The 2011 83rd Annual Academy Awards

Winners are highlighted.

Best Picture Nominees

127 Hours

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

The King’s Speech – Joe, ChrisO

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter’s Bone

Joe’s Prediction: “The King’s Speech” by far.  I am predicting it dominates the Academy Awards.  Everything about it is incredible, from the brilliant cast to the beautiful cinematography.  A potentially slow or boring story is given such life and humor through the wonderful script and talented actors.  It’s a great blend of film as art as well as entertainment.  The only real competition this has is “The Social Network.”  If that wins (like it did at the Golden Globes), then I don’t even know what to say.  That’s a movie based off of a fad.  A well made movie, but quality-wise doesn’t compare to “The King’s Speech.” 

ChrisO’s Prediction:  The King’s Speech. Originally I had The Social Network down as winning but I just saw it and The King’s Speech is just a better movie and much more deserving. Right now it is obviously the frontrunner and certainly worthy of Best Picture. In more ways than one it is just a better film than the only other obvious contender. I think the academy will pick a story that follows history pretty accurately; since most people say The Social Network is entirely untrue. But this is the Oscars, anything could happen.

Who Gets Robbed? Toy Story 3. God, that movie is good. This may be the best chance any animated movie would ever have to take this category but sadly it won’t. If any company is going to do it though, Pixar will.

Best Actor Nominees

Javier Bardem: “Biutiful”

Jeff Bridges: “True Grit”

Jesse Eisenberg: “The Social Network”

Colin Firth: “The King’s Speech” – Joe, ChrisO

James Franco: “127 Hours”

Joe’s Prediction: Colin Firth.  The Academy loves when actors play real people and Firth’s performance was incredible.  He was just so convincing as the stuttering king who had to deal with fear and being incredibly self-conscious about himself and his abilities as a king.  Also, he worked incredibly well with Helena-Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush.  James Franco is the only one I can see as being competition, but I still think Firth has got this, as great as Franco was.

ChrisO’s Prediction: Colin Firth. There is no way he is not winning this year, especially after being nominated last year. His performance was by far the best, the stuttering king was absolutely perfect, and he deserves this award more than anyone else.

Who Gets Robbed? James Franco. Colin Firth still deserves the best actor award, but if he wasn’t in the running James Franco would hands down be the winner. Sorry James, I know you’re hosting but the academy will recognizing how awesome you are some day. I am sure you will win eventually.

Best Actress Nominees

Annette Bening: “The Kid’s Are All Right”

Nicole Kidman: “The Rabbit Hole”

Jennifer Lawrence: “Winter’s Bone”

Natalie Portman: “Black Swan” – Joe, ChrisO

Michelle Williams: “Blue Valentine”

Joe’s Prediction: I’m almost positive that Natalie Portman is winning this.  Not only did she star in one of 2010’s best and most entertaining films, but her performance was wonderful and showed a huge, gradual change, from an innocent, shy ballet dancer, to just about the complete opposite.  Portman has won the Screen Actor’s Guild Award and The Golden Globe, so I feel like the Academy will follow suit.

ChrisO’s Prediction: Natalie Portman. The buzz off of her performance and the multiple awards she has won for it pretty much guarantee this a win. Don’t doubt on this one, Portman has got it in the bag.

Who Gets Robbed? No one, because Natalie is going to win.

Best Supporting Actor Nominees

Christian Bale: “The Fighter” – Joe, ChrisO

John Hawkes: “Winter’s Bone”

Jeremy Renner: “The Town”

Mark Ruffalo: “The Kid’s Are All Right”

Geoffrey Rush: “The King’s Speech”

Joe’s Prediction:  Christian Bale, literally no contest.  He has won the Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Awards and he played a crack addict.  Critics, the Academy, normal people, pretty much everyone eats that right up.  His performance is one of the best of the year and solidifies Bale as one of the most talented actors, under the age of 40.

ChrisO’s Prediction: Christian Bale. I personally loved this movie and am pretty sad it’s not going to win much else. But Bale is going to win big. After going all out for so many roles, the academy has finally decided to recognize his acting chops. As an ex-boxer crack addict Dickey Ward, Bale was amazing. This is all his.

