Month: February 2017

Oscar Weekend Things

LaurenLeave a comment

Well.  I certainly wasn’t expecting that.  I woke up this morning, thinking “wait, did that really happen??”  Did they really announce La La Land as the Best Picture winner, only to figure out Moonlight actually won, after the entire La La Land crew was already standing up on stage, giving their acceptance speech??  What is even happening?

I am simultaneously amused and horrified because, in all seriousness, how unfortunate and sad for both films that it happened that way.  And also because that disaster overshadows the real star of the show… that Matt Damon/Jimmy Kimmel feud.  Kidding (because: Viola Davis, Mahershala Ali, Emma Stone, Kevin O’Connell finally winning after 21 nominations) but also not kidding because I was laughing so hard at that We Bought a Zoo/orchestra playing over his speech bit.  Too good, too good.

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Back on Friday, I started the weekend in the best (lamest?) way.  Aka by taking a nap.  That work week was too much for me, I guess.  But afterwards we rallied with Melvin beers and Loving.  Honestly, I just didn’t feel like the film did the true story justice.  It all felt very downplayed.  And look, I just could not stop focusing on how bad Joel Edgerton’s bleached hair was.  It was very distracting.

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Saturday started with the fluffiest pancakes and the prettiest tulips.  Full Disclosure: I actually wanted to make these, but buttermilk always does me wrong, so we had to move to Plan B which actually wasn’t a downgrade at all because I love these and hadn’t made them in too long.  And also, those tulips are actually from Friday but they got moved to our room on Saturday and they just looked SO BEAUTIFUL in the light from my window.

Other Saturday plans included a trip to the gym (I ran four whole miles and lived through it), Target, the grocery store, lounging, reading and maybe watching the critically acclaimed movie Step Up before we had dinner with my mom, sister and Wayne at Fire on the Mountain.  Alls I know is wings, fries, beer and a table of family made my heart so happy.  We may have watched Sausage Party afterwards, so just some excellent movie viewing going on that day.

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Sunday started with a family breakfast and Baby Roman was looking too cute for words.  Isn’t it crazy how quickly babies/kids change??  Last time we saw Roman he was just a little lump and now he’s holding his head up, looking around, SMILING.  Just wow!  Afterwards, not gonna lie, we napped.  But then we got ourselves together and did all that “Sunday stuff,” aka lunch salad prep, making shrimp stock, doing laundry, cleaning the bathroom (which is the worst chore EVER) before the awards started.

All envelope fiascos aside, I beat Joey at both the at-home ballot and Oscar Bingo so I’m probably the real winner of the night, right?

Did you watch?  Are you still in disbelief?  What was your favorite moment?  Tell me, please!

Oscars 2017

Lauren1 Comment

Last week I read an article titled “Best Pictures That Didn’t Deserve to Win and What Should Have Won Instead” (or something to that effect).  Saving Private Ryan lost to Shakespeare in Love, can you believe it?

On Friday, I printed out our at-home ballots and all week, Joey and I were scrambling to watch movies that were up for some of the lesser awards (i.e. not Best Picture) before tonight (aka Oscar Sunday, which by the way, sounds way better than Super Bowl Sunday if you ask me).

Last Thursday, Apollo 13 was on the History Channel while I was running at the gym and I kept thinking “dang, this movie is good!” so when I looked it up on Wikipedia I was shocked to see it lost in all kinds of Oscar categories, including Best Visual Effects to… get this… BABE!  That pig movie??

In other words, I’ve got Oscars on the brain right now.  Which makes sense, considering they are TONIGHT!

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Summer is my spirit animal, but my  winter life, when I become a movie theater dweller, start having very serious conversations about the merits of an animated short and can’t get enough of Fridays in, parked on the couch with a Best Picture nom on rent is so so special.  I look forward to this short sweet time every year.  Yeah, yeah, the film industry is hustling all year long, but I kinda like cramming it all in during the winter months.  Gives my life a real sense of purpose from December to February.

That being said, some years are better than others film-wise but I thought this year was pretty alright!  We saw some movies we really loved (Manchester, Fences, La La Land) and some we truly hated (please never make me watch Jackie or Hacksaw Ridge ever again).  From big showy productions (hi, highway dance scene in La La Land) to much more low-key and somber tones (gotta root on Moonlight as the little indie that could).  I’m gonna stop dragging this out and just give you my personal rankings:

  1. Manchester by the Sea*
  2.  La La Land
  3. Fences
  4. Moonlight
  5. Hidden Figures
  6. Hell or High Water
  7. Arrival
  8. Lion
  9. Hacksaw Ridge

Honestly, I could arrange 4-8 every which way and still feel like I got it wrong.  I know which movies I LOVED but after Fences, I had major criticisms of all the other movies.  On the Oscar Nominated Shorts front, Piper and Pear Cider and Cigarettes could not be more different (in length, tone or content) but both grabbed my attention.  I suppose I’ll root for Piper because the world could use more things that make you laugh.  I didn’t love a single one of the live actions, but if I had to choose, Sing and Silent Nights were my favorites.

In my heart of hearts, I think La La Land will do very well tonight.  Also, feeling very strongly about Emma Stone for Best Actress and Viola Davis for Best Supporting Actress.  If Viola doesn’t win, something has gone very very wrong.

*Not gonna lie, I’m very torn between being a movie lover who thinks Casey Affleck was superb and being a feminist who heard those sexual harassment allegations and wanted to wash my hands of him forever.  The struggle is real.  But I definitely know Ben > Casey in all ways.  

Happy Oscar Sunday!