My husband is a huge film buff so we usually see all the movies nominated for best picture and at least a scattering of the others, but we've been broke so we're way behind this year. In fact, we haven't seen any of the movies nominated for best picture. I think we'll probably see them soon though with the exception of Babel which looks too similar to Crash. Of the other nominees we've seen Pan's Labyrinth (excellent, my favorite movie so far), Curse of the Golden Flower (very good, and the costumes and sets were so beautiful), Children of Men (very good, wonderful long takes, definitely deserves its editing nomination), and An Inconvient Truth (which is one of those movies that everyone should see as it is that important).

The ones that I'm most looking forward to seeing are the two Clint Eastwood movies since his films have been so good and Volver which I've heard is great and I loved Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Bad Education which are by the same director. I'd love to see all the movies nominated for foreign film as they sound more interesting than most of the Best Picture films. I'm sad that I didn't go see Water when it was playing here but I didn't know anything about it. I don't want to see any of the other movies nominated for best documentary as I think they all look much too depressing.

I'm mad that The Fountain didn't get any nominations - it should have gotten one for best score as the music was excellent, and A Scanner Darkly should have gotten a nomination for Animated Film, but unfortantely there is a bias that animated films should be for children so adult animation is always being overlooked.

I do look forward to the guess the Oscar contests every year. I haven't won yet but I've gotten close. One year I had everything except Best Supporting Actress. Although I have learned that the more cynical guesses are usually the right ones.

I'll have to consult with my son on this one. He has movies stacked, literally, halfway up the walls and knows who's in them and who directed, etc.

He'll tell me what I should like and what I shouldn't and why.

:):):)

Devil was good--and Meryl Streep is always good--but I don't see where it broke any new ground; it was very entertaining and very forgettable--just another movie IMHO.

MichaelAT

I have seen The Queen, Notes on a Scandal, Dreamgirls, Curse of the Golden Flower (no matter what era, Mr. Chow rocks as does Gong Li), The Departed (was soooo glad to see Mark Walberg nominated). Missed Volver when it was here, and it played for weeks. Pan's is only playing near Princeton, I guess we "shore folk" can't understand such things. I should get over to see Last King of Scotland while it is around. I thought that The Prestige should have gotten a writing nod, so creepy. Hope Letters from Iwo Jima gets here soon, otherwise will have to wait for DVD.

Just be warned that Little Miss Sunshine has some language and drug use/talk. It is funny though.
Glad to see you Diane! How did you like Dreamgirls?

Carla

Its funny. I do love movies. But I never go to the theater any more. Just rent. Then it is too late for an Academy Awards discussion. The only movie I saw this year was The Good Shepard. It was very good, but very long.

Diane - Were the performances in The Queen as good as I hear? I have little interest in the subject matter, but the Helen Mirren (?) lead was supposed to be incredible.

Hi Carla! I saw it when visiting my friend in Illinois. They are BIG musical fans, I am NOT. They are also big movie-goers. I agreed to see Dreamgirls, we had just missed a showing of Pursuit of Happyness. It was very entertaining, just enough drama between the singing to keep me interested. Jamie was boring and Beyonce was just OK. Eddie and Jennifer were very, very good, and are well deserving of the nominations.

Sorry Harry, must have been in edit when you posted. Yes, The Queen is very, very good. Very interesting insights into the workings of the Windsor household(s). And Ms. Mirren is excellent, as is Michael Sheen as Tony Blair. Judi Dench is very, very good in Notes on a Scandal, just scary she is.

One of the local theaters (in same chain as the art house in my town) is bringing back Volver starting on Friday, and they are also playing Last King. Not a great theater, in need of serious renovation, but I'm glad that they can add quality movies like these in addtion to whatever new dreck is coming out this week. That's where I saw "Golden Flower" and I was afraid that I would have to drive to Princeton to see it.

I would like to see Notes On A Scandal and Volver. Penelope wrangled herself a nom.

Carla

I haven't seen too many. Loved Little Miss Sunshine. We had to see Last King of Scotland because Forrest W.'s daughters are on my daughter's soccer team, and we've been crazy soccer parents together, so...had to. He was great.

I want to see Pan's Labrynth, the Departed, The Queen...I mean all of 'em. I'll get to it soon.

Last movie I saw was Night at the Museum. what can I say; my kids insisted.