Who Gets Robbed? Christian Bale if he loses this award. No one else deserves this.

Best Supporting Actress Nominees

Amy Adams: “The Fighter”

Helena Bonham-Carter: “The King’s Speech”

Melissa Leo: “The Fighter” – Joe, ChrisO

Hailee Steinfeld: “True Grit”

Jacki Weaver: “Animal Kingdom”

Joe’s Prediction: I’m going with Melissa Leo as the matriarch in “The Fighter.”  I had never heard of her before this film but she has won this award in a couple of other ceremonies so it seems like it will happen again at the Academy Awards.

ChrisO’s Prediction: Melissa Leo. All the awards and buzz point to her winning. Even if personally I preferred a couple other actresses on the list. Although admittedly, there is no real strong front runner.

Who Gets Robbed? Hailee Steinfeld surprisingly. Despite being surrounded by fantastic actors in True Grit, Hailee carried the movie. If she wins I think it would be a pleasant surprise because she played her role fantastically.

Best Director Nominees

Darren Aronofsky: “Black Swan”

Joel and Ethan Coen: “True Grit”

David Fincher: “The Social Network” - ChrisO

Tom Hooper: “The King’s Speech” - Joe

David O. Russell: “The Fighter”

Joe’s Prediction: I am assuming and hoping that Tom Hooper wins, for obvious reasons.  He got incredible performances from his cast, among many other wonderful things in that film.

ChrisO’s Prediction: David Fincher. A win for him is long overdue and we all know the Oscars hate to not give awards to previous nominees. Plus, he made a movie about Facebook exciting, which takes a little skill.

Who Gets Robbed? Christopher Nolan! He still hasn’t received even a nomination for best director yet! This is ludicrous.

Best Documentary Nominees

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Gasland

Inside Job

Restrepo – Joe, ChrisO

Waste Land

ChrisO’s Prediction: Restrepo is the only film on this list I have heard about and wanted to see. So I forced Joe to go along with my decision.

Best Original Screenplay Nominees

Another Year

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

The King’s Speech – Joe, ChrisO

Joe’s Prediction: “The King’s Speech” will win this unless the Academy falls for the lesbian propaganda in “The Kids Are All Right” or for the charm of Christopher Nolan.

ChrisO’s Prediction: The King’s Speech. I see very little chance of another film winning this award. Mostly because King’s Speech is going to bring home the most gold.

Best Adapted Screenplay Nominees

127 Hours

The Social Network - ChrisO

Toy Story 3 - Joe

True Grit

Winter’s Bone

Joe’s Prediction:  Although the four films on this list that I have seen were incredibly well written, I think it’s about time that Pixar gets honored for their consistently brilliant, charming storytelling.  They are some one of the best filmmakers in the business and “Toy Story 3” was the perfect blend of humor, action, and emotion.  Even though the film tread a lot of old ground, it still felt so fresh.

ChrisO’s Prediction: The Social Network. It’s a movie about Facebook. That people enjoyed. It’s about a freaking website that got nominated for best picture. Of course it’s going to win this.

Best Animated Film Nominees

How to Train Your Dragon

The Illusionist

Toy Story 3 – Joe, ChrisO

Joe’s Prediction: They should not have even bothered nominating the other two, “Toy Story 3” is winning it.  Pixar has won this award the majority of the years that it has existed, including the past three years in a row.  I don’t see them breaking that track record anytime soon. 

ChrisO’s Prediction: This IS Pixar’s category. Why do other movies even bother? Although, I am wondering why Tangled wasn’t nominated.

Who Gets Robbed? Toy Story 3 if it loses. Pixar may always win, but that’s because they deserve it.

Best Foreign Language Film Nominees

Biutiful – Joe, ChrisO

Dogtooth

In a Better World

Incendies

Outside the Law

Joe’s Prediction: I’ve only heard of “Biutiful,” so I will go with that one.  It does look extremely good though, and I would like to rent it sometime.

ChrisO’s Prediction: “Biutiful” is the only movie on this list that had an actor nominated for an Oscar as well.

Best Cinematography Nominees

Black Swan

Inception - ChrisO

The King’s Speech – Joe

The Social Network

True Grit

Joe’s Prediction: “The King’s Speech may be the most visually stunning film that I have ever seen in theaters, at least in my top 5. 

