The Oscars 2020

Voice cast of Frozen 2

Yesterday afternoon, my movie-going cohort Judy and I went to the theater to see one of the last movies nominated for Best Picture that we had missed: Jojo Rabbit. It didn't win, but I have to say I really enjoyed the movie. Neither of us had any idea what we would be seeing, but it's a mostly humorous satire set in Germany at the end of World War II. A young boy, Jojo, wants to become a Nazi and is in the Hitler youth trying to prove his mettle to the camp counselors. He is ordered to strangle a rabbit, and he couldn't do it, giving him the nickname.

The director of the movie, Taika Waititi, plays the part of the imaginary Hitler that Jojo sees as a mentor. Somehow Hitler is playful as well as menacing, but it helped to make it less scary, to me at least. The movie did get the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Anyway, once we got home from the movies, I realized I had missed the first hour of the Oscars, but I watched the rest with real interest. There were no surprises about the four actor awards; they had also won in all the previous award shows. But the Best Picture was a total surprise: Parasite, the first foreign-language movie ever to win the big prize. I saw that movie, too, and would never have picked it for the best of the year. My favorite was Little Women, but the director didn't even get a nomination, so I knew it wouldn't win.I also enjoyed seeing all the gowns and hoopla that always accompanies the Oscars. Several of the acceptance speeches resonated with me. But oh, the dresses! I especially liked Scarlett Johansson's dress. Check them all out here.

That concludes the awards season for the time being. Now I guess I'm going to have to find something else to watch, like Netflix and Hulu stuff so I can avoid most of the political drama; I can only take so much. Did you watch, and if so, what did you think?
:-)

A wonderful Valentine's Day

Closeup of a beautiful arrangement

I took this picture last Friday at the Flower Show. It's a closeup of one of the arrangements I put on Friday's post. The roses, the colors, everything makes me think of today's romantic theme. Do you know about the history of St. Valentine? Well, it turns out there is more than one of them. I found the Wikipedia entry quite illuminating. Even if it is a made-up holiday or commemoration, it's important to have at least ONE holiday that celebrates romantic love. My thoughts anyway.

I just walked in the door from seeing a movie with my faithful movie companion Judy. We have attempted to see as many of the nominated performances as possible of the Oscar competition, and today we went to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, a remake of a John LeCarré novel set in the 1970s, at the height of the Cold War. Gary Oldman has been nominated for Best Actor for his performance. The only performance we haven't seen is Demián Bichir for A Better Life (it hasn't been around for us to see anyway), and we chose not to see Rooney Mara in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, because we loved the original Swedish version so much. I think we are all set for the Oscars now.

My favorites for winning are simply what I enjoyed so much: I think The Artist deserves Best Picture, or a second best would be Moneyball with Brad Pitt. He was so good in that movie! And Meryl Streep deserves Best Actress, and Brad Pitt Best Actor. But I think it's really a tossup between Meryl and Viola Davis, and between George Clooney and Jean Dujardin for Best Actor. We'll see how well my prognostications hold up in a few weeks!

 I do hope you have a very chocolate Valentine's Day. I know I did!
:-)