areas: Writing and Acting. And I can’t be the only person who feels James Cameron’s epic is lacking in these two areas because the Academy neglected to recognize Avatar in those areas as well.

In short, I could start a drinking game based on the number of times Sigourney Weaver and Sam Worthington ambiguously referred to “science”. James Cameron is an idea man… who shouldn’t be writing dialogue.

Ultimately, selling me a best picture that does excel in each of the four components is very tough. However, The Hurt Locker, has is the perfect marriage of all four. I am very happy to see the Academy’s ten movie voting experiment pay off ensuring the best movie took home the gold.