ChrisO’s Prediction: Inception. If any movie brought home the most excitement this year, it was Inception. I enjoyed every minute of its incredible shots. Even if the plot falls through with every subsequent viewing.

Best Editing Nominees

127 Hours

Black Swan

The Fighter

The King’s Speech – Joe, ChrisO

The Social Network

Joe’s Prediction: I cannot think of a bad thing to say about “The King’s Speech” right now.

ChrisO’s Prediction: This is another hard one to determine who will win, but The King’s Speech is getting almost everything else so they might as well grab this one too.

Best Art Direction

Alice in Wonderland

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Inception – ChrisO

The King’s Speech - Joe

True Grit

Joe’s Prediction: The sets and anything else you see in “The King’s Speech” I would describe as stunning.  However, Inception and True Grit also had beautiful art direction as well, so who knows.

ChrisO’s Prediction: Inception. Most visually stunning movie of the decade. As long as Alice in Wondercrap doesn’t win I’ll be happy.

Best Costume Nominees

Alice in Wonderland

I Am Love

The King’s Speech – Joe, ChrisO

The Tempest

True Grit

Joe’s Prediction: Well, the Academy usually loves costumes involving England in some way, shape, or form, if the past couple years are any indication.  So big surprise, I’m going with “The King’s Speech” for this as well.

ChrisO’s Prediction: The academy loves period dramas. And they love the costumes more. Alice in Wonderland better not win.

Best Make-up Nominees

Barney’s Version - Joe

The Way Back

The Wolfman - ChrisO

Joe’s Prediction: “Barney’s Version” is the only one I saw on this list.  The make-up was great though, since the film took place over a few decades, requiring the characters to age realistically.

ChrisO’s Prediction: I honestly haven’t seen any of these movies but Wolfman was praised for its makeup work right from the get go, even if it was a so-so movie.

Best Original Score Nominees

127 Hours - Joe

How to Train Your Dragon

Inception - ChrisO

The King’s Speech

The Social Network

Joe’s Prediction: While all of these scores were extraordinarily well done, I am going with “127 Hours” for this one.  It added so much to the drama of the film, and without it something would have seriously been lacking and hindered the enjoyment of it.  Plus, it’s the same composer that did the “Slumdog Millionaire” score.

ChrisO’s Prediction: Inception. Hans Zimmer is a veteran of composing and Inception had the most iconic music of 2011. Its distinctive BWAAA, while quickly annoying, is easily distinguishable. I barely noticed the other ones.

Best Original Song Nominees

127 Hours: “If I Rise”

Country Strong: “Coming Home”

Tangled: “I See the Light” – Joe, ChrisO

Toy Story 3: We Belong Together”

Joe’s Prediction: Well I honestly don’t care at all for this award this year, ever since the Academy didn’t nominate “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me,” from “Burlesque.  Basically the only quality part of the entire movie and it won the Golden Globe, which we know doesn’t mean that much, but it still should have been nominated so James Franco could have dressed as Cher and Cher would join him on stage and sing this powerful, wonderful song, oozing with emotion…it would have been great.  And in all honesty it’s one of the best original songs, in a musical in years.  I guess I will go with “I See the Light” from “Tangled.  The rest I cannot remember off the top of my head.  And maybe it’s about time Disney starts winning this award again. 

ChrisO’s Prediction: I See the Light from Tangled seems to be the frontrunner. Disney could win both ways with either this and We Belong Together. Doesn’t really matter to me but Tangled should win something.

Who Gets Robbed? Apparently Cher does. Of course Joe would follow her to the ends of the Earth but I assume the song couldn’t have been that bad. And James Franco dueting with Cher would be amazing.

Best Sound Mixing Nominees

Inception – Joe, ChrisO

The King’s Speech

Salt

The Social Network

True Grit

Joe’s Prediction: “Inception” had a lot going for it in generally, but more specifically regarding sound.  It added greatly to the thrilling nature of this blockbuster spectacle.

ChrisO’s Prediction: Inception. Is Salt really on here?

