The Liebster Blog Award

Sofia of Film Flare (check out her awesome blog if you haven't yet) has awarded me the Liebster Blog Award. To accept this honor, I must tell you 11 things about myself, answer 11 questions from the person who tagged me, pass it on to 11 people, and ask them 11 questions. Here goes nothing.

UPDATE: Toby at blah blah blah gay (hurry, go check out his blog) also tagged me, so I've answered his questions after the cut.

UPDATE #2: Ruth at FlixChatter (head over there if you haven't already) tagged me as well. I've added answers to her questions below Toby's after the cut.

Review: New York, New York (1977)

Jimmy (De Niro) tries to get Francine's (Minnelli) number.

Directed by Martin Scorsese
Produced by Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff
Written by Earl Mac Rauch and Mardik Martin
Starring Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro

Double Feature: Heaven Can Wait (1978) and The Accidental Tourist (1988)

Note: Out of the 496 films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, I'm down to 148 left to see.

Heaven Can Wait:

When he is prematurely sent to Heaven, quarterback Joe Pendleton (Warren Beatty) is forced to inhabit the body of a recently-deceased millionaire. He meets idealist Betty Logan (Julie Christie), falls in love with her, and buys a football team in an attempt to play in the Super Bowl. But he must leave the body, as per the deal he made, and inhabit another - a football player's. As a quarterback once again at the end of the film, he must play until the game is over and try to get Betty back in the guise of a complete stranger. This film is so likable that it's easy to see why the Academy honored it.

The film received nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor (Jack Warden), Best Supporting Actress (Dyan Cannon), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score. It took home one statuette for Best Art Direction.

The Accidental Tourist:

Lawrence Kasdan's adaptation of a noted bestseller features William Hurt as Macon Leary, a travel guide author. After his wife Sarah (Kathleen Turner) divorces him, he meets Muriel Pritchett (Geena Davis), a dog carer/trainer, as he leaves his dog at a kennel so that he can go away for work. Of course, he is reluctantly taken in by the woman and her son when he returns, and he grows to love them. Then his wife shows up to reconcile their marriage upon the finality of their divorce. Will he choose to go back to his wife or start a new one with Muriel? You probably know the answer, but it doesn't change the enjoyable aspects of the film. A.M.P.A.S. likes movies that go down easy, and this one certainly does.

The film received nominations for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Davis), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score. Davis won a deserved Oscar for her scene-stealing performance.

"Earrings" Has Finally Arrived

Catherine Warner in Alex Withrow's Earrings (2012)

After working on it for the past year, Alex of And So It Begins... has premiered the first entry of his passion project - a short film entitled Earrings. I don't think I could, in good conscience, review the film because it's much more than that. It's the culmination of a fellow blogger's efforts to create something visual, something more than a blog post. You can read about Alex's journey here.

I will say, I think the film succeeds on so many levels. The visuals are inspired, the performances natural, the music haunting, and the mood wonderfully restrained. That's not a full review, but, again, it isn't intended to be. Call it a hearty recommendation from one blogger to another.

If you want to see the film, click here or here. Happy watching, and congratulations Alex!

Best Supporting Actor: 1980s

1980: Peter Firth, Tess

Oscar winner: Timothy Hutton, Ordinary People

Was he nominated?: No

Review: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Batman (Bale) and Catwoman (Hathaway) in Nolan's epic finale.

Directed by Christopher Nolan
Produced by Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, and Emma Thomas
Written by Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan, and David S. Goyer; characters created by Bob Kane
Starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Morgan Freeman

I'm obviously late in posting this. In short, I loved the film and think it's the best of Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. If you want to keep reading, there's more after the cut. (Spoiler-free)

Why I Like "The Prestige"

Angier (Jackman) gives a show.

Last week, Alex of And So It Begins... was kind enough to invite me to participate in his post "The Polarization of The Prestige" for his Week of Nolan series. The piece I wrote was too lengthy and had to be trimmed, so I thought I'd post the entire thing for anyone who wants to read it.

A spoiler-free reasoning after the cut.