Oscars: What I Watched

1. The Imitation Game- I think right now this is my favorite, but possibly because it was the first I watched in a long weekend of movie-going. I went in not knowing the history, and so I was just overcome by the complete unfairness of everything. I love that it made me angry and inspired me and I hope it made other people feel that way too.

2. Birdman- The odds were not in Birdman's favor. I ended up watching it over a period of two days, and started it right after I finished The Imitation Game. I was still so hung up on what had happened in that movie that all of the problems in Birdman seemed trite and superficial. I promised to try it again with my mind in a different place, so I'll update when that happens.

3. American Sniper- Again, I loved it. I think this is the "Band of Brothers" version of the Iraq war-- it's not a war story in that it follows a real plot, and it has none of the romantic bullshit you get in other flagwavers. In creative writing they tell you to be as specific as possible, because it's the small details that people are more likely to connect with. In that way, I feel like American Sniper focused on one man's story that represented thousands of men and women's stories.
Also, there were a bunch of vets in our theater, and when Chris Kyle kills the terrorist they all cheered, which was both touching and unnerving.

4. Into the Woods- Whatever. It was exactly what I thought it would be-- not bad, but nothing to be excited about. Everyone was great, but what I love about Into the Woods is that it pokes fun at the stories, so as a Disney creation it kind of creates its own irony. To me, Into the Woods is great because it shows the ugly parts of fairy tales, and so this was Disney prettying up the ugly parts that it had already left out before.

5. Whiplash- I think this movie had more tension in it than American Sniper. I won't say my band experience was like it was in the movie-- but it was enough that I wasn't shocked by any of the behavior. Also, you can only show Miles Teller sweating on a drum set for so long before it starts to get old, jazz lover or not.


This week hopefully I'll get to Selma, and then maybe one of the animated ones for fun, but my eyes would appreciate some rest from screens. Does anyone have suggestions for this? I work for 8 hours staring at a computer, and I need tips on how to come home without a headache.