Best Sound Editing Nominees

Inception - Joe

Toy Story 3

TRON: Legacy - ChrisO

True Grit

Unstoppable

Joe’s Prediction: I guess “Inception.”  I really have trouble differentiating between this award and the previous one, even though there is a difference.

ChrisO’s Prediction: TRON. So many things detract from TRON, but the one place it scores so many points is the sound department

Best Visual Effects Nominees

Alice in Wonderland

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Hereafter

Inception – Joe, ChrisO

Iron Man 2

Joe’s Prediction: As much as I loved the tsunami scene at the beginning of “Hereafter,” “Inception” had incredible visual effects all throughout the film.  Nothing looked fake, which is nice because “Alice in Wonderland” looked ridiculous and I don’t know why this was even nominated

ChrisO’s Prediction: Inception had some of the greatest effects I have ever seen. The lack of CGI crap clogging my brain makes it even more enjoyable. And the scene with the rotating hallway blew my mind. Inception wins.

And there you have it, Joe has The King's Speech winning 8 awards this year while ChrisO has it winning only 5. Make your own predictions and watch the show on the 27th!

The Tillman Story: A Quick Review

If you haven't at least heard the name Pat Tillman you are, in my history teacher's words, a bad American. So let's get educated.

Pat Tillman was an all-american boy, played safety for the Arizona Cardinals, and was pretty good at it too. Not to mention he was extremely handsome, loved his wife and his brothers, and most importantly loved his country. He was the jock that was nice to the nerds. You wanted to hate him but he was too nice not to love. After 9/11 he and his younger brother decided that they needed to fight for their country and signed up for the Army Rangers. This was a big deal. Tillman had everything going for him: millions of dollars per year, a health plan that doesn't have to cover getting shot and the ability to go home every night. America respected him that much more for giving up all that to fight terrorism. Sadly, on April 22, 2004, Pat Tillman was killed in the line of duty while serving in Afghanistan.

The army awarded his family the silver star for Tillman's heroic actions on the day of his death, including maneuvering his men up a hill under enemy fire and directly saving the lives of his men. Unfortunately, it was all lies. After crying out, "Why are they shooting at me? I'm Pat fucking Tillman!" Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire, in an area where the presence of enemy combatants is still debated. I find it incredibly heart wrenching that not only was Pat Tillman's head blown completely off by what I assume was a .50 Caliber machine gun, but his younger brother arrived on the scene just ten minutes after and was lied to even then.

The army wanted to cover up the friendly fire story. They convinced almost everyone, but the family did some digging and uncovered the truth. The documentary spends a good amount of time on this aspect, showing how the cover up went all the way to Donald Rumsfeld, maybe even President Bush. What the family really was peeved about was that the government used Tillman's death as a propaganda tool for the war, I admit, I'd be pretty mad too.

The Tillman Story is a very good documentary, but it tries to do too many things at once. They show so many aspects of Tillman's life that and cover up that its hard to stay grounded. If you see it you'll know what I mean. It gets very disjointed and can even become a propaganda tool in itself, but I am sure that's not what they intended.

I just know that war is a horrible thing and his death was as unnecessary as it is sad. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country and this documentary helps us take a moment to remember and respect that.


-Christopher O'Connell

The Green Hornet

Honestly, I don't really like Seth Rogen as a main character. He's fine as a supporting character, but when he's a main character I usually just want to punch him in the face. Despite that, I didn't hate him in The Green Hornet and the movie isn't as crap as everyone else has led you to believe.

Seth Rogen plays Brit Reid, son to newspaper mogul James Reid. Brit has grown up into a mooching-off-his-dad's-exorbitant-wealth party boy while his dad spends his time being the only truthful newspaper in town. And it's not his fault because James was a pretty mean dad. But eventually James dies of a bee sting. Brit is left with all this wealth, a sweet mansion, 50 cars worth more than my house and an extreme hatred for all the people who didn't know his dad was kind of a douche. Enter Kato (Jay Chou), James' old handyman who admits to Brit that yeah, his dad was kind of a dick. They hatch a genius plan to cut off the head of the newly erected statue of James Reid. But daring their nefarious heist, Brit witnesses a young couple being assaulted. He tries to intervene and gets his buttkicked. Kato runs in with his awesomee martial arts skills and drops everyone like flies. They almost get caught by the cops and seeing as their still criminals, Brit suggests that he and Kato become superheroes with a twist. They pretend to be bad guys so they can get in bed with criminals easier. Brit also uses his new newspaper company to print as many stories about his new altar ego, The Green Hornet, to get his name out there.

