2013: The Year of the 3 Arrow

Closing in on the glorious blockbuster season, we’re being treated to some pre-season films that could easily fit into the summer rotation. GI Joe: Retaliation is massive in its action and next week’s Oblivion boasts Tom Cruise in a high profile sci-fi project. But we moviegoers are stuck in a very strange run of middle of the road features so far this year. When reviewing films What’s Up Movement has a 5 arrow system that rakes away a lot of the arbitrary guesswork that goes into rating films. The result is a fairly objective scheme that spreads out the appropriate scores of every film we see. But 2013 has proven to be incredibly baffling with most of the films earning three or three and a half arrows.

Usually the scores aren’t that big of a concern, but when so many films fall in line like this I begin to wonder. With 18 films reviewed in 2013, seven of them received scores of 3 arrows and six earned 3.5. That’s more than two thirds of the movies! Be impressed by my math skills. At first I pointed the finger at myself, thinking I was taking the easy way out by not committing in either direction. But after looking over the reviews, that’s not the case. Average performances and average movies without any real attempt at innovation end up in the middle. Sure I enjoyed a lot of them, but that’s not enough.

Looking at the films on the list we have the kinds of movies that tend to populate the first few months of the year on the big screen. There’s the entertaining but predictable action films (Snitch, A Good Day to Die Hard), the moderately funny comedies (The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, 21 and Over), a few “edgy” fairytale reboots (Jack the Giant Slayer, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters), and the leftovers (Admission, Side Effects). But the category that has been especially surprising to constantly land in 3-3.5 town is the would-be blockbuster.

Oz the Great and Powerful is a massive hit, but the movie is not nearly as impressive as its ticket sales. GI Joe: Retaliation is incredible when compared to its predecessor, but it’s still a shoot-em-up action film that has a few very poor scenes that weaken its story. Even something like The Host, which could have picked up where Twilight left off with fans, collapsed under the weight of what was supposed to be an important message.

As we continue on, the threes may keep coming or maybe Hollywood will break their funk. Only Gangster Squad and Warm Bodies have been able to rise above the mediocrity so far. But I have faith in the summer tent poles. There’s a reason studios dump hundreds of millions of dollars into these movies. So hopefully some are good. But I have no problem continuing to dish out the threes if I need to.

The King of All Critics

Legendary film critic Roger Ebert died yesterday after a lengthy cancer battle. He was 70.

His career was an incredibly interesting one that evolved almost nonstop for more than 40 years. Posting about a deceased celebrity isn’t common practice for What’s Up Movement, but Ebert’s life and career is worth noting because without him, it’s possible that the process of critiquing films would look very different. If you’re interested, I encourage you to read his obituary in his own paper, the Chicago Sun-Times, to learn just how successful he was in bringing film reviews to mainstream America through journalism, television and the internet.

While the idea of turning my film hobby into a website and an exercise in writing can be credited to my mother, my oldest memories of rating movies was in association with Ebert and his rival/friend Gene Siskel on their PBS show “At the Movies.” Maybe it came on after Sesame Street or maybe my parents actively sought it out, I don’t know. But I remember watching the show at a very young age. The two were the odd couple. Siskel was tall and thin, Ebert shorter and stockier. Then when it became Ebert and Roeper after Siskel’s death, I watched even more often. The second pair argued much less if I recall correctly.

“At the Movies” had such influence that the definitive review that films sought was the pair’s signature two thumbs up. I actually borrowed a movie from the library recently (How old am I?) and above the title in bold type face was “Two Thumbs Up- Siskel & Ebert.” Since the show last went off the air there has been no successor to this prominent position. The rating was universal. Three options: good (two thumbs up), bad (two thumbs down) or so-so (one up, one down). Everyone understood. Now studios go with out of context snippets from reviews. (“Best Movie Ever!” says the cashier in the supermarket.) It just doesn’t hold the same weight. The two were so iconic that one of my favorite movies growing up, Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla even featured two characters with similar names and builds to Siskel and Ebert. They were the mayor and his assistant. Siskel and Ebert still panned the film.

