American Hustle

American Hustle is the hilarious, somewhat true story of two con artists paired up with a green FBI agent to catch fish bigger than them in order to avoid jail time. Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper are all nominated for their work in the film. A definite ensemble piece, in addition to the four nominated actors, Jeremy Renner, Louis CK, Michael Peña and Elisabeth Rohm give stellar performances. The hair, make-up, costuming, sets and music all capture the 1970s. Bale, known for his transformations into his roles, has a unique and humorous look.

Each of the nominated actors have won or been nominated for their roles in previous David O Russell pictures. Lawrence won for Silver Linings Playbook and Bale for the Fighter. Cooper was nominated last year for Silver Linings Playbook and Adams for the Fighter. American Hustle is nominated for ten Oscars, four for acting, production design, costume design, editing, directing, original screenplay and best picture. Only Gravity received as many nominations. No current sure things but with that many nominations they are bound to walk away with at least a couple of technical awards. The acting categories seem to be headed for Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club and Lupita Nyong'o has a strong lead in the Best Supporting Actress category for 12 Years A Slave. Best Actress is an open race, with Cate Blanchett picking up early honors at the Golden Globes and SAG Awards. Sandra Bullock seems the critical favorite to win for her work in Gravity. Adams is the only one not to have won before in the category so a win for her would be great.

The imbd page for American Hustle is unique in that it has a full format and layout, complete with cast photos and video clips. This is the first time an imdb entry was customized for the project, not just ads behind the homepage. It will be interesting to see if this is a new feature to the website.

The 85th Academy Awards

Seth MacFarlane danced the line of biting humor and respect for the institution of the Oscars perfectly as host. One of his best jokes from the opening monologue was "Ben, it's not your fault" in a Robin Williams-esque Good Will Hunting voice about Affleck not being nominated for Best Director. The many jokes about Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosting were a great homage to how well they hosted the Golden Globes earlier this year. Seth tempting Sally Field with wine and Boniva was delightfully hilarious. Later his joke, "It's Sunday. Everybody is dressed up. This is like church only with more people praying," was priceless.

I was incorrect right out of the gates on the first award, Best Supporting Actor. I had thought that DeNiro had it but I could not have been more pleased that Christoph Waltz took home the statue. His speech was genuine and heartfelt. It has become quite fashionable for actors to thank and name their fellow nominees in their acceptance speeches. Waltz seemed very sincere when he named each of his cohorts. Tommy Lee Jones actually smiled after the clip of his nominated performance in Lincoln.

MacFarlane's jabs at Clooney and Affleck throughout the ceremony were fantastic. The six men of the Avengers amusingly bantered as they presented Cinematography and Visual Effects. The much promoted tribute to 50 years of Bond was disappointing in that it was simply a montage (and they showed T Dalt twice). Having Shirley Bassey sing Goldfinger was pretty cool. The Forrest Gump score popped up multiple times over transitions -- upon rewatching the show I realized this was because of the theme of the awards, music in movies. In this honoring of movie music my only complaint was that the sound team did not disable Russell Crowe's microphone during the Les Miserables performance.

I can not even talk about Anne Hathaway winning Best Supporting Actress or about how awful her dress was. Jennifer Lawrence fell on her way to the stage but she instantly regained her composure. She gave a simple and sweet speech. Daniel Day Lewis was also humbling and sweet in his acceptance speech and then in the next breath hilarious. Michelle Obama presenting Best Picture via satellite was a truly new idea kept a surprise by Jack Nicholson appearing on stage as if to present. I loved it when he asked, "Obama, do you have your envelope" and without missing a beat she replied, "not yet Jack, I'm about to." I was so pleased that Argo won. I loved Ben Affleck's speech. He had the seem frenetic energy that he had when he won for the screenplay for Good Will Hunting.

Silver Linings Playbook

I have been somewhat slow in posting my reaction to this amazing flick because I did not know what to say. It is fantastic. I suspect it will be my favorite Oscar movie of the season. The films that pair great comedy with real life drama, and do it right, in a well written way, are always my favorites. The Descendants was a favorite last year for this reason. It won Best Adapted Screenplay. There were many other movies I loved in the 2012 Oscar season (The Help, Beginners) and there will be others I love this year (Argo). Each year there are films that feel like homework (Warhorse, Les Misérables) and there are surprise gems (Albert Nobbs).

Silver Linings Playbook will always be a memorable movie going experience. Emily and I first attempted a sold out showing at one theater but ended up making the next showtime at another theater (the same thing happened on the way to seeing Zero Dark Thirty; apparently the Oscar nominated movies are making bank this year, or I am off my game).

The acting is strong to say the least -- four of the leads in the movie have been nominated for Oscars, Bradley Cooper for Best Actor, Jennifer Lawrence for Best Actress, Robert DeNiro for Best Supporting Actor and Jacki Weaver for Best Supporting Actress, not to mention Chris Tucker's delightful role. J La has a good shot at winning (just check out her monologue from this week's SNL) and both she and Cooper are incredible as emotionally off-kilter people trying to move past recent events in their lives. If Daniel Day Lewis was not a complete shoe-in for Best Actor as Lincoln, Cooper might have had a chance at the statue as well.

The film is also up for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Film Editing. And there's football, gambling and dancing.  David O Russell wrote and directed the picture, he also directed the Fighter and I Heart Huckabees. I am a fan of Russell's movies and if you have seen his previous pictures, you can see how Silver Linings Playbook incorporates the comedy of Huckabees and the family drama of the Fighter. I loved this movie and am tempted to see it again before Oscar season is over.