Slate's Hollywood Career-O-Matic

I typed in Keanu and it looked like the graph was trying to spell Milliways.

Unless you need a cathartic movie. In which case, PUT IT IN AND PUSH PLAY.

YES YES YES.

Speaking of cathartic animated movies, the other day my Dad decided that the best movie for him to watch was UP. He says he's fine. I was kind of gobsmacked. In terms of movies I am not going to watch for a while after Mom's death, UP is kinda near the top, along with Big Fish.

Oh, I love Big Fish. But I can see that, for sure.

Caught part of Vampires Suck on cable. It's AWFUL. The beauty of the Scary Movies and Not Another Teen Movie was that they lambasted whole genres, and lots of movies. This is simply one long mocking of Twilight and honestly, it's not funny enough to sustain a whole movie.

The kids and I actually saw UP in the theater the day my mom passed away (after we knew). It was very bittersweet but everyone loved it.

Big Fish is one of my all-time favorite movies, but I had to be careful of when I watched it even before my Mom passing. Right now? I can't even imagine watching it.

Movie reviews! Unstoppable, Tangled, Speed Racer, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Sexy Beast, The Brothers Bloom, 127 Hours, Junebug, Bug, Open Water, City of God, The Green Hornet.

I like this one:

Otherwise known as "The movie where Ben Kingsley says 'fuck' a lot."

Also the movie where he says "NO!" a lot. (Didn't help that he looked so very much like my older brother. Who also says "fuck" and "NO!" a lot. ...Oh, look. My brother is just like Gandhi!)

Also the movie where he says "NO!" a lot.

Oh yeah, there are points where he just says, "NO!" like fifteen times in different inflections.

I suppose I can use this opportunity to present an observation. I watched Sexy Beast and Junebug and Animal Kingdom because one performance was specifically lauded multiple times. Those actors made the awards circuit, but the movies themselves were rarely up for the big awards. And I didn't really care for the movies. On the other hand, the only Oscar nomination Rachel Getting Married received was for Anne Hathaway's performance, and I loved the movie. I think that's the exception that proves the rule, in my case, though. I know I have a very small sample size.

Does one amazing performance make it worth watching a movie that isn't that great? For people who make it a point to watch all the Oscar-nominated films, have you found that the movies whose only nomination is for an actor aren't as good as the movies that get nominations for other things?

For people who make it a point to watch all the Oscar-nominated films, have you found that the movies whose only nomination is for an actor aren't as good as the movies that get nominations for other things?

Well, I have a bias against "actor movies." Which are small in scale and character driven and tend to be realistic dramas.

I'd much rather watch Jeff Bridges in Lebowski (a real "director's movie") than Crazy Heart.

Robert Duvall is amazing in Tender Mercies but there are about nine other Duvall movies I'd rather watch first.

Oscar-bait movies are a particular flavor of spinach derived entertainment, and tend to be (in my opinion) less cinematic.

That said I did really like Laura Linney in You Can Count On me (actor movie).

I went on a kick watching Famous Movies, Groundbreaking Movies, Award Winning Movies, and lasted about five movies (I think it was a Kurosawa film that broke me. Or maybe it was 2001: A Space Odyssey). I am now unimpressed with anything that wins awards or is touted. There's what makes a great film and ticks all the boxes, and what I enjoy. (This also extends to gardening, where I am stuck at my job with gardens chock full of award and medal winning plants, but a garden they do not make. This dissonance hurts my eyes). I'll take the silver-medal who lost the race by a millisecond.

If the award-winners and my tastes happen to overlap, so be it.

And I think the fame of certain movies kept me from enjoying them for themselves. Bored to tears by Casablanca.

Who was the other cameo in XM: FC?