BEST PICTURE
Should be: The Help
If they could give two: The Descendants
Harebrained Academy Possibility: Hugo
Questionable Nomination: Midnight in Paris  — fun movie but no Oscar!

LEADING ACTOR
Should be:  George Clooney, The Descendants
If they could give two:  George Clooney, The Descendants
Harebrained Academy Possibility: Demián Bichir in A Better Life
Questionable Nomination: Jean Dujardin in The Artist

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Should be:  Christopher Plummer, Beginners
If they could give two: Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Harebrained Academy Possibility: Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Questionable Nomination: Nick Nolte, The Warrior

LEADING ACTRESS
Should be: Viola Davis, The Help
If they could give two: Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
If they could give three: Michelle Wiliams, My Week with Marilyn
Harebrained Academy Possibility: Glenn Close, Albert Knobbs  Hollywood loves Glenn no matter what!
Would not surprise me: Meryl Streep, Iron Lady  Hollywood loves Meryl no matter what!

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Should be: Jessica Chastain, The Help
If they could give two: Octavia Spencer, The Help
Harebrained Academy Possibility: Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids  For what? Crapping and farting on screen?
Worst Nomination ever: Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids I’ll just puke—she did. 
Why Not? Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids  Funniest movie of the year and she was incredible!

ANIMATED FEATURE
Should be: Rango
If they could give two: Puss in Boots
Harebrained Academy Possibility: Chico and Rita
Questionable Nomination: Kung Fu Panda 2

ART DIRECTION
Who really cares and the requirements for this award are vague. Get a beer and pizza during this nomination

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Should be: The Artist…just for pure originality
If they could give two: War Horse
If they could give three: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Harebrained Academy Possibility: The Tree of Life….this move was awful
Questionable Nomination: The Tree of Life….this move was beyond awful and boring

COSTUME DESIGN
Should be: The Artist
Will be: The Artist
Harebrained Academy Possibility: Anonymous….was so anonymous no one saw it
Questionable Nomination: W.E. no one ever saw it or heard of it

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Should be: The Descendants, Alexander Payne
If they could give two: Midnight in Paris. Not a hugely great film but was fun and Woody Allen at his best.
Harebrained Possibility: The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick. —This move was really awful and painful to sit through.
Going to get it:  Hugo, Martin Scorsese is the toast of tinseltown now.
Questionable Nomination: The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick. He went way too far.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
None of the nominees deserving this year.
Art’s Choice:  Buck 
Nuremberg would be my second choice but not sure what year they count this film in. I think they counted it in 2010 but did not see many theatres until 2011

SKIPPING
Foreign Language, Makeup, Original Score, Original Song, Animated Short film and Live Action Short Film because no one really cares that much.

Joy Lynn asks why was Drive and Ryan Gosling so overlooked?  I agree !  What about Ides of March? Ides is a must see for 2011.
More to come ….

This is a very good film. It is why Hollywood exists.  Fun and exciting and even Ryan Reynolds acted superbly! More later….

This is a fun little movie that will keep your attention. Don’t expect too much more. It took the cops half the movie to figure out why a guy would go out on a ledge to commit suicide but would put on a coat first. I just could not figure out how a beat cop who spent the last two years in prison could plan a caper befitting of Danny Ocean. Other than the obvious flaws, I enjoyed it. Ed Harris is looking pretty thin and bad these days. I hope he is doing better in person.

A short commentary. All you really need. It may be our new standard!

TMG and Joy Lynn are taking a sabbatical pending word from Eastwood or Spielberg they are funding a new national radio or TV show platform for us. If you have enjoyed our unique approach to movie commentary, let us know. If you have  $ 5 million dollars to sponsor us, let us know. If you are a radio producer and like what we do, call us. (Listen to our recent shows or demo tape on this site). If you just need a date to go to the movies, drop us a note. If you are Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffet or Donald Trump, we can be at your office in an hour.

We wish to continue to be the real people’s voice in movies, not the elite critics who nominate such abysmal films like The Tree of Life for awards. Do you like us calling out child abuse in such films as The Sitter  or Kick Ass? Or appreciate us spotting ridiculous trends like men urinating on film as in The Change-Up? Do you like our insightful and pithy comments on such films like The Descendants?  or  Answers to Nothing ?  Don’t we get it right on when we discuss such films as The Way, The Help or 50/50?

If you are media,  and want to interview us, we are more interesting than print critics and television personalities who review movies in between doing the weather report. We are fun and provocative. We are real movie fans with solid views. After all, we invented the genre of movie commentary.

Keep in touch. We will update select films from time to time and still wish to hear from you.  Write us or call us at CLM Management, Inc. 913-768-4700.  After all, we are still watching out for you!

Art and Joy endorse do their special Year of 2011 Tops & Bottoms. You gotta listen in! And a fun commentary on Dane Cook’s big nothing, Answers to Nothing.

