Monthly Archives: February 2015

02.25.15
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Parks & Recreation Finale Recap: With the People You Love

When you watch Parks & Recreation episodes on Netflix with the subtitles on, they describe the upbeat, peppy theme as “triumphant music.” (Sometimes, I need to watch Parks & Recreation while I blow-dry my hair, hence this discovery.) Triumphant seems like a great word to describe this little series that could – a series that, while always beloved by critics and Internet denizens alike, was constantly on the verge of cancellation, but which was eventually allowed to exit gracefully on its own terms. As much as I wanted this show to go on for years and years, I’m happy it went the way that it did. This is how you do a finale. (I’m looking RIGHT at you, How I Met Your Mother. Yeah. I’m still mad.)

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02.20.15
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Final Oscar Predictions: Oscarman (or, The Unexpected Virtue of Predictions)

B: So it’s come to this. This Sunday, the 87th Academy Awards will take place, hosted by Mr. Host himself, Neil Patrick Harris. Will Birdman soar, or be taken down by Boyhood? Will Michael Keaton or Eddie Redmayne take home that golden statuette? And can Imitation Game please not win Adapted Screenplay?! Nina, aren’t you as excited as I’m not?

N: I’m just anxious about my ballot at this point. The main categories have the potential for a lot of upsets, and no, I don’t mean American Sniper somehow winning. Let’s get to it!

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02.20.15
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Best Picture Profile: Selma

selma-movie-corey-reynolds-david-oyelowo-and-colman-domingo

As we come closer to the Academy Awards on February 22nd, we’ll be posting short profiles of each Best Picture nominee, attempting, in our own ways, to not only sum up what the movie is about, but why we believe it scored one of the eight coveted nominations, and why it could possibly take home the big prize come Oscar night. Enjoy!

I made it a conscious choice to have this Best Picture Profile on Selma be my final profile for the Oscar season. There are many reasons behind this.

Ok, two.  There are two reasons. But they’re good ones!

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02.18.15
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Best Picture Profile: The Grand Budapest Hotel

the-grand-budapest-hotel-tony-revolori-and-saoirse-ronan-e1397015398922

As we come closer to the Academy Awards on February 22nd, we’ll be posting short profiles of each Best Picture nominee, attempting, in our own ways, to not only sum up what the movie is about, but why we believe it scored one of the eight coveted nominations, and why it could possibly take home the big prize come Oscar night. Enjoy!

For his first ever Best Picture nomination, Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel is a good choice. It’s a film that takes all of Anderson’s previous directorial accomplishments (high comedy performances, immaculate production design, whimsy out the wazoo) and crams them together to create a treat as delectable as a Mendl’s pastry. Oh, for the universe where this could be considered a Best Picture frontrunner. But for this film to even be here at all, is a grand accomplishment indeed.

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02.17.15
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Best Picture Profile: Boyhood

As we come closer to the Academy Awards on February 22nd, we’ll be posting short profiles of each Best Picture nominee, attempting, in our own ways, to not only sum up what the movie is about, but why we believe it scored one of the eight coveted nominations, and why it could possibly take home the big prize come Oscar night. Enjoy!

What is there left to even say about Boyhood? This singular, original, hugely emotional film has been the talk of the awards circuit since it came out last fall, and it deserves all the praise it gets. Director Richard Linklater spends the better part of three hours making the small feel enormous, giving voice to families around the world, and, well, literally making time fly right before your eyes. This isn’t just the best picture of this year, but a movie for the ages.

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02.10.15
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Best Picture Profile: Whiplash

As we come closer to the Academy Awards on February 22nd, we’ll be posting short profiles of each Best Picture nominee, attempting, in our own ways, to not only sum up what the movie is about, but why we believe it scored one of the eight coveted nominations, and why it could possibly take home the big prize come Oscar night. Enjoy!

I won’t lie – Whiplash is an intense and stressful movie. This should come as no surprise, since the film focuses on an obsessive music student, Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) striving for perfection while studying under a sadistic teacher (J.K. Simmons) who drives him to the absolute breaking point. This is meant to be stressful – both for Neiman, and for us, but the film isn’t simply an uncomfortable two hours. (Though it is.) It’s a destruction of the teacher-student genre, a fable on the concept of “hard work,” and an exploration of whether or not perfection can ever really be achieved.

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02.06.15
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ICYMI: February 6, 2015

We are ALL Left Shark, you guys. Let’s get to it.

-Speaking of the Superbowl, I still think it was kind of unfair to embarrass Katy Perry like that, because Missy Elliott literally performed circles around her. That being said, a lot of kids didn’t know who she was. Obviously, these are the same kids who are still unfamiliar with Paul McCartney.

–Amy Pascal stepped down at Sony and is becoming is a producer there instead. I’m sure this has NOTHING AT ALL to do with all of those humiliating leaked emails. Nothing at all.

-Speaking of internal kerfuffles, there’s some real shit happening behind the scenes of Fifty Shades of Grey. Namely, the author and director clashed over the majority of the scenes that ended up in the movie, and the two leads clearly hate each other. Defamer has a great quote roundup wherein Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson talk about how terrible this whole experience was, because they’re human beings with a little bit of taste. Guys, this movie is going to be the hottest of messes. Let’s all get drunk and go.

-There is a single silver lining in the whole Fifty Shades situation, and it is that Beyonce has two new remixes of “Crazy in Love” and “Haunted.” Unsurprisingly, they are amazing, and each one is better than the entire movie, probably.

-More music news: there’s a new music edition of Celebrities Read Mean Tweets, and the lesson to be learned is that Psy truly does not give a fuck and he probably never will.

–The Late Late Show on CBS is currently between hosts, and they are getting the weirdest selection of people to host. It’s delightful, honestly. Adam Pally kicked things off this week with Ben Schwartz and it was completely bizarre, and John Mayer followed his lead by interviewing Katy’s Superbowl sharks. I kind of hope they never find a real host, tbh.

–Damon Wayans, Jr. is leaving New Girl. FOR A SECOND TIME. No one cares the second time around, dude.

-Kiernan Shipka, everyone’s favorite Sally Draper, would like to be on Veep. CAN SOMEONE MAKE THIS HAPPEN IMMEDIATELY, PLEASE?!?!?!?!

-And, finally, George R.R. Martin’s original gameplan for Game of Thrones was unearthed this week, and it is a LOT better than Hermione Granger’s last name originally being Puckle. Most importantly, Jon and Tyrion were supposed to be lusting after Arya for the entire series, which is straight up hilarious.

More Oscar profiles this week! And stuff! Yay!