That’s the longest title I’ve ever written. I think. Not sure, but pretty~
First, let’s start with Oscar talk. There are 10 animated shorts line-up for 3/5 spots at the Academy.
Natalie Portman’s Where the Heart Is is probably the least favorite film amongst the fans, a list that includes the Star Wars prequels, Free Zone, Mr. Mangorium’s Wonder Emporium, Mars Attacks and Anywhere but Here. However, Where the Heart Is, as well as Anywhere but Here are the only of those films that pretty much were completely fronted by Portman.
Now, compare that to Leon… or Black Swan. Mmmkay~
As a teenage Portman fan, I obviously watched those AND enjoyed them~~~ but we’re here to talk about Where the Heart Is now, so let’s talk about it.
Where the Heart Is, for what it’s worth, marks Portman’s step into womanhood, as she played a 17-year-old pregnant Novalee Nation, giving birth in a Walmart. In short, she’s pretty tacky but with a lot of heart… and what’s even more ironic, the first time I saw Portman in that fake pregnant suit in slippers (and then barefoot), I thought of Britney Spears whom later ended up stepping on a public bathroom barefoot.
But I digress. Where the Heart Is is sappy, and over-the-top acting drama… it ends up being funny. Portman looks so awkward as Novalee… skinny and so overly-fake-pregnant, plus the hair. Add to that Novalee’s white trash mother who abandoned her family for a man whose name she can’t even remember played by Sally Field, hot-peen-hungry mother of multiple children named after junk food Nurse Lexie played by Ashley Judd, cut-throat music producer Ruth Meyers played by Joan Cusack, and AA-member fornicating Sister Husband played by Stockard Channing — all over-acting. Pure amazingness.
Let’s not even begin to discuss the love-making scene, which marks a first for Natalie Portman on screen, which she shared with UK actor James Frain who’s like 15 years older than her and plays a character named Forney. Novalee doesn’t have sex with Forney, she makes love to him after his sister passes away. There’s sweet love-making pop-country crossover music as his hand entwines with hers.
But despite it all, I couldn’t take my eyes off the film… except maybe the bits without Natalie Portman on screen, in which we focus on Novalee’s baby daddy Willy Jack Pickens played by Dylan Bruno. His storyline seems a bit pointless, since we’re not supposed to feel sympathy for him and it just makes the story go slower. But then again, without him… we wouldn’t have the amazingness of Joan Cusack.
Natalie Portman as a “reformed” Novalee, mother of Americus and photographer, holding her camera shooting the fat baseball team, or with her Xmas/winter gear, and looking for Forney are probably the most gorgeous Portman could be on film.
Where the Heart Is might be cheesy, and actually pretty bad — and shame on you if you think it’s the best movie ever made — but it’s one of those films teenage girls have to watch. We were all probably 14 when we saw it, and I guess 14-year-olds watch much more crass films nowadays. However, I still think 12 or 13-year-old girls would be able to appreciate it.
I don’t think Anywhere but Here is worse than Where the Heart Is, but IMDb seems to disagree.
3/5 (2.75 without the sentimental value LOL)
I have to find time to do this one. After all, I’m a big Natalie Portman fan.
Fan-worship sort of officially began in 1999 – pretty sure. After all, teenage years is the time to fangirl over anything. So just to piss EVERYONE off, I’m going to be talking about her least popular films. LOL
Yup, I’m picking Anywhere but Here, as well as Where the Heart Is – take that film fans! LOL I’m not sure if I’m doing reviews of those, or what. I should probably re-watch them if I’m doing those. I just wanted to post this to keep it in mind, instead of the link on my bookmarks.
Anyway~~~ Any Natalie Portman requests?
Also, Amy/Natalie Portman facts~
Both my parents think she’s the best. But then again, if you ask my mother the name of any other young actress, she can’t come up with any other names… that must mean my mother thinks Natalie Portman is super-famous.
My dad is still requesting a sequel to Leon. Get it, Natalie? Let’s get that one rolling once and for all.
You know what this means right? I finally saw a new Yu Aoi film, so I can move the queue just a little bit. We’re discussing Honokaa Boy first, then Ikechan to Boku… instead of One Million Yen Girl because of the length of roles that Yu had in the films… and we’re leaving Hyakuman-en up on the feature spot for a while… ;P
First a little about the film~
Honokaa Boy tells the story of a boy – Okay, a young man – who ends up living in the small Hawaiian city of Honokaa, after he mysteriously falls in love with the place during a failed trip with his girlfriend. In there, he meets a bunch of quirky people that are very likable, who end up having an impact on his life.
Genre: Dramedy with a bit of Romance
Starring: Masaki Okada, Chieko Baisho, Keiko Matsuzaka, Jun Hasegawa
Duration: almost 2hrs
This is the best I’m going to get from Lily. A new song.
For those of you who don’t know, Lily Chou Chou is the fictional singer portrayed in Shunji Iwai’s film All About Lily Chou Chou. Lily was played by Salyu on the film, and there was an album released under that artist name. This is the only new material ever since the film was released… and it’s even rare to get to hear the Lily songs in a Salyu concert.
