2011 Oscar Wild Arse Guesses

It's that special night again. When Lawren proves she's a better pontificator of all things gambling related when she destroys me in the 4th annual Lawren vs Jigar Oscar Predictions. Being 0-3 in this event, I've resigned myself to defeat, but Lawren claims this has been the hardest year for her predicting, which I think is just lines so that when she does get them all right she looks even smarter. Check out our picks below, and let us know how you do versus us.




But wait, there's a late entrant into the fray! Our picks have all been proven wrong by Iron Mike.

Oscar Talk with Mike Tyson & Leonard Maltin from Mike Tyson

The Pigeon Whisperer, opening at a/perture on April 31st.

Biutiful..pronounced Beeeuteeful

With only a few days left until the Academy Awards, we hope you've got your ballots ready! (we'll be putting our predictions down and hope to publish them over the weekend) In keeping with our long stretch of showing nominated films, we are pleased to add Biutiful to the mix. Biutiful has garnered a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film as well as one for Best Actor for Javier Bardem's stellar performance. Biutiful is directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu whose previous films include Babel, 21 Grams and one of my favorites Amores Perros. Check out the trailer below...

Our most famous local cinephile, Dale Pollock, believes Biutiful is one of the best films of the year, so check out his Movie A Day Blog to learn why. You can also check out the review in Relish.

The Shorter Oscar Fare

So it's time to roll out the red carpet again and celebrate this year's Oscar nominated films - no not the feature films we have pretty much been celebrating all year long, but the other ones...the really small gems. This Saturday, February 19 and next Saturday, February 26 we welcome back the Oscar nominated shorts - both Live Action and Animated.

As said best by our heroes at THE Alamo Drafthouse Cinema...."Just because they're short doesn't make them any less entertaining, important or meaningful. In fact, one could argue that the short film format actually makes the art of filmmaking a greater challenge, considering the microscopic budgets and the narrative limitations of time. James Cameron had 300 million dollars and 10 years to make AVATAR - these wee gems of the cinema are labors of love, not box office returns. Join us for the rare opportunity to watch the best short films of 2010 the way they were meant to be seen, on the BIG screen!"

So here is the schedule and a brief synopsis of the films:

LIVE ACTION SHORTS - 2/19 and 2/26 at 10:00am (yes, two screenings only!!)

THE CONFESSION; United Kingdom; Oscar Nominee: Tanel Toom. Quiet and sincere, 9-year-old Sam is worried about making his first confession at church. As his conscience is clear, he therefore cannot hope for any relief from the experience. He and his friend Jacob decide to remedy that situation, but their initially innocent prank turns unexpectedly tragic. (26 min.)

THE CRUSH; Ireland; Oscar Nominee: Michael Creagh. An 8-year-old schoolboy is so besotted with his teacher that he challenges her boyfriend to a duel to the death. (15 min.)

GOD OF LOVE; USA; Oscar Nominee: Luke Matheny. Lounge-singing darts champion Raymond Goodfellow finds his prayers are answered -- literally -- when he receives a mysterious package of passion-inducing darts. The catch is that the one woman he loves -- Kelly, a drummer in his band -- is already in love with Ray's best friend Fozzie, the guitarist in the band. But when Ray uses the darts in a loony scheme to resolve this strange romantic triangle, he learns a surprising lesson about unrequited love and discovers his own place in the universe. Romance is in the air in this bohemian charmer. (18 min.)

NA WEWE; Belgium; Oscar Nominee: Ivan Goldschmidt. 1994: There is civil war in Burundi, a small country of Central Africa directly bordering Rwanda. A near genocidal confrontation opposes rebels mainly composed of ethnic Hutus and a national army with a majority of Tutsis. This short film relates a sadly frequent episode of this fratricidal conflict: the attack by rebels of a minivan carrying ordinary citizens. A Kalashnikov bursts out. The bus stops, the passengers get off. An order is barked: "Hutus to the left, Tutsis to the right!" The sorting out begins. But who is a Hutu, who is a Tutsi? This story is entirely based on real people and situations. It was written by a person who has lived in the beauty of Burundi and suffered its horrors. With emotion, suspense and humor it exposes the absurdity of ethnic and racial strife. "NA WEWE" (pronounce "Na wayway") means "You too" in Kirundi. (19 min.)

WISH 143; United Kingdom; Oscar Nominees: Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite. A fifteen-year-old boy with only months to live is granted one wish from the Dreamscape Charity. But David doesn't want to go to Disneyland or meet Gary Neville; what he really wants is an hour alone with a naked woman. (24 min.)

ANIMATED SHORTS - 2/19 and 2/26 at 10:15am and 12:15pm (yes, 4 screenings only!!!) So grab breakfast on the way and bring your kids!

DAY & NIGHT; USA; Oscar Nominee: Teddy Newton. When Day, a sunny fellow, encounters Night, a stranger of distinctly darker moods, sparks fly! Day and Night are frightened and suspicious of each other at first, and quickly get off on the wrong foot. But as they discover each other's unique qualities - and come to realize that each of them offers a different window onto the same world - the friendship helps both to gain a new perspective. (6 min.)

THE GRUFFALO; United Kingdom & Germany; Oscar Nominees: Max Lang and Jakob Schuh. The magical tale of a mouse who takes a walk through the woods in search of a nut. Encountering three predators who all wish to eat him - a fox, an owl and a snake - the plucky mouse has to use his wits to survive, creating an imaginary monster who then turns out to be all too real. The voice cast includes Helena Bonham Carter, James Corden, Tom Wilkinson, John Hurt, Rob Brydon and Robbie Coltrane. (27 min.)

