Oscars & Watchmen

Sorry this blog hasn't been updated in a while, nothing too exciting has been going on. Still working on sound editing for The Retelling, which has been a trial and error process.

I guess the two movie things I've done in the past week or so have been going to the Alamo Drafthouse's Oscar party, and seeing a sneak of Watchmen on Monday.

I was pleased with the Oscar show/party overall, though I was really rooting for Oktapodi and New Boy for the short films. Also a little disappointed that Kung-Fu Panda didn't win best animated film, but I wasn't expecting it to with Wall-E up there. One of the hosts asked the audience if they were hoping a movie other than Wall-E would win, so I immediately raised my hand. The only problem was that I couldn't think of what I would say in a theater full of Wall-E lovers. Looking back on it, I would say I loved that movie so much because I didn't have high expectations. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the movie had a lot of heart, and a great story with a good deal of genuinely funny moments. I had the expectation that Wall-E would be great, so I wasn't disappointed. Beautiful movie though, and it certainly deserved the award.

I was definitely happy with the Slumdog Millionaire wins, what an incredible movie! Also pleased with Ledger's win, he was truly amazing as the Joker. The speeches by Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black (for Milk) about gay rights were fantastic. Both were very passionate about the issue, which was great to see broadcast on national television.

It was a fun crowd, and I'm glad my friends Brigeda, Danny, and Harrison were able to come. Brigeda is in love with Robert Downey Jr., and it was fun to see him on screen because she would always say something funny. The show ran pretty late, but the next day was wonderful because I got to go to school.

Actually, I was able to get through the day because I knew I was seeing Watchmen after school. My mom went to stand in line at 1:00 in the afternoon (she said there were about 25 people in front of her), and by the time I got there at 4:30 we were 47th in line (lots of people had joined their friends...so one person showed up super early and like 6 of their friends would show up later).

I haven't seen that many people so insanely excited for an event since Star Wars Episode III came out, which was kind of exciting in itself. It also seemed like the equivalent of Twilight for guys. Not saying girls couldn't like Watchmen, or guys couldn't like Twilight- but the ratio of guys to girls was...about the same as it was girls to guys at the sneak of Twilight I went to.

I liked Watchmen, but I probably need to read the book. It still holds up as a movie, and I think Zack Snyder has really improved as a director with each of his movies. Even though I'm not a big fan of CGI, he knows how to use it artistically. I loved the opening montage to the song The Times They Are A-Changin' by Bob Dylan, it does a good job of connecting the opening scene to the scene after the montage (otherwise it might seem like a weird disconnect). It's a gorgeous movie, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again on Monday to maybe pick up on the things I didn't quite get the first time.

That's all for now, I'll update this blog again next week for sure after seeing Watchmen again on Monday. Gonna go do some work on The Retelling now.