In 2012 when I decided to change the grading system for What’s Up Movement film reviews, I researched what methods the prominent critics used. I went back and forth until I came across an essay by Ebert where he talked about his process trying to solve the same problem of rating movies. He mentioned that he preferred a 5 star system to four because some movies fall in that middle area. Four stars splits the options to either good or bad. As a self-proclaimed optimistic film critic, that made a lot of sense to me. You’ll notice we now have a 5 Arrow system here at W^M.

In the last act of Ebert’s career he became a prominent blogger building a huge web presence. To be honest, I very rarely read his blog or his reviews because it was near impossible to read his thoughts on a movie and not recycle his words into my own work. It may sound strange, but I was a fan, so I didn’t read his reviews. On the rare occasion I did, his points would immediately poke holes in what I believed to be a sound case for a film.

The headlines and coverage of Ebert’s death probably seem a bit odd for the casual moviegoer or non-fan, but Roger Ebert really was the most prominent film critic in history. He changed reviews from just a rehashing of the plot and characters into a commentary filled with jokes and opinions. I’d say he deserves one more day in the spotlight.

The Oscars Deliver and Close Out Award Season

It was a long award season, which ended with a marathon Oscars broadcast. But now that we’ve had a few days to think about it, it’s time to break down the 85th Academy Awards and why this year’s show will be one of the most memorable in recent memory. From Adele to Anne Hathaway and Daniel Radcliffe to Daniel Day-Lewis, there were tons of memorable moments and fan friendly winners. Here are our five observations.

5. Anne Hathaway’s Fashions There are always moments that seem like nothing when you witness them, but go viral and become major talking points. This year had plenty. Anne Hathaway was the heavy favorite to win the Best Supporting Actress award, which she did. But what everyone is talking about is her dress. For those who didn’t see it, the dress came to a point in a way that made it look as if the Les Mis star was chilly.

Then news emerged that Hathaway had switched dresses at the last minute because her original dress was almost identical to co-star Amanda Seyfried’s. Why the consensus favorite for a statue yielded to her whiny co-star, I don’t know. But she did and it became a storyline that didn’t need to ever be written.

4. Voters Share the Wealth It’s happened before, but this year Academy voters split all of the major categories among the year’s most acclaimed movies. Breaking it down, it’s actually quite a remarkable feat. Argo- Best Picture, Life of Pi - Best Director, Lincoln-Lead Actor, Silver Linings Playbook- Lead Actress, Django Unchained-Supporting Actor, Les Miserables- Supporting Actress. Things couldn’t have worked out that perfectly if they tried. The snub was Zero Dark Thirty, which was an apparent victim of Hollywood politics.

3. The Family Guy isn’t Family Friendly Let’s be honest, no child is staying awake once the technical categories were up. It gets boring. But people are still complaining the show was too vulgar. Host Seth MacFarlane did blend some traditional comedy with some PG-13 fare. Be honest though, it wasn’t anything worse than other controversial award show hosts and it was tame compared to his “Family Guy” material.

His opening was witty, his songs were sometimes funny and sometimes borderline offensive, but we obviously weren’t going to get Billy Crystal and the typical material when MacFarlane was chosen to host. His music theme proved to be semi-successful, but we could take it or leave it. He has already said on his Twitter page that he won’t return to host next year, so we’ll see what the producers come up with. I don’t think anyone would object to a Hugh Jackman return.

2. Argo, Argoing, Argone It seemed like it would happen after Argo won Best Picture at most of the major award shows, and sure enough Ben Affleck got to give the most important acceptance speech since he and Matt Damon won Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars in 1998 for Good Will Hunting. So even with the snub in the Directing category and the fact that he was never even mentioned for a lead acting nod, Affleck closed out the night’s speeches with a rushed but emotional ode to his wife, his business partners and everyone else he could possibly thank. It’s even reported that he shaved off his lucky beard at an Oscars after party. So we can now lay Argo to rest. Unless you haven’t seen it, then rent it immediately.