Sweet film. Nice. Full of heartfelt messages about things that really matter in life. It is totally predictable and a bit schmaltzy, but it sort of works. There are no great belly laugh scenes just lots of amusing chuckles. With the cast and subject of New Years Eve in New York, this film was built for the DVD market of years to come. People will be renting it for New Year’s Eve parties for years to come. This is a good,  feel good, movie. It is not great film making or a great story,

There is no real plot or singular story line. The movie is a dozen or more vignettes of various stories and lives on New Year’s Eve in New York City. It is a night you can fall in love, fall back in love or realize who you really love. Why? It doesn’t matter. It just is.

The pinnacle of the film comes about half way through when Hilary Swank gives an impromptu speech about the status of the ball drop on Times Square. Just hours before midnight the ball gets stuck. She explains it as a metaphor for life and how we all need to stop before it is all over and reassess what truly matters…or something like that.  It is her explanation as to why we are seeing all these little stories of lives being born, old men dying, lovers quarrelling and teens trying to grow up. It falls short of a finely woven quilt of a story, but it will make you feel warm all over. Watch this film with your spouse or lover and then go out for schnapps and hot chocolate and sing a chorus of Auld Lang Syne.  No Oscar nominations here. Pfeiffer looks awesome though…she always has and always will.

Do not go see or support this film.  TMG will not endorse any movie that sexually exploits children, and neither should you. I was looking for Adam Sandler or Nick Cage to show up in this film. A ten year old little girl using the F word is just over the line. It is inexcusable. Worse, it is so unnecessary. Next, Hollywood will be showing eight year old children performing sexual acts. This isn’ t funny. I am pretty certain under many state laws it is not even legal to coach a ten year old to use vulgarities and reference sexual acts. The obvious, apparent exception being University Park, Pennsylvania.

Jonah Hill has shown he can be a gifted actor in Moneyball.  He took a huge step backwards in this movie by showing he is still just a vulgar and obnoxious fat boy. This is obvious from the first minute of the show when he performs oral sex on a girl. The surprising thing is at least it was a girl. I don’t think most labradors would allow Hill to lick them. The movie just “goes down hill”  from there. I will readily admit there is some funny content, but the net result is the moral equivalent of justifying the actions of Jerry Sandusky just because he was telling some really funny jokes in the shower.

There is an overtly pro gay point of view pushed.  This is fine for adults, but not for children. Only adults should be allowed anywhere near this film. Adults can decide for themselves what they believe in. Using children to promote gay messages is just wrong. We saw this recently with little children being coached to ask gay questions to politicians. Oh come on! Does any gay adult person of a sound mind really think this is the way to advance their agenda?  Exploit children? Children who cannot even fully comprehend what they are saying?  It is pathetic. It would be just as wrong to use children to promote a transcontinental pipeline or taxation of the rich. Leave the kids alone….and leave this film in the can where it belongs!

TMG says titles to movies can often be telling. Answers to Nothing? Yeah? Well, let me tell you. When I see a film,  I want answers to at least one thing—like why I spent my time and money suffering through it. If you are too happy for the holidays and just feel good about life in general, then go see this film.  It will turn you around quick. If I want to be this depressed,  I can take a handful of Valium and watch reruns of Nancy Pelosi speeches.

Why so many movie producers and screen writers are just dying to load us all up with piles of depression, cynicism and angst is beyond me. It is the same affliction that hits many country western singers. If you are among the three, whacked out northern Vermonters who were inspired by Melancholia, by all means, take your friends to the Jack Kevorkian Society to see this film.

For starters, there is no plot or storyline.  You simply have a depressed guy named Ryan (Cook) in a loathsome affair trying to gather sperm for his wife Kate (Mitchell)  to have a baby and deal with her own, tragic inadequacies. All around him are vignettes of people with atrocious insecurities, hangups and severe mental illness. Worse,  you later learn Ryan is a mental health therapist treating one of them. You pretty much have a pyromaniac tending the fire department here. The most pointed line of the film is Ryan’s estranged Dad advising him “In human relations, kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths.” I think he was quoting the Bible according to Tammy Faye & Jim Baker.

There was some hope because their is one subplot of a guy who kidnapped a young girl and an interesting twist that resolves that situation. There is one funny scene of Allegra (not allergy medicine, thought this young black gal is sort of allergic to everyone for awhile) doing an obsessive-compulsive thing trying to sugar her ice tea through a straw. But, that is about it. There is a guy pretending to be a cop woven in here, but it makes no sense.

At the end, nothing is resolved and nothing is really answered. The writers should have stayed with the kidnapped little girl theme. It had some promise. Nothing else did.  I bet you anything an assortment of mentally unstable people and a few manic tree huggers around Boulder, Colorado or tripping down State Street in Madison, Wisconsin will proclaim this to be a great and inspirational film. Hence, my analysis will be proved correct.

The trailer says  this film is about “choices that define us.”  Indeed. One might choose to see a better film this holiday season.

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Art and Joy endorse The Descendants with George Clooney. Our DVD pick of the week is another great Clooney film by the Coen Brothers from 2000, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?   Our Star of the Week was Marilyn Monroe and we also provided some insight into My Week with Marilyn.   Art was not overly impressed with Arthur Christmas despite the great name for the movie! Joy gives a rather ho hum endorsement to Hugo. As always, great movie trivia and another  prize contest.  Play and win!