Two weeks from tomorrow night – Sunday, February 24 – The 85th Annual Academy Awards celebration will be telecast into homes and onto personal devices all over the world. Here at And There Came A House, we’ll be watching. Me, The Cinnamon Girl, HJ jr, Stretch and Sous Chef will begin to gather at about the time the stars arrive to be dissected on the Red Carpet – an activity in which we like to join. The Cinnamon Girl will create a meal that’s easily consumed in front of the television but incredibly prepared. A few years back, she wowed us with popcorn flavored to individual tastes. A year after that it was custom, single baked pizzas. She followed that with a slider bar. Whatever she makes, I can guarantee you’d rather be here than wherever you are watching the show!
There are some movies I really loved from last year that are up for awards, one of them, in fact, ascended onto my own, personal Top Ten Best Movies of All Time list the moment the end credits rolled. That movie was Ben Affleck’s Argo. That he wasn’t nominated for Best Director speaks, in my mind, to continuing Gigli backlash. Will it ever end?
Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Les Miserables… all three nominated for Best Picture. I fully (almost fully in the case of Les Mis) enjoyed each. Denzel Washington’s performance in Flight brought me far closer than I ever wanted to be into the pathology of alcohol and drug abuse. I will watch what movie choices Jennifer Lawrence makes with great interest after her turn in Silver Linings Playbook as I thought she commanded every scene she was in. Tommy Lee Jones was a collection of acerbic put downs and epic insults as he played his way to one of the most surprising and heart warming moments of any movie I saw last year in Lincoln. And Alan Arkin in Argo was simply cool, baby.
I didn’t see all the Best Picture nominees. After The Cinnamon Girl and I forced ourselves to see Let There Be Blood and Inglorious Basterds (two movies we could recognize were worthy of praise while at the same time noting we really, REALLY didn’t like them) to prepare for the show, we determined that seeing movies just because they are nominated for Best Picture even when our instincts tell us we won’t enjoy them is not a good way to spend a evening.
Or $50 for that matter.
So, no Amour or Beasts of the Southern Wild or Life of Pi or Django Unchained for us. We are okay with it.
For the next couple of weeks, I will share some thoughts on the nominated films we saw and the performances we enjoyed as we look forward to the Academy Awards show. It’s a fun night around our house every year.
Seth McFarland may well be a good host (though Ted was ABSOLUTELY NOT a movie The Cinnamon Girl and I enjoyed last year and Family Guy seems to me crass and stupid) but Tina Fey and Amy Prohler set the bar pretty high. His promos seem that he’s on the right track.
Hey, rumors are the cast of The Avengers are going to present together and all the actors who’ve played James Bond will appear onstage for the 50th Anniversary celebration. If those two things happen, I’ll be plenty happy with the show.
Even if Argo doesn’t win Best Picture.
But it better.
And There Came a Day... 