Monday, June 22, 2009

MERYL STREEP QUEST

Another quest this summer is to showcase Meryl Streep and watch all 15 movies that got her nomminated for an oscar. Here is what I have watched so far and the movies she was nomminated for:

The Deer Hunter – First Supporting Actress Nomm – 1978
Kramer vs. Kramer – First Supporting Actress Win – 1979
The French Lieutenant’s Woman – First Leading Actress Nomm - 1981
Sophie’s Choice – First Leading Actress Win (second oscar) - 1982
Silkwood – 1983
Out of Africa -- 1985
Ironweed – 1987
Evil Angels – 1988
Postcards from the Edge – 1990
The Bridges of Madison County – 1995
On True Thing – 1998
Music of the Heart – 1999
Adaptation – 2002
The Devil Wears Prada – 2006
Doubt – 2008

*Note the dates are for when the movie came out,
not the date of the oscars.

MOVIES I HAVE SEEN:
(so far 11 out of 15)

Kramer vs. Kramer
Meryl’s first Oscar win for leading actress. Saw this Junior year in Film Studies. Meryl leaves her husband (Hoffman) and then comes back to fight for custody of their little boy.

Sophie’s Choice
Meryl’s second and only other Oscar win for leading actress. Saw this at home during the summer (6-21-09). Meryl is a holocaust survivor who is living in New York and coping with her horrific memories. This was also Kevin Kline’s break out roll as Nathan.

Out of Africa
Meryl's performance in this was very good. The movie is about Karen (Streep) who goes to Africa to become a baroness. She works on a farm, trying to produce coffee. Meryl's strong dutch accent, in this film, once again makes you forget you are watching her. She is a completly different person. I must all mention that the cinemotagraphy was good too, lots of pretty shots of animals (especially lions) and the scenery of Africa. Meryl also acts alongside Robert Redford who plays Denys Hatton, a hunter, who Meryl falls for. But because of Denys commitment issues, the movie is about Meryl struggeling to get Denys to settle down and marry her. Overall, it was a great performance, once again, by Meryl Streep.

Ironweed
Okay, so Meryl was nomminated for an Oscar for Leading Actress in this role. I don't really understand why. Not that her performance was not good, it was good, but she just did not have much of a role. Meryl plays pretty much an insane poor bum, who is friendly with another bum, Franice (Jack Nicholson). Nicholson's performance was really good in this film, Meryl on the other hand was barley seen. She was featured a lot in the beggining then slowly there was no more. She sang and did a drunken jig but then that's it. That just must have been what got her nomminated. But she had no chance in winning since she was up against Cher for Moonstruck. Who was going to beat her! The story, Ironweed, is about the life of Franice, a bum, who killed his 13-day old child and fled his family. He lives on the streets for 22-years alongside his friend's Billy and Helen, (Streep) who is like his "street" wife. Franices, throughout the plot, is also visited and haunted by ghosts from his past. People who he was either responsible for their deaths, or people who have died that played a part in his life. This was also Nathan Lane's first movie! Good movie, depressing, but still good.

Evil Angels (A Cry in the Dark)
I kept forgetting I was watching Meryl Streep. She was really good at the role and you can hardly recognize her! Meryl portrays an Australian mother who lost her baby girl to a Dingo, that she claims then dragged her baby by the head, out of their tent, and into the outback. Though many years in court, the Chamberlains (Meryl and family) deal with the stressed of protestors and reporters. I watched this film on 6-24-2009, and really enjoyed it.

Postcards From the Edges
This was an intersting movie. I watched it on June 23rd. Meryl struggels to be a successful actress as she faces her addiction to drugs. Shirley MaClain plays her mother. The two seem to comete against eachother to be better actresses. this movie is actually an autobiography written by Carrie Fisher about her life. Meryl plays Fisher, and MaClain plays Fisher's real mother: Debbie Reynolds. Meryl does a lot of singing in the movie, and I quite enjoyed it. I really liked this movie.

One True Thing
So it's early Thursday morning, and if you don't know anything about the movie...you need to see it. It is very sad, but very good. I am still a little teary eyed. Meryl portrays a woman dying of cancer and her daughter Ellen (Renee Zellweger) leaves her reporting job in New York to be take care of her. While dealing with her mom's cancer, Ellen also tries to rekindle her poor relationship with her father (William Hurt). (When Ellen was younger she heard her father cheating with another woman.) The movie is another great performance by Streep. But, it was very overlooked by the Oscars, Meryl was the only one nomminated for Lead Actress in the movie. But, still it is a very good movie. Very well acted. Really enjoyed it!

Music of the Heart
Caught this on TV and then was asked to watch it again this year. Streep portrays and actual women who teaches poor kids in Harlem how to play violin when the music budget is cut from their school’s district. The kids go as far as performing at Carnegie Hall.

Adaptation
A strange movie I watched with my grandfather and parents (6-13-09; right before I graduated). The movie was with Nicholas Cage. He was a writer and Meryl (who played an author of a book) was his subject. Meryl’s character tried to kill Cage when he finds out her secret.

The Devil Wears Prada
Saw it twice in the movies, and on TV. Meryl plays a mean but intelligent head of a fashion magazine. Anne Hathway played her assistant that went from a down dresser to a high fashion dresser.

Doubt
Saw it in the theater. Loved Meryl’s New York accent. She plays a nun who with another nun (Amy Adams) tries to convict their priest of child molestation. But succeeding was very unlikely because the priest is the head of authority and whatever he says goes.