Volver: Penelope was good, but Carmen Maura was fabulous, as always! Ms. Maura was definitely overlooked for Supporting Actress, her performance was better than Cate Blanchett's in Notes on a Scandal.

Update: We saw Volver and The Departed over the weekend. I loved Volver. It had such a wonderful story and I agree that with Diane that Carmen Maura was great as the mother. I didn't like The Departed that much though. I think I was prejudiced against it from the start because I liked the original version so much and I really hate remakes on principle. I think what bothered me is that there was a lot more moral ambiguity in the original since the police officer was really a good cop when he wasn't helping out the mob so once they killed his boss you know he would go on solving crimes and doing a good job. I don't think that was there (or at least not as obvious) in the remake.

I've become happier about the oscar nominations since it has given me a chance to see two Spanish language films in our mainstream theater. They almost never show a film with subtitles much less two at the same time (actually three since they are still showing Curse of the Golden Flower).

The only movie nominated I've seen is one of the foregin language movies - Water - it's beautiful. I saw it while I was back in Sri Lanka this summer and got the DVD to bring back - we are so excited that it was nominated cos it was filmed in my home country - and the little girl in the movie is a Sri Lankan girl - acting for the first time. I know Netflix has this movie listed - it's worth watching. They filmed it in one of our favourite spots - an island that has this great old colonial house truned into a restaurant - though with the props it was unrecognizable.

Aprille

I just added Water to the netflix queue. I keep forgetting that it is out on dvd already. We saw both of the Clint Eastwood movies over the weekend. Letters from Iwo Jima is the better movie of the two although it works well to watch them both as a pair. The films were a good reminder of how pointless wars can be. My husband and I have our top ten lists on his blog. You can see it at http://killthesnark.blogspot.com/2007/01/far-too-late-top-films-list-for-2006.html

We saw "The Pursuit of Happyness" -- I would recommend it to anyone. An inspiring movie based on a true story.

Pan's Labrynth. WOW! Well-told story, and well acted. Not for the squeamish, though. I have to say that it was better than Volver.

Saw all the best picture nominees except for Babel, including The Queen, yesterday. Saw Dreamgirls a few weeks back. Saw Volver some weeks back too and Notes on a Scandal yesterday-2 movies in one day, with lunch in between, love it. Definitely more movies to see, but I really don't think I want to see horror, although Pan's Labyrinth has such great reviews.

Pan's isn't what I would consider "horror", but there are some parts that would be too frightening for small children. It is set in Spain, 1944, during WWII, and is about a young girl who moves with her pregnant mother to live in the mountains with the mother's new husband, a Captain in Franco's army. The husband's unit is tracking down rebels who live in the mountains. The horror of war, the struggle of the rebels and the imagination of a child. Makes for excellent stuff.

We just saw The Queen. I think we're about done with the Oscars although we might still see Notes on a Scandel and both Little Miss Sunshine and Water are coming from Netflix. The Queen had very good acting but I didn't think the story was that interesting. But I've always considered royalty to be rather useless and expensive so I didn't care that much about the queen or her struggles.

Diane described Pan's Labyrinth quite well. It is mostly a war story with some fantasy elements. The grisly part is mostly the fights between the army and the rebels which does include the aftermath of the torture of one of the rebels (although thankfully it does not show the actual torture).

I feel sorry for my mother right now. She likes to watch the movies on our top ten lists for the year but she hates violence. And pretty much the only non-violent movie on my top ten is Shortbus which has a lot of graphic sex. So I can't exactly recommend that one to her either. I think she'd really like Volver though and all the violence in that is off-screen so I think that one is okay at least.

Athena, my mom is totally the opposite, if something isn't being blown up or shot at, my mom probably doesn't want to see it. She does want to see The Queen (Helen Mirren is a fav because of Prime Suspect) and An Inconvenient Truth (political), but would strangle me if I put Little Miss Sunshine on her queue. My mom will like The Departed and The Prestige very much.

I just rented Little Miss Sunshine for DW. I thought this was a cutesy movie like Shirley Temple. Nope. Just a weird little movie about a dysfunctional group of lost people, each of whom reminds us of somebody we know well. I liked it more than DW. I wonder why...

Harry, I liked Little MS, it reminded me of half the population of the US. It can be a bit crass in language and subject matter.

Carla

Jorge watched Little MS again last night--you just can't help but laugh--and laugh--and laugh--

(the social worker scene--who is she?--well-executed)

We watched The Departed the night before: ***, maybe a ****.

MichaelAT