The biggest flaw in this movie is that their plan is pretty stupid in the end. Instead of just fighting bad guys, they are fighting bad guys and cops. Which obviously leads to some hilarious misunderstandings. The other big flaw is the length of The Green Hornet. Christopher Nolan can make Batman three hours long because hes awesome. This is an untested superhero movie almost clocking two hours, yikes.

Otherwise The Green Hornet is a very interesting film. The dynamic between hero and sidekick is blurred. Kato is obviously the sidekick, but he is the only one with fighting skills or technological prowess. Brit is there because he's rich. Unlike Iron Man or Batman, Brit has no superhero qualities. He isn't even charming or attractive and that makes him very self conscious. Kato is the actual superhero but is repeatedly referred to as the sidekick, this kind of makes him mad. Their intial successes for to the wayside because they can't reconcile their places on the superhero spectrum.

On the other side, Chudnofsky (played awesomely by Christoph Waltz) is an aging villian who is constantly grasping with getting older. He's no longer scary and no one finds him threatening even though he kills them in increasingly violent ways and carries a two barreled desert eagle.

The point is The Green Hornet breaks most superhero norms and it derserves credit for that. It also has a lot of pretty decent action. I saw a lot of reviews ripping on the action. The action was great, be quiet, there were tons of guns, fighting, explosions and table legs through eyeballs so don't be mad at it for not enough action.

It's not a great superhero film, but it was a good effort and I mostly enjoyed watching it. And there is a great cameo by James Franco in the beginning. I love that man.

2 and a half out of 4 stars


-Christopher O'Connell

The Social Network: A Quick Review

Well I finally saw "The Social Network," directed by David Fincher and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, and others.  If you don't know the plot to this movie then I have nothing to say to you.  Facebook! Billions of dollars! Mark Zuckerberg makes a bunch of enemies on the way because as it turns out he's kind of a jerk.  Rumor has it that a lot of this movie was made up. I can't actually prove this one way or another, until I look it up on Wikipedia.  If that's the case, than that is ridiculous and someone should have paid closer attention to the true details.  Jesse Eisenberg is actually quite a good actor, judging him solely on this and "Zombieland."  He got an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, but he will lose to Colin Firth for "The King's Speech."  Just like the other nominees basically don't have a chance against him.  "The Social Network" was well made.  I liked how the film consisted of a lot of flashbacks to when Facebook was first starting and cutting back to closer to the present where Zuckerberg and other Facebook people are being interrogated regarding some legal trouble.  Also, the cinematography, lighting, and everything looked great.  I assume it would have been even better on a bigger television set.  However, near the end of the film it started to drag on and I was beginning to get antsy.  Overall, I still am not a huge fan of a movie about Facebook.  I just think it's a fad that is not worthy of being made into a film.  And if this wins Best Picture over "The King's Speech," then I will be really upset because that is the better movie.  The previous statement is not even up for negotiation.  Also, David Fincher's three movies with Brad Pitt were also much better than this.  I am aware that I am in the minority with "The Social Network", but I am fine with that.  Who knows, it may grow on me...eventually.

-Joseph Sbrilli

127 Hours

"127 Hours" is directed by Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire") and stars James Franco.  It has a couple more people in it, but Franco gets almost all of the screen time.

This film is a true story, based off of a book, written by Aron Ralston.  Aron (James Franco) decides to go hiking in the canyons of Utah.  He doesn't tell anyone, which he later finds out was an extremely stupid idea on his part.  He ends up getting trapped in a canyon when a large rock pins his arm to the side of the wall.  He manages to survive for a few days and eventually has to cut off his arm, so he can actually live to tell the story, and then sell the rights to Fox Searchlight Pictures.