1. Jennifer Lawrence Completes Her Takeover The Silver Linings star was anything but a sure thing for Best Actress. Jessica Chastain had a bit of leverage over her until we discovered the Academy was leaving the Bin Laden film out in the cold. But Lawrence was a deserving winner and the moments that followed perfectly represent why the country has fallen in love with her. She stepped on the stage’s first step and promptly fell down. It was just a slight trip and she was up before Hugh Jackman and presenter Jean Dujardin could get to her to lend a helping hand. But it broke the ice with the audience and made her nervous speech come off as even more charming.

Then backstage she proceeded to playfully flip off a photographer. Of course it was captured on film. Then when questioned by the media, Lawrence was a seasoned pro giving witty answers to all the asinine questions reporters make their living asking. Much like how Ben Affleck shaved his beard right after the show, Lawrence died her hair brown the next morning and was off to finish filming The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. I think we all look at J Law as a buddy now.

We are officially done with award season, with Oscar season, with Argo season. There are some springtime blockbusters to prepare us for a very exciting summer film season coming up. There are even some intriguing indies if you haven’t gotten your fill. But it sure was a fun trip down the red carpet.

Live Oscars Results

After months of lead up and guessing, we are finally here at Hollywood's biggest night. We'll be live blogging tonight's show, so check back frequently.

12:06- This has been fun. A great Oscars night with some surprises and laughs. Can't wait until next year. Thanks for following along with us. Good night!

12:04- MacFarlane and Kristin Chenoweth round out the show with a song dedicated to the night's losers.

12:00- Ben Affleck gives a great emotional speech. He has been the MVP of the award season and gets his final trophy.

11:56- Argo brings home the bacon. Best Picture winner.

11:55- Jack Nicholson and Michelle Obama (via video) introduce the Best Picture nominees. It's weird she's involved and Nicholson seems to have gone crazy.

11:53- Meryl Streep gives the Best Actor award to Daniel Day Lewis. He is the first actor to win the category three times. This is the least surprising reveal of the night. Pretty witty speech for honest Abe.

11:42- Jean Dujardin presents Best Actress to Jennifer Lawrence, who falls up the stairs. Hugh Jackman and Jean Dujardin rush to help her, but Katniss can handle herself.

11:35- Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas give the Best Director award to Ben Affle... Oops, he wasn't nominated. Ang Lee takes home the award for "Life of Pi"

11:25- Tall actress Charlize Theron and short actor Dustin Hoffman announce "Argo" as Best Adapted Screenplay and "Django Unchained" as Best Original Screenplay. It's always fun when you get to hear Tarantino. He ends with a 90's throwback, "Peace out." He is insane... like a fox.

11:10- Seth MacFarlane busts out the night's first gay joke. The cast of "Chicago" gives Best Score to "Life of Pi" and Original Song to Adele for "Skyfall." (I wrote Adele's name down before the award was even announced. It was a sure thing.) In the meantime, Norah Jones performed her song from "Ted."

11:00- George Clooney intros the In Memoriam Segment. Barbara Streisand joins in to sing "The Way We Were." It's always a nice tribute. This year seemed short, which is definitely a good thing.

10:53- The Governer's Award montage introduced by Selma Hayek. These are honorary Oscars. Cool?

10:50-Kristen Stewart clears her throat into the microphone. Daniel Radcliffe is awesome. They present the award for Production Design to "Lincoln."

10:45- Nicole Kidman rounds out the Best Picture nominees. We're getting close.

10:40- Jennifer Lawrence introduces Adele who sings "Skyfall." It seems the musical theme for the broadcast is a massive success.

10:30- Sandra Bullock proves to be a likeable presenter with some self-depricating small talk. "Argo" nabs film editing.

10:25- Anne Hathaway completes the award season sweep and captures the Best Supporting Actress award. Christopher Plummer presents.

10:12- After some tech talk, Ted and Mark Wahlberg have some funny and not so funny exchanges. They give Best Sound Mixing to "Les Miserables." A tie for Sound Editing goes to "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Skyfall." Why don't we just give Oscars to every long haired sound editor in Hollywood?

10:05- John Travolta introduces three performances from this decade in musical film. Catherine Zeta Jones, Jennifer Hudson and the cast of Les Mis. Each is more impressive than the last. I bet a few voters would change their Best Picture vote after Hugh Jackman and co. just tore the roof off the Dolby Theater.

