One Day

This movie far exceeded my expectations. I have always liked Anne Hathaway but two of my very dear friends do not like her and their opinions have influenced me in the last year. The movie was not well reviewed when it was in theaters and did not do very well at the box office. Hardly things I care about in movies I love or are determined to see but can be deciding factors when I am not sure if I want to see a movie or not. Bad box office and word of mouth definitely makes a movie more likely to be seen on DVD than in the theater. I had also heard that someone who read the book was not very pleased with the adaptation. Maybe it was all those precursors and lowered expectations but I really enjoyed the movie. I would very much like to read the book now as well and will be picking it up on my next trip to the library.

The story takes place on one calendar day each year over a twenty year period, a unique concept. It is about two classmates after graduation, Hathaway's character, Emma, and Dexter, played by Jim Sturgess. Patricia Clarkson is Dexter's mother and is a delight as always. By the by, what is with the name Dexter being all over pop culture lately. There's the beloved serial killer Dexter as played by Michael C Hall on Showtime and in the graphic novel its based on, the Dex in Something Borrowed, books and movie, and now the British Dexter of One Day.

It seems that my most recent movie viewings have been those that require hankies (the Vow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close). One Day is sweet, has funny moments and was very fun to watch.

Oscar fashions 2011

Before I start with the dresses and the jewelry trends, let's take a quick look at the men. I thought it was very cute that to present together Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin wore matching white tuxes. You'll see below, when walking the red carpet, and later in the audience, Bardem wore a more traditional black tux, white shirt and black tie.

The red trend, looked great. Jennifer Lawrence looked amazing, love the hair, the dress, all of it. I've liked all her red carpet looks this award season. As her part in Winter's Bone is not glamorous, she definitely shines. I liked the hair down, Anne Hathaway red dress, pictured here second from the left, better on television than photo; pictures are not true to the color and don't do justice to when she was on stage with it and after. I like Jennifer Hudson's tangerine-red number. Love Hathaway's red carpet red. Sandra Bullock looked great, the dress and accessories (her hair was a little over processed but you can't tell in pictures only on television when she presented).

Penelope Cruz also wore a lovely fiery red number:

Two of my favorites were the ladies from Black Swan, Natalie Portman and Mila Kunas. Love the purple plum dress with the matching earrings. Really like the lavender-soft dress, accessorized well. Halle always looks hot and did a wonderful job with the Lena Horn tribute. 

A photo does not really capture all the elements of this dress. It was lavender with lavender and yellow beading. I liked it alright though it seems everyone has a different take on the dress. 

Second trend, all the green jewelry. I'm such an Amy Adams fan and we have seen countless successful red carpet looks for her before. Mainly, I don't think the dress needed the necklace. 

 Hailee Steinfeld's age appropriate glamour. I did not like it at first on the red carpet but now I think it was a wise choice and very pretty.

I think I may be the only one but I really liked Nicole Kidman's dress and loved the pairing of the red shoes with it. I think its basic, classy but she's taking some risk with the architecture of the dress and the color of her shoes.

Have to include Oprah. I don't think the photos do it justice but she actually matched the set and the gradation change of color was great.  James Franco tweeted a pic of he and Anne Hathaway with Oprah back stage. Click here for Franco's pic

Reese Witherspoon rocked a 60's inspired vintage look. Loved the hair and make-up. It even looked great seated when she was interviewed before the show. Katy pointed out that it brings to mind the dress Julia Roberts wore when she won for Erin Brockovich at the 2001 Academy Awards.

The 83rd Academy Awards

Sipping champagne and still eating my piece of Laura's Black Swan cake, I am reflecting on this year's Oscar ceremony. I'm sorry to say, the show itself, was disappointing. The movies, were the best group I have been delighted to be entertained by in many years. Things started off well and then early on, with the Best Supporting Actress category, things went downhill. Legendary actor Kirk Douglas presented the award. I mean no disrespect, but it was a very bad idea to have him present. The poor man suffered a stroke in 1995 and despite speech therapy, speaking is still a struggle. When painstakingly Melissa Leo was announced as the winner, she dropped an F-Bomb in her speech!