James Franco runs the show in "127 Hours" and it is a truly beautiful thing.  He is a phenomenal actor and I like him more each time I see him.  It takes a great deal of talent to hold together an entire film by yourself (kind of like Tom Hanks, in "Castaway") and he was up to the challenge and earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.  For the majority of the film he is the only one on screen and is pinned inside the canyon.  He is the main reason why the film was so enjoyable.  He showed a great deal of emotion and determination as he was trying to survive under such awful circumstances.  Without him it would have been a completely different film, and probably significantly less enjoyable.  James Franco just comes off as extremely likeable and you want him to succeed, even though he shouldn't have been an idiot and run off without telling a soul.

The soundtrack to "127 Hours" is great and I loved just about every minute of it.  Right from the opening credits there is a powerful score, that came off as sounding rock-ish to me.  There were a lot of drums and guitars playing throughout.  At least I think so.  I'm no expert on musical instruments or anything.  It added intensity to the film which is always nice, especially a film where the climax is the man character cutting off his own arm.  Also, sound in general was used beautifully.  One of the areas this is seen is when Aron is cutting his arm and you can actually hear the nerves being severed.  It sounds gross and added power to the scene.  Most sounds in general, like rain pouring into the canyon were exaggerated to let them stick out more prominently.

The cinematography is also incredible in "127 Hours."  Although James Franco is in a small space for the majority of the film the camera catches him at so many different angles, including close-ups and wider shots.  This helps to make it more interesting.  In general the coloring of the scenes is wonderful as well, with a lot of bland colors like brown and such being present because we are indeed dealing with the great outdoors here.  There are extreme long, aerial shots of the canyons as well.  I loved these because the camera gradually moved farther away from James Franco, ultimately showing how miniscule he was compared to all the natural fun surrounding him.

There are several flashbacks and fantasies throughout, for those of you who are worried that it's just James Franco stuck between a rock, staring at you for 95 minutes.  This including flashbacks of the women in his life, the girls he met earlier on the trip, and his family while he was growing up.  Some of these seemed a little random at times, and it appears that he dated really dumb girls.  Overall, they gave you some incite into Aron, as a person.  Flashbacks are a nice technique to use in film, and generally speaking "127 Hours" did it well, I thought.

The only major things that I disliked was the use of split screens.  At times the screen would be split into three sections and a different scene or picture would be going on.  As a rule I think this is a bad idea and just comes off as cheesy to me.  Another thing was at times someone, probably Danny Boyle, decided it would be a good idea to have a scene rewound in fast motion, like when Aron first falls and gets tracked.  I thought this was on the cheesy side too.  I mean Aron jokes around a little bit to try to alleviate the pain and horror of his predicament, but the movie isn't cheesy, so I could have done without those, and a couple others.

For those who have weak stomachs: you may vomit during this film.  I heard that has happened to people who watched it when it was first released.  There is a couple minute scene that is quite graphic and bloody, showing Aron breaking the bone in his arm and eventually cutting it off.  I personally didn't vomit, because I'm not into that sort of thing.

One last thing: there is very little talking in the film, when compared to most.  This may turn people off of it, but I hope that it doesn't.  Talking isn't always necessary.  The visuals and the score/sound moved the plot along just fine. However, James Franco did talk to himself while he was stuck, I guess to pass time.  Mainly, his face and body movements or lack thereof were able to convey feelings.

Overall, this film was highly entertaining and certainly worthy of being nominated for Best Picture, Actor, Director, and a few other Academy Awards.  At 95 minutes the film is the perfect length, for something like this.  Any longer and things would have felt dragged out and people most likely would have stopped paying attention.  James Franco proved himself to be a wonderful actor yet again and it's worth it just to see his smiling face...extremely talented.  Also, Danny Boyle is a great director and this was a nice follow up to "Slumdog Millionaire."  Great film by the way, in my opinion  better than "127 Hours," but then again that plot is completely different.  3 out of 4 stars...I would recommend it though, if you can get over a couple minutes of blood.

-Joseph Sbrilli

Barney's Version

"Barney's Version" was directed by Richard J. Lewis.  It stars Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Rachelle Lefevre, Minnie Driver, and Dustin Hoffman.

This film is based off of a novel of the same name.  It tells tells the story, through various flashbacks of Barney Panofsky(Paul Giamatti), a television producer who is not afraid to speak his mind and is just difficult to be around most of the time.  "Barney's Version" is his perception of what his life was like, including his three marriages, his relationship with his father (Dustin Hoffman).  Overall the story is kind of a downer, just a heads up.