9:50- Jennifer Garner and Jessica Chastain give "Amour" the Best Foreign Language Film award. No surprise there. But the director put us to sleep with his speech.

9:45- Ben Affleck presents "Searching for Sugar Man" the award for Best Documentary Feature.

9:42- Our host is back to insult a few more people. Among them, Ben Affleck, who happens to be presenting next.

9:40- Liam Neeson, the most bad ass actor in history, introduces three more best picture nominees.

9:36- Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington present the award for Live action short film to "Curfew" and documentary short to "Inocente." We're slogging through the minor categories.

9:28- Halle Berry introduces the celebration of 50 years of James Bond. The montage was exciting but nothing we haven't seen before. Shirley Bassey followed it up by singing "Goldfinger." She gets a standing ovation from the A-listers and deserved it. Pretty epic.

9:18- Channing Tatum and Jennifer Aniston have a funny exchange. They present the award for costume design to "Anna Karenina" and best makeup and hairstyling to "Les Miserables."

9:10- The Avengers are here! They present the awards for cinematography and visual effects. "Life of Pi" takes them both. Looks like we're going with loud classic movie scores to cut off the acceptance speeches when they go over. Funny, but rude. That's Seth MacFarlane.

9:05- Reese Witherspoon introduces our first three best picture nominees. This is a tough category to pick.

9:00- Paul Rudd and Melissa McCarthy award "Paper Man" and "Brave" with the animated short and animated feature awards.

8:55-Octavia Spencer presents Christoph Waltz with the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. That's a bit of an upset over the heavyweight favorites, Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones. It looks like it's going to be a night full of surprises.

8:48- Seth's opening was pretty successful. Funny, a bit over the top and entertaining.

8:40- Seth MacFarlane hitting his stride. Who knew William Shatner would feature so prominently.

8:30- WE ARE LIVE!

8:22- In the home stretch. ABC is stretching to try and fill the final minutes.

8:03- I'm not sure why some of these people are here. I may or may not be looking at you Jennifer Aniston.

7:54- Looks like the women went first down the red carpet. The leading men now. Hugh Jackman, Chris Evans, Robert De Niro, Daniel Radcliffe. Nothing like a Harry Potter cameo.

7:49- Making my picks with the Oscar App. Going for the perfect score tonight.

7:32- Okay, too much fashion police. ABC has some great pre-recorded segments. The Google year in review montage really set the tone. 2012 was a great year on the silver screen.

7:25- So far it seems E! has the best red carpet coverage. Ryan Seacrest always has a leg up on the other on-air reporters.

7:15- Many of the nominees have given their two cents. Jennifer Lawrence, Naomi Watts, Anne Hathaway. Lots of fashions, no idea which ones are fashionable.

7:00 PM- The red carpet is in full swing.

Five Things to Expect from Sunday’s Oscars

As we said in our “Preliminary Award Show Review,” the main storylines for Oscar Sunday have been broken down enough. Many of the nominees are essentially eliminated from contention because of the few heavyweights who have established their positions at the other red carpet ceremonies. But there are a few reasons why the Oscars have the prestige and the reputation as the biggest night in movies. Here’s what we can expect.

1. Seth MacFarlane Will Get the Comedy Ball Rolling. It’s fairly safe to assume that the “Family Guy” creator will offend some people, but from what we’ve seen with his efforts so far, he seems to be taking the job seriously. He may not admit that though. That’s the difference between him and Ricky Gervais, another shock comedian, who made it perfectly clear that he didn’t care about his Golden Globes hosting gig.

Hopefully MacFarlane’s example will mean that the other presenters and participants will be in cheery and laughing moods. It’s definitely more fun to hear a witty acceptance speech than a gushy one. Wouldn’t it be great if Daniel Day-Lewis makes a crack about Steven Spielberg’s Harry Potter glasses up there with his statue instead of acting like the Lincoln director is Gandhi? That’s not going to happen, but it’s the Oscars, crazier things have.