On the positive side, the opening sequences were delightful. I loved how the 10 Best Picture nominee montage was put together with the Oscar winning score from the Social Network over the film clips, excellent. The sketch of co-hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway incepting Alec Baldwin's dreams for hosting tips, hilarious and fantastic. Other highlights -- Russell Brand is always funny and presenting Best Foreign Film with Helen Mirren delivered. During Jake Gyllenhaal's presentation of the Best Documentary Short and Best Live Action Short Film categories with Amy Adams, he talked about how these awards can make or break your ballot of predictions. WORD Jake Gyllenhaal, word.

Several surprises. Tom Hooper, the director of the King's Speech won Best Director (not David Fincher for the Social Network as widely anticipated). Inception also took home Best Cinematography, not True Grit.

Inception and Best Picture winner The King's Speech, each took home four statues. Social Network received three. Laura and I tied with 17 correct predictions. Dave Karger at Entertainment Weekly correctly estimated 16. I did not improve from my past two years of predicting 19 correctly. I did however best my mentor, so that's something.

Surprisingly, early reviews of the show online and on tv, are positive for the show. EW's Ken Tucker was glowing and even questioned Billy Crystal's standing ovation saying, "was the audience missing him in that role that much this evening?" Well in my home we were! It seemed as though Laura summoned him when she said, "where's Billy Crystal?" I think we mostly fall into that "younger demo" that they were going for too, so go figure.

 

Much like the opening, I really enjoyed the presentation of the Best Picture category. Steven Spielberg presented brilliantly and the montage of clips narrated by the actual speech in the King's Speech, excellent.

Complete winner's list for all 24 categories:
BEST PICTURE
The King’s Speech

BEST ACTOR
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

BEST ACTRESS
Natalie Portman, Black Swan

BEST DIRECTOR
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

BEST SONG
WINNER: “We Belong Together,” Toy Story 3, Randy Newman

BEST EDITING
The Social Network, Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Inception, Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Inside Job, Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
God of Love, Luke Matheny

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Strangers No More, Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood

BEST MAKEUP
The Wolfman, Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

BEST SOUND EDITING
Inception, Richard King

BEST SOUND MIXING
Inception, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, and Ed Novick

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, The Fighter

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
In a Better World (Denmark)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The King’s Speech, Screenplay by David Seidler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Social Network, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Toy Story 3

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
The Lost Thing, Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Melissa Leo, The Fighter

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Inception, Wally Pfister

BEST ART DIRECTION
Alice in Wonderland, Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara

Love and Other Drugs

The pace, music and editing of the first scene of Love and Other Drugs, are excellent. It opens in 1996 with Jake Gyllenhaal as an electronics store salesmen, set to the sweet sound of the Spin Doctors. The energy and sly charm of Gyllenhaal's character, Jamie Randall, continue throughout much of the movie. He's a smooth operator and its not the least bit offensive. Its completely cute and funny.

Now as a pharmaceutical rep, Jamie soon crosses paths with Anne Hathaway's free-spirited artist, Maggie Murdock. They are two of a kind and fall right into bed. As the buzz for the movie promises, there's lots of skin and sex scenes. Maggie's character faces a challenge in her life that much of the second half of the film and the conflict of the movie revolve around. I did not know it before seeing the movie, and though most reviews probably mention it, I won't. I like that I didn't know everything about the movie before seeing it.

Over all, its a fun picture, and I enjoyed the trip back to the 90s and the exposure of the relationship between doctors and pharmaceutical companies. The only silver bullet, is the "grand gesture" scene that frequents many rom-coms. It is based on a real story, the screenplay is adapted from the book Hard Sell by the real Jamie. And it wasn't cheesy, my main element to determine a good or bad rom-com.

I'll be seeing Black Swan Friday and The Tourist on Sunday...plus, you never know when there is more Oscar news this time of year.