Some post-Oscar sentiments 2011

Voilá, a more or less brief summary of the thoughts than ran through my mind in the Oscar Night.

(It turned out to be 'less brief'. So, if you're still dying to get inside my head, proceed by clicking below.)

2010: A Summary of a Year

2010 is almost over. Can you believe it, because I can't! The year has been pretty good, I've seen many awesome films (and quite a bunch of less awesome films as well, but that's unavoidable, I guess). I hugely regret that I didn't make a list of all the films I watched during 2010 (it did cross my mind, damn it), because I'm pretty sure I've broken a personal record. 2010 was also the year when I started blogging, so I guess we can say my year hasn't been a total waste!

To wrap the year up, I look back to the various phases I went through this year. (A phase: A period of time during which I am hugely enthusiastic about something or someone, and can't fully concentrate on anything else.) There's been unusually many of them! Also, I'll very reluctantly make an unofficial top five of my favourite movies of 2010. Don't take it too seriously. There are too many potentially awesome films I haven't yet seen! It's mostly there just for show.

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My SIX PHASES of 2010

The Robert Downey Jr. phase (January - March)

Not often I go see a film in the cinema twice. Even less often three times. But I did see Sherlock Holmes three times, and I can only blame the unbeatable charm and overflowing hotness of RDJ. During the phase I also watched a lot of lousy films from his early career (and one damn good one that led to another phase later on) and the fourth season of Ally McBeal. That's when the phase probably reached its peak and I was more fanfirl-y that I've been in years and it was highly disturbing and I'm glad it's over now. (And I'm only half-kidding.) I'm still very much RDJ's girl, and I regret I managed to miss Due Date in cinemas.

The River Phoenix phase (March - April)

The short-ish but passionate River Phoenix phase was triggered by the end credits of Stand by Me, as my even-slower-than-usual brain realised that the charming young fellow in the film was actually River Phoenix. Many of his film are almost impossible to come by, but judging by every film I have got my hands on, River was spectacularly talented and an amazing person and all the praise he's ever got is most definitely deserved. Also, when it comes to talking about River Phoenix, one can't get away without mentioning that he has one of the most photogenic faces EVER.

The Lost phase (~April - June)

My Lost phase has been going strong since 2006, but this year it culminated around the series finale in May. All year long I had been regularly freaking out once a week, as the final season teased and shocked and thrilled me to pieces. Lost is the most popular label on my blog, which shows that the Lost phase still isn't over. Just this week I completed a project I had been fantasizing about for years, as my Complete Lost Marathon finally ended. Lost truly has been one of the highlights of the year, but it was also a significant highlight of the whole decade. Dude, it's been awesome.

The Charlie Chaplin phase (June - July)

This is one of the few times ever I've become this excited about something that could easily be considered 'intellectual' (not that Lost, for instance, isn't, ahem). Thanks to RDJ (yep, I still think I owe him this), I read Chaplin's autobiography, loved it, and watched all of his films I could find. Oh and loved them, too, to say the least. I found it quite amazing that I so thoroughly enjoyed something that had been done before the 90s, or even before the invention of talking pictures! So uncharacteristic of me. Chaplin's films are wonderful, oh so wonderful and I'll be eternally grateful to RDJ. Haha.

The Disney phase (August - September)

Before and especially after our spectacular trip to Paris - which included that fateful visit to Disneyland - I couldn't make myself watch anything that wasn't animated and or didn't have a happy ending and a few cute animal friends. I watched more Disney films in a month than I did during the whole year when I was five. And oh did I have a blast! By the time I got annoyed at The Little Mermaid and actually began to look the films critically (first time for everyhing), I figured the time had come to finally shake the phase and move on. Luckily, an old favourite was coming back from a summer hiatus.

The Glee phase (October - December, and beyond)

 Glee, oh Glee! Just when I thought Lost had left a hole in me that nothing could ever fill, along came season two of Glee, and reminded me that there is one show out there that has that potential. Not that the hole is completely filled (won't ever be), but it doesn't ache anymore. Glee has been quite a dominant factor in my life recently: I created a blog dedicated to it, I'm listening to the songs on repeat, I ordered a ticket to their live concert and I want to marry Chris Colfer (oh, if I were a boy!). Glee has quite a steady position in my life, and this phase will continue to live on... Side by side with whatever I next get crazy about.