If you haven’t watched All About Lily Chou Chou, it is a rough experience.
Visitor Uzaigaijin kept me posted on the status of her concert ticket, and she messaged me saying she got one! So she will be writing a review of Lily Chou Chou’s concert this week for YAM Magazine. ;P
I’m excited and jealous. xD
The King’s Speech pretty much swept the awards on this one, winning Best Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Screenplay.
The French film A Prophet won Best Foreign Film against Dogtooth. I Am Love, The Secret in their Eyes and Winter’s Bones… which is weird considering that A Prophet was competing last year alongside The Secret in their Eyes, while I Am Love and Winter’s Bones are competing this year.
If you haven’t seen A Prophet, what are you waiting for? I’ts a dark high-tension drama that’s set, mostly, between the walls of a prison. Brilliantly acted by fellow the 20 to Watch Tahar Rahim.
Weird distribution.
Winners below the break~
Sorry, late post~
The Ghost Writer blew pretty much everything on this one, which makes me even sadder that there isn’t a Supporting Actress (or Actor) category, so Olivia Williams could win.
I’m also happy that Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist won animated feature~ :)
First, let me just say that when the trailer for Dawn Treader came out, I thought it looked terrible. The CGI work in the film looked positively subpar in comparison to what you thought of Lion and Caspian when they came out. I also wondered why I couldn’t remember any details in regards of the book, since I’ve only read the series once. Except for the annoying cousin, I was blank.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader tells the story of Edmund and Lucy Pevensie who stayed over at their cousin Eustace’s place as they’re separated from their family… including Susan and Peter. Eustace is annoying, played very convincingly by Will Poulter (Son of Rambow), he’s loud, whiny, a complete pain. Then one day as the cousins are arguing in a room that includes a painting of a ship at sea, water starts dripping from the painting. The room fills with water, and they’re transported to Narnia.
Edmund, Lucy and Eustace — who’s freaking out by now — get rescued by Prince (now King) Caspian and his crew, plus Reepicheep, on board of the Dawn Treader in search for the 7 allies of Caspian’s kingdom who were betrayed by his uncle when he took power. Stopping in the first kingdom/island, they discovered a group that’s been taking people away to give them as offering to something known as “The Green Mist”.
Aslan’s totally against this Green Mist, so Caspian, the Pevensie bros, Eustace and company must trail the rest of the kingdom’s allies, get their swords together, and vanquish the Green Mist.
Looking at these not-longer-kids makes me feel old. Lucy (Georgie Henley) is even more grown-up that I remember from Caspian. Same thing for Edmund (Skandar Keynes). Peter (William Moseley) and Susan (Anna Popplewell), however, look ageless. At least they do on the film.
Because my expectations were low in regards to the CG and the conversion, I must say Dawn Treader delivers better than expected. The fakeness of the CG in the 2D trailers was lost in the 3D conversion which made the picture darker and blurry. You can’t have crisp action, that defeats the purpose of action. Also, the shots use in the film work quite fine as “3D” shots, you could even believe they had thought in terms of 3D environment.
The problem with Dawn Treader, however, lies in that it’s pretty thin on story. Even in the book, it seemed to only work as an introduction to Eustace… maybe the reason why that’s all I remember about the actual book. The film also includes some very cringe-worthy dialog, but maybe that’s an issue with the dubbing I had to watch.
But I did enjoy it. What the movie makes better than the book is that it fixes the pacing, there’s a lot of action going on while they’re on their way to search for the allies and their swords. They also make a great build-up for Reepicheep, despite the lack of screen-time he’s had in the movies, to give him a deserving send-off. Actually, it’s probably my favorite scene — despite the blatant Christianity hitting me in the face always on the series, I’m rather fond of how the series ended.
However, I wish they had done something more emotional with Lucy and Edmund’s Narnia farewell, because I felt Susan and Peter’s were much more serious, much more felt… after all, we won’t see Lucy and Edmund! We could see a glimpse of Ben Barns as Caspian on The Silver Chair, but not Keynes and Henley.
I hope they do make it to The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle… even cooler if they make The Magician’s Nephew. I really REALLY hate The Horse and his Boy, though.
3/5
I think I’m too aware of awards this year, it’s just TOO MANY awards from around the world.
The NBR has named David Fincher’s The Social Network the Best Film of 2010, as well as Best Director for Fincher and Best Actor for Jesse Eisenberg who played MovieZuckerberg.
Don’t really know how I feel about The Social Network — I liked it fine, but didn’t completely love it. I would say it’s a good movie, but it really lacked a personal point for me.
Anyway~~~ here we go~
I’m never really good with Satellite Awards, I always forget them. But then again, there’s so many Satellite nominees per category… it seems a bit excessive. It’s like chucking all the best performances of the year, instead of choosing five spots even if three good performances will be left out.
And when there’s not enough good performances… they just fill the category up!
Inception is leading this one ;P
