Carey Mulligan in ‘An Education’ January 10, 2010

Oscar season is quickly approaching. Having seen almost all of the nominees, I can now speak on some favorites to be nominated or to win. I will make official predictions once the list of nominees is revealed, but for now, Best Actress belongs to Carey Mulligan in ‘An Education’.

She gives a great performance in a good film (3.5/4 Stars). What is so special about her performance is that she has a sweet naivety when she is with David (Peter Sarsgaard), but among her peers something very interesting goes on: She is much more well-read and cultured than any of them, but they are still more mature in their life decisions. Jenny (Mulligan’s character) thinks she has it figured out, how to beat the system of work and boredom, but can a 16 year-old girl really have it all figured out? There are always angles to be missed. As we age we see pitfalls more clearly and can sidestep them in time, but for Jenny, she thinks she can just cruise along. Really, she’s floating, and has to fall eventually.

As I try to be vague and avoid spoilers, instead, check out a great FYC poster and the trailer after the cut.

Trailers That Are Way Better Than the Film: X-Men: The Last Stand December 9, 2009

These updates are a tribute to the great editing jobs of the people who make trailers. After a good ‘X-Men’ and a fantastic ‘X2’, both directed by Bryan Singer, Brett Ratner decided he wanted to crap on the X-Men franchise. The talented Bryan Singer moved on to ‘Superman Returns’.

Of course, the trailer for ‘X-Men: The Last Stand‘ promised to have plenty of kick-ass action and awesome mutant fun. Boy, was it wrong. The movie was basically the Wolverine Show, which we would get again with the Origins movie. Tip: If you want a story to be good, don’t kill off a bunch of crucial characters right at the start.

‘X-Men’ and ‘X2’ were serious movie that were fun to watch. ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ put an internet meme/joke/video quote into the final cut of the movie. A bunch of people in the theater laughed, but all I could think was, “Is this movie for real?”

Trailers That Are Way Better Than the Film: Watchmen October 16, 2009

The first Trailer That Is Way Better Than the Film is ‘Watchmen‘, the train wreck that came into theaters on 03.06.09. The film butchered the source material. Instead of wasting a few hours, watch the three minute trailer and get super pumped.

I still love watching this. If only the film itself had editing this good….

Bruno Is Misleading June 11, 2009

Look at this poster for the new Sacha Baron Cohen movie, ‘Bruno’:

Notice the text: “Borat was so 2006”

Yes. ‘Borat’ was good in 2006. Yet, if you’ve seen the trailer for Bruno, maybe you’ll notice that it’s the exact same concept: a socially out of place man put in awkward situations with unsuspecting people.

This is nothing new, but the poster will make you think otherwise. I know it’s a joke to say “blank is so blank”, but don’t try to pass the same gag off as something new in the process.