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My (unofficial) TOP FIVE of 2010

Rare Exports

Okay, so. Rare Exports is here, because 1) it was a good film and 2) because it's not every year Finns make a film that one might even consider when thinking about the best films of the year. I might have liked The Deathly Hallows a bit more, but hey, the patriot in me wanted to give this film some more credit. (And I make sure DH pt. 2 will be on my top five of 2011. Promise.) And it's not only that it is a rare export when it comes to domestic cinema. Rare Exports is an imaginative and bold piece of work, it creeped me out, it made me laugh and gave me chills and, quite unexpectedly, a touch of Christmas spirit as well.

Kick-Ass

Kick-Ass kicked off my summer of various action adventures, such as Robin Hood, Iron Man 2 and Prince of Persia, and ended up kicking the crap out of all the rest. It is an entertainment bomb. It introduced two bright stars of tomorrow, Aaron Johnson and Chloe Moretz, and also features the brilliant Christopher Mintz-Plasse. One of my favourite moments (in addition to everything that includes Hit-Girl) still is when the main character is worried that if he dies, he won't find out how Lost ends. What a relief I don't have to worry about anymore! Because, on some of my less proud moments, I did. Anyway, Kick-Ass kicks ass.

Inception

Er, what? What is Inception doing this far from number one? Wasn't it pretty much the most mind-blowing thing I'd seen in ages, a complicated and intriguing masterpiece by the genious also known as Chris Nolan, and simply just the grandest cinema experience ever? Well, yes. As you can see, I haven't numbered the top five, even though they are supposingly in the order of superiority. It just felt wrong. When my friend asked me what my five favourite movies of 2010 were, he also asked me to mark put a star after each film that was so damn incredible you forgot it was a film you were watching. (continues below)

The Social Network

(cont.) (He asked me for the list in Facebook. By the way.) Inception was the only was that I starred. So why oh why are The Social Network and another film topping Inception? Well, quite frankly, I don't know. I'm just listening to my gut. I can't say which one I liked more, because they are so very different. Both left me in awe, but in different kinds of awe and for different reasons. I actually at one point promoted Inception to number two, but finally dropped it back down again, because this was the original order on the list in Facebook. And as we know, Facebook is the bible of today's world. And yes, The Social Network is freaking genious.

Toy Story 3

So here we are, then. 2010 is just about in the bag and my most favourite film ended up being... not a sci-fi epic nor an origin story of a web page... but a third instalment of an animated film series. Um... okay? I guess what happened here is that number three and number two were too busy wrestling with each other that they forgot one little Toy Story 3. Whoever saw that coming? ... I did, actually. (Just remembered that I did!) Here's a direct quote (with spelling errors and all, sigh... 'askes'... I should probably fix that) from my Inception post from July:

" So - if someone askes me in the end of this year what was the BEST film of 2010, I will probably say Inception. If they ask what was MY FAVOURITE film, I will say something else. Something silly like Toy Story 3 or Kick-Ass or Harry Potter. "

And yes, I don't think this is such a scandalous or unexpected choice after all. I mean, whoever has seen the film knows it's brilliant in so many wonderful ways. I'm definitely campaigning for Toy Story 3 to win the best picture Oscar, and not only because I like underdogs and tend to fly the flag of those who REALLY don't stand much chance of winning, but also because I think it has a tremendous amount of potential. I mean, don't you want an animated picture to win the Oscar some day? So why not now? (Yeah, yeah, okay. In my dreams. Anyway.)

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Okay. So. A wrap-up of a wrap-up... 2010. What a year! And I have a sneaky feeling that 2011 might be even better! There sure are a big bunch of films worth expecting on the way. 2010 took us beyond infinity, but who knows, we might go even further next year.

Happy two thousand and eleven, everyone! Enjoy the fireworks tonight!

Globes 2011 nominees

The nominees for the 2011 Golden Globes just came in! Do check them here. Both Inception and The Social Network got multiple nominations, expectedly and deservigly. I still have a lot of films to see from the list, but I can say I want Andrew Garfield to get that award! And the golden dude, too, later on. No matter how awesome the other nominees might be...