LET'S POLLUTE; USA; Oscar Nominee: Geefwee Boedoe. In the spirit of 50's & 60's educational films, 'Let's Pollute' is a modern satire on how pollution is our heritage and keeps our economy growing strong, while instructing us how to be better polluters for a better blighted tomorrow. (6 min.)

THE LOST THING; Australia & United Kingdom; Oscar Nominees: Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan. A boy discovers a bizarre looking creature while out collecting bottle tops at the beach. Realising it is lost, he tries to find out who owns it or where it belongs, but is met with indifference from everyone else, who barely notice its presence, each unwilling to entertain this uninvited interruption to their day to day lives. For reasons he does not explain, the boy empathizes with the creature, and sets out to find a 'place' for it. (15 min.)

MADAGASCAR, CARNET DE VOYAGE (MADAGASCAR, A JOURNEY DIARY); France; Oscar Nominee: Bastien Dubois. A visual travel journal demonstrating the importance of dance, death, and traditional customs present and vibrant in the Malagasy society. (11 min.)

Additional films in the theatrical program (Not among the nominated)

URS (Moritz Mayerhofer, 10 min.)

THE COW THAT WANTED TO BE A HAMBURGER (Bill Plympton, 6 min.)

For all you parents out there here is a link to the official website and trailers for each of the animated films to find out whether they are appropriate for your child (the shorts are not "officially" rated). According to the official facebook page, the Animated films are deemed KID FRIENDLY while the Live Action are not!

Blue is the new pink to Cupid

As I sat down to write this blog, probably one of the most appropriate commercials flashed up on the screen - Unstoppable. If there was ever a film that I would classify as a train wreck, like the movie about a runaway train aforementioned, Blue Valentine would be it. However, I can promise you that not many films will feel as real to you as this one, unlike the made up holiday coming up this Monday (that comment will cost me an extra dozen roses, thanks for nothing Hallmark). Michelle Williams (rightfully nominated for an Oscar) and Ryan Gosling (unrightfully snubbed for an Oscar) are a couple whose routine has made them forget what brought them together in the first place. However, this movie isn't Just Go With It where Adam Sandler probably realizes he loves his somehow plain looking Jennifer Aniston assistant instead of the ridiculously hot Brooklyn Decker (that one cost me a box of chocolates) that he's created a web of lies for. Blue Valentine is about a romance ending and how they got there. Check out the review that was in Relish this week:

Sounds like a real winner for Valentine's Day weekend, right? I'm actually going to argue that it is, as I told my wonderful and lovely wife after watching. For me, it was seeing some of the little things I was doing (intentionally or not) that mimic'd Gosling's character contributing to driving his girl away that helped me realize what I shouldn't be doing. And I think it works the same way for the ladies, so while depressing to a degree, it makes you realize what you should be doing to prove your love to the person you care about the most, and isn't that what February 14th should really be about? Wow, if that last little bit didn't make up for my anti-Valentine's day comments and discussion of another woman's hotness, I don't know what will. We'll score it back at even now. Check out the trailer and see what you think:

And in our tradition (does two times really make it a ritual??) of screening unconventional romantic movies on V-Day, we're using our strictly platonic partnership with RiverRun, the cineclub to show Oscar nominated documentary Waste Land at 8 pm on Monday. Check out their blog for some more info and go ahead and get your tickets, because every restaurant is already booked. Seriously, you're too late. I've been calling everywhere. Can someone get me a table somewhere? I guess I'm in the doghouse again. Rats.

And icing on the cake...we have blueberry lemonade cakeballs!

What happened to the other 120?

So I've been gone for a little bit, and I apologize, but the reasons are threefold. First, The King's Speech has been doing all the talking for me. Sellouts left and right + more Oscar nominations than 80s samples on a Girl Talk album = too busy to write. Second, to really honor the film that opened last week that I haven't promoted enough, I wanted to come up with 127 reasons to see 127 Hours (Curator's editing note - no one wanted to read all of these, so I've got the top 7). And finally, I wanted to make sure no one passed out during its first week (SUCCESS!!).

127 - Who doesn't like Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 Days Later, Millions, and the movie that made it cool to be an Indian trivia nerd like me, Slumdog Millionaire)

76 - If you don't believe me that it's good, check out the reviews from Mark Burger at Yes! Weekly and in Relish (both gave it 3 and 1/2 stars)

69 - (Editor's note: Yes, my husband is still very immature) Hey, that scene with Mr. Franco and those two ladies jumping into the water looks vaguely familiar...

....that's me at the Homestead Crater in Midway, Utah where they just coincidentally filmed a part of 127 Hours.

29 - The good people at Great Outdoor Provision Company are being totally awesome by giving you a 10% discount on one regularly priced hiking or camping item just by showing your receipt from 127 Hours at a/perture!

26 - Sure, you know how it ends, but didn't the bazillion other people that went to see Titanic? And besides, James Franco is way cuter and funnier than Leo (blogger's note: that last sentence was added by Lawren)

19 - Did you see our facebook posts proving how cool James Franco is? His Grandmother and The Daily Show agree.

1 - All kidding aside, it is an incredibly told and acted real life story, that actually made me come out of the theater not only more appreciative of what Aron Ralston had to go through, but more thankful of everything I have. So ignore the stuff about how gross it is and how you won't be able to watch it.

Preview: