Chic-Flick Trailers

Showing posts with label 2009 movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2009 movies. Show all posts

Monday, February 23, 2009

The Oscar 2009 Wrap-up: The Academy loves the chic-flick and says "The Musical is back!"

For all of you who want the chic-flick back, I promise that this is my Academy wrap-up. Please feel free to give me your opinions about what you enjoyed and didn't enjoy or if you even considered watching it, in the comments section.

4.5/5 BABY!: How excited was I, that all my predictions were spot on, if you count my half prediction for Sean Penn. Even if you don't, it is still pretty good. Now that I look back on
it, I really should have known. The Academy loves the minorities and I'm sure wanted to express their support for gay marriage. I really wanted to kick myself after. Though, I will say that this was a fairly easy year to predict, so I'm a little lucky. Congratulations to all the winners!

Best Dressed: Shockingly enough, Miley Cyrus. There were some incredible dresses all round but she had great hair and jewelery to match. I was way impressed! Also some shout outs to Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz and Taraji P. Henson who all looked stunning.

Shock moment: No, it wasn't Ben Stiller as a certain "retired" actor during Cinematography (way inappropriate) or Jack Black's dig at DreamWorks (bitter much
?) or even the amount of times they showed James Franco and Sean Penn making out (yes, we get it, you homo-loving sons of guns), it was the In Memoriam montage that featured greats like Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack and one of my favourites, Paul Newman, but didn't feature one of the night's winners. Where was Heath Ledger's picture? Where was his chance to, yes for a second time, to get an applause and be recognized not only for his work as the Joker but for other roles? Shocking, indeed.'
note: I realized after this post that they featured Ledger in the 2008 award show because he died in January of that year. This year featured people who died from March 2008-February 2009, I'm assuming. I am still mad about it though!

Tribute to the Musical: Once again, luck is on my side. I think it's fate that I recently decided to dedicate a post to, as, host, Hugh Jackman sang, "The Musical is back!". But I known people will complain because The Oscars is not The Tonys and maybe they shouldn't have tried to be. What do you really expect though? Jackman is a many-time Tony host and a theatre-man so really, what else could he have done other than sing and dance? Make fun of Brangelina so more? I loved the show as a whole: the pacing was better than usual, the performances were interesting and the sets were a feast for the eyes. I was also really impressed by the organization; the process of making a film gave the awards and presenters a new twist and the genre montages were so much fun. Everyone must watch The Comedy Montage, it may have been the best, non-award winning, moment of the night. Also check out MSN Movies version of the night's best and worst moments.

Chic-Flick Moment: What a personal, heart-warming and chick flick like way to present awards to the nominated actors! My mom and I were gushing about it the whole night. Shirley MacClaine made Anne Hathaway cry
, Kevin Kline saluted the late Heath Ledger and Sir Ben Kingsley gave a Oscar-worthy tribute to Mickey Rourke. What a great year to be nominated!
Not only was Edward Cullen...uhmm, sorry I mean, Robert Pattinson a presenter, but he introduced the chic-flick moment of the night along with musical-girl Amanda Seyfried: The Romance Montage. This moment inspired the wrap-up post because, take a breath everyone, The Academy is acknowledging chic-flicks. I say chic-flicks and not chick flicks because, if you saw it you would notice the quality of the films that were chosen (mostly Oscar winners or nominees and then promotion for other 2008 and 2009 movies). It may have been my favourite moment of the night.

Do Chic-Flicks get nominated?: Obviously not all. But take a look at this year's nominees and winners: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a love story that spans over time and is made to touch the hearts of us all. Plus you cry your eyes out and isn't that what skeptics say girly movies are? Or even The Reader, which at first seems like a basic World War II film, but essentially tells the story of love affair between two unlikely people and the effects of it afterwards. You can also look at the big winner, Slumdog Millionaire; a movie about a kid who really only wants to see the girl he loves again. I say the rules are about the same as any other genre; comedies and action flicks are just not going to cut it (Dark Knight, anyone?), no matter what kind, and if there is enough drama to call it a Drama that it just might have a chance. Throw in a heavyweight director and similar actors and you might just have yourself a winner!

FUN FIND: For those wondering about The Academy Rules, there is definitely more. I, myself, came up with two or three more just watching last night's show. For another take, check out the gallery-accompanied, How to Win an Oscar from MSN.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Which Flicks of 2009 will make the cut?: Predictions for the New Chic-Flicks

Have you noticed how production companies ring in the New Year? They invade the theatre with chick flicks in the form of the ever popular, Romantic Comedy (a.k.a rom-com). Stay tuned for a blog next week of a review and break down of this sub-genre. Get ready everybody, because it's all about the Valentine's season. So what better time is there to start my predictions for potential chic-flicks of 2009? I haven't seen any of these movies and base my opinions on reviews and other media and promotion. Without further adieu:

Bride Wars: Released January 9th, there was only one passing review grade from Yahoo! and quite a few flowery comments from the others. The reviews state and confirm what I suspected, that this movie lacks substance and integrity (again you must check out Ebert, it is cruel and to the point). This is a wedding movie that goes too far as to suggest that a woman's wedding is more important that her relationship with her best friend and there isn't anything funny about it. This is a Sisterhood Flick headed for the isles of the Mean Girl Movie. An interesting tidbit by critics was the lack of involvement by the fiancés of Anne Hathaway's Emma and Kate Hudson's Liv. It is disappointing to see great actresses choose such shallow work that doesn't display their talent. I will try to keep an open mind and hope for the best, but will mostly stick to other chic-flicks like Ella Enchanted and How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days starring these actresses.
Yahoo! Movies Average Critic Grade: C-
Average User Grade:
B+
Rotten Tomatoes Average Critic Meter: 3.5/10
Average User Meter: 5.2/10

New in Town: Released in on Friday, January 30th, it has already gotten the mediocre star grade from critics. Ebert's review criticizes its lack of originality. The most positive reviews say that Connick Jr. and Zellweger are fun to watch but the writing falls into boring predictability. I think this movie has some potential based on the snippets of quirky towns people and slapstick comedy featured in the trailer. The ending is easy to figure out but the journey might be fun! Renee Zellweger is an Academy Award winning actress and was in such great chic-flicks as Jerry Maguire but great actresses make these mistakes often. I'm interested in seeing Harry Connick Jr. who can be so quirky and cute, like in other great chic-flicks like P.S I Love You, and seems perfectly cast amongst the small-town characters.
Yahoo! Movies Average Critic Grade: C-
Average User Grade:
B
Rotten Tomatoes Meter Average Critic Meter: 3.9/10
Average User Meter:
6.8/10

He's Just Not That Into You: Opening February 6th, is an ensemble piece with a star-studded cast that has been widely promoted. Based on the self-help guide for women who can't seem to understand men who won't return their phone calls. The trailer seems to promote the intentions of the book which has potential for characters with integrity and substance. The story is unpredictable for many reasons, the simplest being that there is an uneven amount of characters who are all interconnected in the storyline. Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlet Johansson and one of my favourite actresses, Jennifer Connelly are the bright spots in the cast that I look forward to watching. If I was to choose the flick with the most potential to be chic, it would be this one.

Confessions of a Shopaholic: Opening February 13th it is just in time for Valentine's Day. A movie to distract every single girl from romance to the next best thing...shoes! I hope my sarcasm is obvious. Once again, this falls into the same stereotypes as Bride Wars, that women can be occupied with frivolous pretty things long enough for a man comes along to save them from their lack of depth. The trailer is very cute and does give me some hope that it might be the exact opposite, to which I say, good luck! Isla Fisher is adorable and the books are very popular so I'm expecting it will do well at the box office. I need my movies with a little more integrity than what I've seen from this already so I hope it delivers!

All About Steve: Opening, March 6th, starring the rom-com queen, Sandra Bullock and the second appearance made by Bradley Cooper, from He's Just Not That Into You. This movie worries me solely based on the title, even though it does make sense in the trailer. I hope the movies makes it all about other characters as well. Bullock's character is an oddball, not usually seen in rom-coms, which makes me think the movie has potential for depth. This follows New in Town with it's potential because of a quirky supporting cast and slapstick humour.

Those are all the Chick-Flick season based movies out. I hope you proceed with caution as to what to see and what to wait until the DVD for. Some upcoming titles to watch out for in the Spring/Summer season are The Proposal (starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds), The Ugly Truth (starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler) and The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (starring Jennifer Garner and Matthew McConaughey).

FUN FIND
:
Featured on Yahoo Movies! watch an interesting video narrated by the men of He's Just Not that Into You.