P.S. I've been babysitting my nephew today, and we've watched Cars three times. And now I just put it on for the fourth time. I didn't want to, but he started to threathen the life of my Lost box set, so I gave in. That sneaky little boy.

Inception in real time

I love make so much effort to create these awesome videos! This also reminded me that I need to write another letter to Santa, because my wish list needs one little addition...

Inception - prepare your breath to be taken away, far away

Directed by Christopher Nolan. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine.

Long story short: ... Okay, this is a bit difficult. So, there's a technology that allows you to enter people's minds and dreams and steal their secrets and ideas. And there's this one guy whose mind these other guys need to enter to plant an idea in there (that's called 'inception') ...and that's pretty much what it's all about. Kind of.

Isn't it just awesome, how something that's been hyped to be awesome actually turns out to be just that? I was so worried that I wouldn't like or understand Inception. And - even though I have to admit I didn't fully, totally, completely understand it - I did like it, a lot. And that's just awesome.

Now - a little praise. I feel like calling Chris Nolan 'a genious'. Seriously, who knew he could top The Dark Knight. He did! Oh man. The cast, then. Somehow they'd managed to cast only actors that I like. Leo - the usual dark and twisty awesomeness, Joseph Gordon-Levitt - oooooooh, hello eye candy (and more!), Marion Cotillard - favourite actress material, Ellen Page - I'm glad you didn't get your first Oscar for Juno, you'll get it for something so much better, Ken Watanabe - Ha! Chairman!, Tom Hardy - a new face for me but liked him immidiately, Cillian Murphy - something very freezing about him, in a good way, and of course Michael Caine - wonderful, awesome, that's all he knows how to be.

... I don't know how to start analysing and disentangling the film. I can say it was the best film I've seen in a good while - but at the same time I'm positive Inception won't become a favourite film of mine, because for me a favourite film means that I can watch it over and over again and every time it's just pure indulgence.  Inception is a brilliant film, so brilliant it's weird to think someone human came up with it, it's very very well made and it seriously is modern film making at its best - 'a triumph of modern cinema', as I mockingly descriped Eclipse a while back.

At the same time it's difficult, complicated, almost tiring, if you're not feeling at your sharpest. Half way through I felt a bit exhausted, because there was so much to take in and no break to catch your breath. It demands you to concentrate constantly and keeps your brain busy, provoking your thoughts. It's... well, like a maze. Which you can't crack just like that. And as brilliant as it is, and as much as I enjoyed it, it wasn't pure indulgence. So - if someone askes me in the end of this year what was the BEST film of 2010, I will probably say Inception. If they ask what was MY FAVOURITE film, I will say something else. Something silly like Toy Story 3 or Kick-Ass or Harry Potter. You know what I mean.

Anyway, at the end I was just glad I'd substantially understood what the film was about, had been able to follow all along and even guessed and predicted a thing or two. I call this a personal triumph, haha.

Dreams and the subconcious are a blurry and mysterious area of science, and thus very fascinating. Somehow in Inception they'd managed to take some things we know - like the feeling of falling that wakes you up - and compose a technology that you know is fiction, but it's made and explained so well it feels plausible and real.

The CGI was excellent, just excellent, and there was obviously a lot of it, but it didn't feel like they were gloating with it - special effects weren't the reason to tell a story (ahem, Avatar, ahem), but a tool to tell it. Also, they didn't shoot it in 3D, which in my book means a million thumbs up! Go, you.

Some random thoughts: I liked how that Edith Piaf song played quite a major role in the film. As you remember, Marion Cotillard won an Oscar for potraying the singer. Hans Zimmer's music is... like Hans Zimmer's music tends to be. I liked the film's humour a lot, it was subtle and clever. There wasn't much of it, but just enough to nicely lighten up the atmosphere when necessary. The ending... Aaaaaaaargh, damn you Nolan, you nasty nasty thing! (=Thank you! You are a genious, there I said it!)

What else... Oh, I don't know. My breath is still a bit taken away, I can't think clearly. The Perfect Film still remains unmade (as it hopefully will forever), but Inception shows it's always worth a try. And I hope they still remember this little film when the awards season kicks in.

"Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange."

 EDIT // Damn, one just can't spell after midnight.