The casting was impressive.  Paul Giamatti is a great actor.  He starts out playing 65 year old Barney and is quite convincing as someone who isn't afraid to voice his opinion and is mainly concerned with himself.  Each younger version of the character is just as well acted.  He is not a terribly pleasant character, so there really isn't a lot of sympathy for him, but near the end I did feel a little bad for him.  He has great chemistry with the three actresses playing his wives.  However, all of the relationships were extremely rushed into and basically all happened by coincidence or simply making poor decisions.  That aspect of it was a little dumb, but once you get past the disbelief the couples worked well, especially, him and Rosamund Pike, who played Miriam, his favorite wife.  Although naturally Barney destroyed that marriage as well.  Dustin Hoffman was wonderful as always and I'm glad he chose to star in this, since "Little Fockers" was just a bad idea.  Then again, the producers of that movie had to bribe Hoffman to come back, because they knew how horrendous it was going to be.  I guess the important thing is he got paid and worked with Barbra Streisand again.

I loved all the flashbacks in this film.  It kept things interesting since the narrative was out of sequence.  It  didn't get confusing though, if that's a concern.  The film consists of about three decades of the main characters life, and just about every scene is entertaining, thanks to the talented cast and good script.  There are some funny parts, especially lines from Dustin Hoffman and then some really depressing and sad scenes.  The mix of emotions was good and the music, although not overpowering would always fit well with the emotions depicted of the screen.

I feel obligated to mention that this film includes a couple scenes of immorality, that I will not go into detail about because I don't feel like getting uncomfortable.  This includes infidelity and just really messed up looks at relationships.

Visually I enjoyed this film a lot as well.  The sets and on location shooting were all beautiful.  There were some shots of New York City and outdoor shots near a house in the woods that is important to the plot.  Just about every shot was aesthetically appealing.  I won't go into it because it would be kind of hard to visualize I guess.

"Barney's Version" only got one Oscar nomination, for Best Make-up.  This is probably because the actors had to age throughout the film.  It was done well, but I'm kind of surprised it didn't get nominated for more.  It's a well made, highly entertaining film.  There are only a limited about a places to fill with nominations, though.

I really enjoyed this movie.  The story was a downer, but there were some funny parts and lots of good emotion.  The casting also added some enjoyment to the film.  At over two hour, I was expecting my ADD to kick in.  It didn't at all though, which was nice.  The pacing was perfect.  3 1/2 stars out of 4.  This is definitely not a movie for the masses though.

-Joseph Sbrilli

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

I know this review has taken a long time from its viewing to its reviewing but I started a new college and the movie wasn't that good. I'll also keep it short because I don't want to waste your time like this movie wasted mine.

Where has the magic gone? The Chronicles of Narnia are about wonder, adventure, magic and growing up. Sadly, the latest entry into this failing franchise does the absolute worst so far.

The whole plot is a muddled mess, devolving into some kind of World of Warcraftesque quest. Go here, find out what's wrong, defeat evil smoke, live happily ever after. It has been a while since I read the books but I remember a pretty awesome adventure with unique islands and situations. There are some deep themes that the film addresses but I chalk that up to the genuis of C.S. Lewis showing through any adaptation of his work.

Visually, like it has in the past, the Dawn Treader succeeds. But at this point that's a feature that I expect rather than praise. And it can't save the movie from its actors. Lucy and Edmond have finally grown up...into terrible actors. Well at least Lucy has. Edmond does his best but Lucy just takes the fruit cake of Christmas disaster. I should find out if she got nominated for a Razzie. The newcomer here is Lucy and Edmonds bumbling spoiled cousin Eustace (Who I imagined as a much more portly child). Eustace may have been given some of the only funny lines in the movie but his general lack of acting ability drags by the end of the film. Especially after watching his totally not gay cryfest with Reepicheep.

The point is, I didn't enjoy it. My younger self probably wouldn't enjoy it. And I doubt my mom would think it's a good film. Failed executions at every turn, this is one rushed Chronicle that should be sent back to the storyboard.

1 out of 4 stars

-Christopher O'Connell