Watching them feels like homework. They are spinach movies.

Like or dislike Finding Neverland, I don't think it's fair to characterise it as spinach. Its failing is likely to be that it doesn't have enough nutrients, rather than having too many, and not pleasing to the palate.

Although I didn't much like Aviator, it was that I was disappointed in it. Sideways was the only best picture nominee I didn't really want to see. And still haven't, so there you go. I was actually surprised and pleased to see that I was that interested in that many of the movies under discussion. Last year, I picked lazily yet wisely (ha!) and only saw RotK.

Okay, then I'll rephrase that they feel like spinach movies to me, since I have no interest in seeing them, but they are nominated for Oscars, so I feel like I should. And yet, I won't. Since I won't be graded. And with that said, I don't know if they are actually spinach movies, since I haven't seen them. So it's just my impression.

Hotel Rwanda, for what it's worth, actually was homework for me. And I thought it was very good, but that doesn't mean that I ever would have chosen to see it on my own.

Has anyone seen a 2004 production called The Reckoning with Paul Bettany and Willem Dafoe? I saw it this afternoon and kinda liked it, even with the usual historical errors.

I enjoyed The Reckoning, less for the history and more for the actors. It felt authentic enough, if you kept your head down. And no one was miscast, which helped.

I'm in an intesting place tonight as far as the Oscars go- since I've seen virtually none of the movies involved, I'm rooting for whomever I just plain like best. I really want to see Finding Neverland, and I would like to see The Aviator, but didn't get to see a damn thing. (Except Eternal Sunshine- rock on Kate Winslet.)

But yay, Chris Rock!

Do you think Jamie Foxx's grandmother will whup him in his dreams tonight, as punishment for telling the whole entire world that she used to beat him?

as punishment for telling the whole entire world that she used to beat him?

Any black woman her age is expected to have whupped any kid in arm's reach.

Not Oscars-related, but Constantine is opening here on Friday. Not really a good sign that it's opening overseas so quickly after the US opening. Also, the ads for it are dubbed (most US movies here are sub-titled) so they clearly had planned for a fast overseas rollout. Who knows? Maybe it's the kind of movie that will do decent box in non-US markets, because shiny! And no one knows the source material.

Also, I just watched Master and Commander again. I really liked it when I saw it in the theater, but this time I was very "meh" about it. It seemed really slow, and the writing was not good. Honestly it seemed like the script kept wanting to be about Lord Blateney (the young blond midshipman) and not about Aubrey/Maturin. (And I mean that "/" in every sense of the punctuation).

This was probably already linked to somewhere in the 700 posts I skipped in Natter, but Salon has a few of the Oscar-nominated shorts online, here.

I was thrilled that Ryan won for Best Animated Short -- content-wise, it never really gelled the way it should have, but its use of animation as an art form was light-years ahead of the other nominees.

[eta: Damnit, nevermind. Turns out they were only available last Friday -- all the links are dead now. Sorry!]

but Salon has a few of the Oscar-nominated shorts online, here.

Nuh-uh. They were made available for a limited time and can no longer be downloaded.