First 10 Classics of the Summer

So summer vacation started officially for my sister as well as the other students at my High School. I had already started my summer vacation back on June 9th. Still, today, is the official day that I start my mission to increase my knowledge of movies.

Here are the first 10 Classical Movies I have watched and a few notes about them.

1. CASABLANCA
It's 2:28AM and I just finished watching a BIG movie classic. It was my first time watching this movie, but it seemed like I already knew so much about it. This 1942 movie, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, is set in Africa (Casablanca) during the early days of World War II. Pretty much the movies is about an American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications. The movie was quite interesting to watch and I realy enjoyed it. I am so glad I watched it. And of course I was all suprised to hear the line at the end: "The start of a beautiful friendship." I actually did not know that line came from that movie.


OTHER MOVIES I SAW:
Postcards from the Edge - 6-23-09 at 10:55 pm
Evil Angels (A Cry in the Dark) - 6-24-09 at 11:49 am
One True Thing - 6-25-09 at 2:01 am
The Revolutionary Road - 6-26-09 at 8:33 pm
Bride Wars - 6-28-09 at 7:07 pm
Billy Elliot - 6-29-09 at 4:43 pm
Defending Your Life - 6-29-09 at 1:05 am
Seven Pounds - 7-1-09 at 2:04 pm
Out of Africa - 7-3-09 at 4:30 pm
12 Rounds - 7-10-09 at 1:04 am
The Holiday - 7-12-09 at 12:30 pm
Ironweed - 7-13-09 at 1:02 am
Music & Lyrics - 7-13-09 at 12:30 pm
Waltz with Bashir - 7-14-09 at 10:45 pm
Moonstruck - 7-15-09 at 1:04 am

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Movies I Have Seen

Here is the list of movies that I have already seen. Later I will start rating them, as well as leave a few notes...but for my first blog...I am going to just put down all the movies I have seen. (I am sure I have forgotten some, so I will add more later when I remember).

But, this is the list, that as of 6-21-2009, I have watched:

21
50 First Dates
88 Minutes
2001
A Christmas Story
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Series of Unfourtunate Events
Adaptation

Airplane
All About Eve

All The President's Men
Alladin

Anatomy of Murder
Appocolypse Now
Baby Mama

Back to the Future 1-3
Batman Begins

Beauty and the Beast
Big

Big Fish
Blazing Saddles
Broken Glass
Cats & Dogs
Changeling

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Chicago

Citizen Cane
Cinderella Man
Crash
Clue
Dark Knight
Dark Waters
Death Becomes Her
Death Defying Acts
Die Another Day
Doubt
Drilbit Taylor

Dreamgirls
Duplex

Duplicity
Easy Rider
Enchanted

Enternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Executive Decision

Final Destination 1-3
Finding Neverland
Finding Nimo

Frieda
Frost/Nixion
Frozen River

Funny Girl
Get Smart
Goodfellas

Groundhog Day
Halloween Movies
Hairspray
Hancock
He's Just Not That In To You
High Noon
Hook

Hotel Rwanda
I Am Sam
I Could Never Be Your Woman
Into the Woods

Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Iron Man

Jack
Knocked Up
Kramer Vs. Kramer
La vi en Rose
Le Chorus
License To Kill

Lions for Lambs
Little Miss Sunshine
Lorenzo's Oil

Lord of the Rings 1-3
March of the Penguins
Meet the Fockers
Meet the Parents

Men in Black 1 & 2
Milk
Million Dollar Baby
Miss Congeniality 1 & 2

Monster's Ball
Moulin Rouge!
Ms. Potter

Mrs. Doubtfire
Mr. Deeds
Mr. 3000
Music of the Heart
Nanook of the North

Nightmare of Elm Street
No Reservations

North By Northwest
Notting Hill
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Pan's Labyrinth
Phantom of the Opera
Pippin
Poseidon
Prime
Rabbit Proof Fence
Rachel Getting Married
Radio
Rainman
Rat Race
Recount
Red Eye

Roxanne
RV

Saving Private Ryan
Scary Movie 1-4
School of Rock
Scrooged

Second Hand Lions
Shall We Dance
Shindler's List
Sicko

Sister Act 1 & 2
Sleeping Beauty
Slumdog Millionare
Snow White
Sophie's Choice
Spaceballs
Spanglish
Spiderman 1-3

Star Wars 1-6
Stardust
Stepmom
Superbad
Sweeney Todd
The Brave One
The Bucket List
The Cider House Rules
The City of Ember
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Day After Tomorrow
The Deep End of the Ocean

The Dead Poet's Society
The Departed
The Devil Wears Prada

The Family Stone
The First Wives Club
The Graduate

The Grapes of Wrath
The God Father 1 & 2
The Hours
The Labyrinth
The Last Holiday

The Matrix 1-3
The Pianist
The Pursuit of Happyness
The Reader
The Ring
The Ring 2

The Shawshank Redemption
The Silence of the Lambs

The Simpson Movie
The Strangers
The Terminal
The Truman Show
The Uninvited
The Witches of Eastwick
The World is Not Enough

The Wizard of Oz
Thelma and Louise

Titanic
Tomorrow Never Dies
Tootsie

Toy Story 1 & 2
Transamerica
Tron 3.0
Untraceable
Vantage Point
W.
Walk the Line

Wanted
Wall-E
Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Wild Wild West
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Yes Man

Young Frankenstein