Femonomics at the movies: Winter's Bone

The Oscar nominations are out, and I was surprised to see my favorite movie of this year getting four big nominations, for Best Picture,  Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay.  That movie is Winter's Bone, and I hope these nominations will be the push you need (yes, you) to watch it immediately.  You can rent it on Amazon for $3.99.



Winter's Bone is more than a great movie; it is the best movie I have seen in recent memory for fully fleshed out female characters that matter.  With a female heroine who never once talks about a boy, her female best friend with whom she shares a family-like bond, and a female villain from whom our heroine receives veiled, then not-so-veiled threats, Winter's Bone passes the Bechdel test with flying colors.  I want to repeat that this is a movie with a female hero and a female villain, neither of whom are sexualized.  Adding to the thrill is the fact that those characters are featured in such a fantastically, spine-tinglingly taut crime drama that you don't realize how special what you've just seen was until it's over.

The film follows 17-year-old Ree, an Ozark Mountains girl from a meth-cooking family.  Her dad is supposed to stand trial for said meth-cooking activities, only no one can find him.  Because he placed the family home and woods up for bond, Ree, her neuro-atypical mother, and her two young siblings will be left with nowhere to go if they can't manage to "turn 'im up."  What follows is Ree's search for dear-old dad, which takes her first to his menacing brother's place, and finally to the home of a local crime boss, whose wife does not appreciate the disturbance.  In a region where the code of silence is more important than family ties, Ree is treated brutally by those who see her quest as "against their ways."  She is helped, finally, by the same uncle who initially menaced her, when he decides the rest of the clan has gone too far in trying to shut down a 17-year-old's quest to keep her family from sliding into destitution.

As Ree digs deeper to uncover her father's whereabouts, a quieter tale unfolds of a 17-year-old girl, torn between home obligations she wasn't ready for in a drug-ridden community whose ways she despises, and a shaky dream of escape, to a world she neither knows nor understands.  Somehow, though, Ree proceeds on her search with an unshakable faith that this better world does exist, and that people in this iniquitous community will, when pushed, still act according to its basic tenants: help your neighbors, love your family, do what's right.  She knows that's the only way she can find her father--if one of these unmovable villains gives, just a little bit--and thus the only way to save her family.  So she fights like she's got nothing to lose.

Oscars part 2: More dresses! More gossip!

I promised there was more to come...

The fashion was in full, frothy-fun mode, with Hollywood not even pretending they're a little like the rest of us this year.  Jezebel's got The Good and The Bad.  Some of these gowns (many of which had too-tight bodices--looking at you, Miley) made me know exactly what Roger Ebert meant by these two tweets:

There were some standouts, though.  I thought Demi Moore looked absolutely amazing, Cameron Diaz was surprisingly magnetic, Elizabeth Banks' structured grey frock was my favorite of the night, and Rachel McAdams looked pretty in watercolors.

And, all five of the best actress nominees blew me away: Meryl Streep in a Chris March suit-dress hybrid; Sandra Bullock in a lovely Marchesa with perfect styling; Gabby Sidibe rocking one of my favorite dresses of the night--a richly colored, godessy Marchesa; Helen Mirren (who has impeccable taste) in sparkly Badgley Mischka; and Carey Mulligan in an unfairly maligned Prada, which I loved for it's youthful, indie feel combined with pure elegance.

As for gossip, Gawker's got videos from the most memorable moments and an amusing post-mortem from their two culture writers.  Jezebel has George Clooney's priceless reaction faces (it was a gag, right?).  The commercials were surprisingly Super-Bowlish, with lots of talked about ads making their debut, including this one for the iPad.  Head over to the LA Times for some more delightful dish, especially coverage of the after-parties, with photos!

In acceptance speech news, I thought Sandra Bullock's was the best of the night, documentary short is worth watching for the mic-grabbing drama, the adapted screenplay award to Precious's Geoffrey Fletcher was obviously a surprise, so was refreshingly unscripted as a result, and Sassafrass humorously quipped that she can tell this adorable couple spend most of their lives in a room editing film and not, you know, talking.

Update: I almost forgot!  Did you know Forest Whitaker directed Hope Floats?  That totally blew my mind.

Oscars part 1: dresses, gossip, and more!

The first woman director has finally won an Oscar.  Congratulations, Kathryn Bigelow.  In my opinion, richly deserved.  Lisa Schwarzbaum says it's because she made a great movie, not because it's a great year for women.  Feminist Review weighs in here.   Jezebel has a moving piece about the accomplishment.

TLo has the dresses, part 1.  People's got the best dressed list.  EW has best and worst.  The Fug Girls are doing their thing.  More to come!

Now for the gossip: Everyone's pissed at Seacrest and Rancic for not doing their job and asking about the dresses.  People's got some pretty tame backstage notes.  EW does slightly better.  They also have some highlights of the show.  Roger Ebert offers up his thoughts on the ceremony, including what he calls the "surprisingly unfunny" hosts.  Also, Farrah Fawcett and Bea Arthur were mysteriously excluded from the In Memorium tribute (maybe because they mostly did television?).  And was that awkward moment during the best documentary award friendly, or not?  Not, says Salon.  Lastly, see the Mo'Nique-mentioned Hattie McDaniel Oscar win here.

Winners list here. [Image via TLo, hat tip to @EbertChicago for links]

Femonomics reads the internet so you don't have to: Oscar smear campaigns, just how pro-choice are we, three strikes, and more!

Jezebel and others are picking up the news of a "Hurt Locker backlash" now that the film has claimed front-runner status. What they point out, though, is that the strange timing of the attacks makes it likely that one of Hurt Locker's rivals for best picture are behind the attacks.  James Cameron is still friendly with Kathryn Bigelow, so he seems an unlikely candidate.  That leaves the team behind Inglorious Bastards, the same ones that managed to engineer a Shakespeare in Love victory over Saving Private Ryan.  Jezebel quotes S.T. VanAirsdale from Movieline:

I'm not about to second-guess anyone in Iraq. But I'll totally second-guess the editors who seem to have left the "Additional reporting by Harvey Weinstein in Baghdad" credit off the LA Times story.

Really?  An Oscar smear campaign?  Let Matt Damon explain it to you.

Who will win the Oscars? The pundits weigh in

Despite the ten best-picture nominees and more than a little early-season shuffling, this season's Oscars are shaping up to be unfortunately predictable... At least so say the Oscar pundits.  I love that there are pundits for the Oscars.

Ew's Dave Karger, NyMag's Vulture pool, and a host of other Gurus of Gold have settled on the same picks:

• The Hurt Locker for Best Picture
• Kathryn Bigelow for Best Director
• Sandra Bullock for Best Actress
• Jeff Bridges for Best Actor
• Mo'Nique for Best Supporting Actress
• Christoph Waltz for Best Supporting Actor

(Also, The Cove, Up, and White Ribbon for documentary, animated, and foreign; Hurt Locker for best original screenplay and Up in the Air for best adapted, although there are more dissents here.  Vulture also helpfully picks the less popular categories, if you're interested.)

So if you want to do well in your office Oscar pool, run with the above picks.  If you like a few surprises, join me in rooting for a Meryl Streep upset (or better yet, Gabourey Sidibe or Carey Mulligan, who were each heartbreaking in their own way), a screenplay nod for the wacky genius of Quentin Tarantino, and a nail-biting foreign film race (that's the most contested category?! Yes).  I won't be wishing for an Avatar or James Cameron spoiler--Hurt Locker moved me in a way few films in recent memory have.  Kathryn Bigelow deserves all the accolades she gets and more.

If you're an awards show fiend like me, let me feed your habit.  Check out the Oscar Watch blog, Gold Derby, Notes on a Season, and the Carpetbagger.

Also, if you're interested in who should win an Oscar, not who will, the NYTimes has started a list.  What's yours?

The Oscar Nominations are here!!!!

Excuse my quadruple exclamation mark, but as a bona finde award season fiend, I'm a little excited.  This morning Anne Hathaway and Academy president Tom Sherak announced the nominees for the 82nd annual Academy Awards.  Look for my notes below the list.  The so-called "Oscar pundits" haven't weighed in yet (it's 6am in LA), but I'll be sure to update you when they do.

Here are the biggies (click on over to Dave Karger for a more complete list, or the Oscar website itself):

Femonomics at the movies: Welcome to awards season!

I'm an awards season fiend, and I like to try to see all the Oscar nominated films (and performances, if I'm really ambitious) before the show.  This year, awards season is upon us (the Golden Globes are Sunday), and I've only seen a few of the films.  Some I'm dying to see, others I'm happy to pass on.  Here's a list of the likely awards contenders, according to the blogs I read (Dave Karger's Oscar Watch and Pete Hammond's Notes on a Season, mostly).  I include my notes on the films I've seen or have heard something interesting about.  The other contributors will chime in with their thoughts on films they've seen, and I implore commenters to do the same!  Which movies are must-sees before Oscar season?  Who do you think deserves to win at the Globes this weekend?  Who will win?

Seen

Avatar: The plot is only serviceable, but the graphics are unbelievable.  See it in 3D or you're wasting your money (and time!).  I truly believe this film will change what consumers expect from films, and what producers believe is possible.  After seeing this visual feast, why would I want anything else?  (Now if only he'd hire a screenwriter next time...)