Silver Linings Playbook was a great movie I would have seen if I had done more research ahead of time. I have known for months now that Jennifer Lawrence is a candidate, if not the favorite, for this year’s Best Actress Academy Award and that Bradley Cooper could snag one of the five nominations in the Best Actor category. The movie might land a spot in the Best Picture category, though it would have little chance of winning. So the Oscar buzz was one reason that got me to the theater. The other was that the movie centered on mental illnesses and broken relationships. Those movies often, but not always, engross me. I saw drama and comedy as words associated with this movie. Perhaps naively, I did not see a romantic comedy. While there was a bit of drama and some attempts at comedy (which I found to be weak), this slowly but surely turned into a romance. By the movie’s conclusion, I was very, very okay with that. Though flawed at times, it came together nicely and felt reasonably original to me. If ten movies are nominated for Best Picture this year, Silver Linings Playbook will and should be one of them.
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Category Archives: Genre
Argo (2012)
Ben Affleck continues to hone his craft as a masterful director while re-establishing himself as one of Hollywood’s leading men on the screen. After some misfires (Pearl Harbor, Daredevil) and downright flubs (Gigli, Surviving Christmas) during the early part of the decade, Affleck stepped to the other side of the camera for the first time and directed the critically acclaimed Gone Baby Gone. In 2010, he directed and starred in the stirring action-drama The Town. As great as both of those movies were, Affleck was not recognized for either with an Academy Award nomination. That will change this year as Argo is destined for Best Picture and Best Director Academy Award nominations.
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Flight (2012)
For as terrific an actor as Denzel Washington is (and he is one of the absolute best), he makes many movies. And very often, he plays a cop or detective. As a result, some of these movies and his performances get lost in the shuffle. When I think of his performances in Unstoppable, The Taking of Pelham 123, Deja Vu, Man on Fire, and Out of Time, I think of one big blend. Outside of Man on Fire, the performances don’t stand out. And while his performance in Man on Fire is brilliant, it would have been better remembered had it not been lumped with these other, lesser, movies. With that said, his performance in Flight is one of his best performances and will be remembered for a long time.
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Life As We Know It (2010)
Life As We Know It is one of those movies that didn’t interest me when I saw the previews for the first time or encouraged me to overcome those reservations with a 28% positive rating on www.rottentomatoes.com. I would never have seen it had it not been on HBO one day. So I recorded it and gave it 15 minutes to interest me. I was so glad I did it. Not only did it grab my attention with a hilarious first scene between the two lead stars, but it also won me over with its tender story, direction, and actors who were determined to get it right. And, low and behold, the movie came out in 2010. Even though this movie doesn’t come close to cracking the top ten for that year, it further supports my argument that 2010 is the best year for movie releases in my lifetime.
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American Reunion (2012)
I wouldn’t go as far as to say that American Reunion ruined the American Pie franchise (which to me includes only the movies with Jason Biggs – American Pie, American Pie 2, American Wedding). Still, it was a movie that did not need to be made. American Pie is one of the ten if not five, funniest movies ever made. To me, There’s Something About Mary started the trend of over the type R Rated comedies that have since become one of my favorite genres. And While There’s Something About Mary is a classic, and she is remembered as the movie that opened the doors for these other movies, American Pie took the idea to the next level. Much like the first ten minutes of The Ring informed its audience that you are about to be freaked out for the next two hours, the original American Pie let its audience know that you would be laughing so hard for the next hour and a half that your sides would be hurting by the end.
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