I'm really looking forward to watching the Academy Awards presentation tonight. No time for fussy cooking--calamari, egg rolls and shrimp ready to go in the oven from the freezer, along with a bottle of prosecco. The prosecco froze solid out on the porch last week but it should be okay for tonight!
Event: Oscar night itself. I rarely miss it. It always brings back happy memories of watching it with my mom, dad and sibs growing up and now with my own family. Sometimes we do a pool, but this year it will be enough to pick our favourites.
Movie: Birdman. My pick for best film this year, out of the ones I've seen. It was inventive, surreal, and hilarious. I'm not sure if the main character, Reggin, was mentally ill, or if his alter ego, Birdman, represents that little nagging voice that all of us hear.
Movie: Boyhood. A leisurely ramble through 12 years of growing up. I will be happy if this one ends up winning Best Picture too. It made me think a lot about relationships and parenting, and inspired wonderful discussions.
Movie: The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game. Both biopics and both disappointing ultimately, though well-intentioned, well-acted and well-made. I felt a little manipulated and resentful in the same way I felt about the Disney and P.L. Travers movie, Saving Mr. Banks. Maybe I should just get over it, but I prefer fictitious characters, which to me, deliver truth that's missing in an account of someone's actual life. And then if the narrative is sculpted to promote a point, it feels cheap. Well, that's always been my problem with history--"says who"?
Event: Cinechats, a weekly film presentation at Durham College in Oshawa, by John Arkelian, editor of Artsforum. Quality films every Thursday at 6:30, at the low price of $3, along with a wonderful email containing a description of the upcoming film for the week. It's 10th anniversary will be March 5. A cultural treasure.
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