3. Adele Will Make the Best Original Song Category Relevant. It was fun when “Man or Muppet” won the award last year, but with both Adele and Norah Jones performing on the Oscars stage, this is the year the audience will remember to care about movie music. “Skyfall” stands a very good chance of forcing Adele to make some room in her Grammy cabinet for the little golden man. It will also be very interesting to see what is being billed as tribute to musicals of the last decade. I think that means Les Miserables, Dreamgirls and Chicago. It must be like getting the band back together for the Les Mis folks.

4. The E! Red Carpet People May Explode. I always watch the red carpet broadcasts before award shows because that is the only time we get to hear from most of the nominees and other guests. Believe it or not, I do not enjoy Kelly Osbourne fawning over every single dress that steps out of a limo or the strangely creepy “mani-cam,” but after watching them cover award shows for the last few months, I think the only thing left for them to do is spontaneously combust. They can’t possibly have more empty compliments in their arsenals. With that being said, Ryan Seacrest knows his stuff (interview wise) and is a great red carpet reporter. Just get rid of the rest of them.

4. Potentially Innovative Nominee Announcements. We won’t know until the big show, but in past years there have been some really creative ways to present category nominees. The first that comes to mind is in 2009 where a handful of past winners in the acting categories individually introduced the nominees. The most memorable of those instances has Cuba Gooding Jr. describing Robert Downey Jr. as “a white actor, playing a white Australian actor, playing a black man, in black face.” Alan Arkin went on to award Heath Ledger’s Oscar to the late actor’s family in the same segment. So while some years are more exciting than others, the award presentations can go a long way in making the show exciting.

5. It’s the Oscars! Even if you haven’t seen a number of the movies, this is the Superbowl of the film year. After Sunday night, we begin to thaw out from the winter cold and the dense indie films and work our way toward the sunshine and blockbusters of the summer. Take advantage of the Sunday night festivities and watch as Hollywood awards itself. Remember The Artist and Hugo last year? Well Argo may make it two years in a row for movies about movies.

The 85th Academy Awards air Sunday night on ABC.

The What's Up Oscars

Last year at What’s Up Movement we made a more fan accessible Oscar ballot. The goal was to show a list of well-reviewed films and performances that better resonated with the common moviegoer, the popcorn buying fan, not art house features. This year for Oscar week, we continue that tradition by drawing from a pool of all the films that earned scores of four arrows or better in the W^M rating system during 2012. All actual Oscar nominees are disqualified. (One snuck in there for a different role.) This is the “What’s Up Oscars.”

Best Picture

21 Jump Street

The Amazing Spider-Man

Chronicle

Cloud Atlas

The Dark Knight Rises

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Lawless

Looper

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Woman in Black

Best Actor

Daniel Craig- Skyfall

Logan Lerman- Perks of Being a Wallflower

Joseph Gordon Levitt- Looper

Daniel Radcliffe- The Woman in Black

Channing Tatum- 21 Jump Street

Best Supporting Actor

Jake Gyllenhaal- End of Watch

Tom Hardy- The Dark Knight Rises | Lawless

Tom Hiddleston- The Avengers

Michael Pena- End of Watch

Ben Whishaw- Cloud Atlas | Skyfall

Best Actress

Halle Berry- Cloud Atlas

Jennifer Lawrence- The Hunger Games

Noomi Rapace- Prometheus

Zoe Saldana- The Words

Charlize Theron- Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Supporting Actress

Emily Blunt- Looper

Judi Dench- Skyfall

Anne Hathaway- The Dark Knight Rises

Busy Phillips- Pitch Perfect

Emma Stone- The Amazing Spider-Man

Just for fun, here are a few non-Oscar categories.

Best Ensemble Cast

The Avengers

Cloud Atlas

The Dark Knight Rises

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Skyfall

Best Bit Performance

Benedict Cumberbatch- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Liam Neeson- The Dark Knight Rises

Nick Offerman- 21 Jump Street

Paul Rudd- The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Cobie Smulders- The Avengers

Best Underrated Picture

John Carter

Lawless

Man on a Ledge

Total Recall

The Words

So would you be more likely to get invested in an Oscar broadcast with this cast of nominees? Leave your picks in the replies.