2016 Academy Awards

In the past year some of my favorite films have been released and last night on February 28, the Academy nominated who the best was.

The obvious award everyone wanted to see was Leonardo Dicaprio winning best actor for the Revenant. And not only did he win best actor, but Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu won best director as well. The Revenant had to be filmed over a prolonged period of time due to the climate. Being filmed in northern Canada/Alaska there was very little daylight, so the cast would spend the non-film time rehearsing for perfection. Leonardo Dicaprio preformed amazingly by portraying the role of Hugh Glass, a 19th century fur hunter and navigator. Inarritu also did an extraordinary job filming and choreographing the cast in the movie.

Brie Larson won best actress for the movie The Room, which was a fictional portrayal of non-fictional accounts of woman being kidnapped and locked away in someones house. The story being very dramatic, Brie Larson did a very sentimental performance with Jacob Tremblay, the son she had while locked away.

The Departed

The Departed is my favorite Martin Scorsese movie. It is an amazing script and directed perfectly, but the cast of the movie carried the film to its Oscar.
It was funny seeing Scorsese going up to accept his award, when he got the microphone he asked, "can you reread the envelop? are you sure this is right?" It was about time he won an academy award for his work. Although he deserves most of the credit, like I said, the cast of the movie was the heart and brain of the movie. Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Alec Baldwin all can be in a movie without each other and still thrive. The fact that this was a cast is amazing, because if you compare them from back then to now, they have all reached great success in their careers. It's almost like Freaks and Geeks or Parks and Recreation, where the cast is 100% talented and each member goes on to achieve success.
I don't want to spoil the movie, so all I can say is The Departed is a great sequence of realistic crime twists in a south Boston police department and this movie will leave you at the last scene with your jaw on the ground.

Entourage

Probably the only good movie that originated from a television series,  Entourage cannot be compared to any other movie that started out as a TV show. Entourage, in my opinion, is perceived as a good show because it is a realistic fantasy of what people want to live. I doubt the Hollywood lifestyle is really like that, but with all the cameos and real life situations, it is seen as realistic.

Cameos are kind of what makes the show. Having actors and celebrities play themselves so often has never been done. But besides the cameos, Vinny Chase's "entourage" is the second likeable factor about the show. All of them came from nothing together, and they are enjoying the fame together. No matter what happens they stick by each other. Which is something that is a lot easier said than done. People love seeing good morals and bad habits mix, and Entourage is the epitome of that. For example, if Johnny Chase, Vinny's brother is having a bad week, the entourage will take him out partying. Cheering up your family members by going to a mansion in Malibu, Entourage offers a mix of good and bad priorities.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is my favorite movie. I say this about a lot of different movies, but this has every element I look for in a film. It's plot is confusing enough to keep my mind pondering and the acting is great enough to keep me watching. The dialogue and the scenery is all well done.
What I like most about this film is how original and well told the story was. I love watching movies like Inception and Donnie Darko, where you don't really understand what's going on until the half way point, or even after. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet play a couple who were madly in love with each other, but then something happens (watch the movie yaself), so it has a big romantic aspect to it, and you can tell within the first 10 minutes that this is no Dumb and Dumber Jim Carrey comedy flick. He plays one of the most serious, mildly depressed character, and does it so well.
Not only is the acting, script, and title interesting. It really makes you value memories and relationships with people. It goes through the mind of Jim Carrey's character and all his memories, releasing a wave of nostalgia. If you want to see a really sentimental and wonderful movie, go watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Star Wars Episode 7

As everyone who hasn't been living under a rock knows, Star Wars Episode 7 came out in mid December. Everyone knows star wars for its huge fan base and what they do. You see pictures of people dressed up as Yoda or Chewbacca at conventions having light saber battles, but the saga of movies means so much more.

When George Lucas released the first 3 movies, he changed the way people film movies. Half the movie took place in space, so he had to make a background of space. If you have ever seen a movie in space before the Star Wars movies, you will notice the significant difference. By using small crafted space ships, and filming them close up at the right angle, Lucas made it seem like the Millennium Falcon was the size of a house flying through space. He pioneered the way he filmed movies and created his own genre. By putting together such a good orchestra and scenery to go with it, the movie and soundtrack made it so surreal.

Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man

In 1988, Rain Man came out starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. It brought Dustin Hoffman his second Oscar, this one for best supporting actor, despite the fact that he thought this was his worst acting while on set. If you haven't seen this movie, Dustin Hoffman plays the role of an autistic mathematics genius.

Only a few actors have pulled off playing a mentally ill character in movies throughout history, but Hoffman somehow manages to be identical to someone with borderline autism. In the movie he is wrongly diagnosed with autism because his doctor was late to a golf tournament, hence the reason Rain man says "Sorry you're late to golf" throughout the movie.  Hoffman has these little punchlines that he says throughout the movie that contributes to his acting of an autistic character. He played the role so well that it was hard to tell he wasn't autistic. This was also the first time I ever seen Dustin Hoffman in a movie, and I now cannot imagine him playing a normal role. He played this character so well that Rain man sticks to him just as well as Jack Sparrow to Johnny Depp.

The whole premise of the movie was that Tom Cruise's (Charlie Babbit) father died. Of course, he was extremely rich, but money wasn't what Charlie cared about. Charlie's father had a vintage car he never let him drive, and Charlie never spoke to him since he was 18. So when his father died and he found out he left the car in a will to an autistic man, Charlie had to get to the bottom of it. Charlie goes to "Rain man's" hospitality help and breaks him out.

The whole movie shows what it's like for someone with autism to experience the real world. Charlie has Rain man count cards, remember a telephone-book, and attempt socializing for the first time. It's a dramatic comedy that can touch your heart as you learn along the way the strong relationship Charlie and Rain man never knew they had.

The Situation Fails at Roasting Donald Trump

Every so often Comedy Central hosts "Roasts" for celebrities on their
birthdays. If you don't know what a roast is it's basically 6 to 9
people making fun of everything about someone with no remorse. As
cynical as it sounds, at the end of each roast the roaster sends a somewhat sentimental message to the roastee about what they've accomplished.
Most of the roasters on comedy central are actors or writers or stand up
comedians. The roasters of Donald Trump were Seth MacFarlane, Snoop
Dogg, Anthony Jeselnik, Larry King, Whitney Cummings, some others I'm too lazy to type, and lastly, Jersey Shore's Mike "The Situation". The person who owns this show is Jeff Ross, who also participates in the roast.
















                                          Mike the Situation is undoubtedly one of those people you see on TV and celebrity events like this and say to yourself "how is that guy famous?". I'm a huge fan of these roasts, so when I saw he was on the roast line up, I had to watch. And when I watched this it was everything I expected. What I laughed at most in this video is the reaction of the people he's roasting. I actually think he didn't do as terrible as he seems, but the way the real comedians and celebrities reacted to his jokes was hilarious. Of course, nothing he said to Donald Trump made sense or was even funny, but when Jeff Ross jumped on stage, it took away the uncomfortable awkwardness everyone watching felt.