These are the awards as I would personally give them, not as I think they will turn out.

Best Picture: District 9 (Mary and Max, if it were nominated)

District 9 has great technical aspects. It’s well thought out and so original and creative for a aliens-on-earth sci fi movie. This movie has completely changed the Sci fi genre. The documentary styling really set it apart, as well as the themes of social justice, xenophobia, and morality. Wikus, as he becomes less and less human, ends up being more and more humane. Other than District 9, I actually thought Mary and Max was the best movie this year, but the Academy ignored it probably because it’s Australian. Click here for the Mary and Max website. You can also get Mary and Max on Amazon.

Actor: I haven’t seen Crazy Heart yet, but out of the rest, I’d go with Jeremy Renner from the Hurt Locker.

Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz. He has the Meryl Streep effect. Even in a movie with flaws, when he’s on the screen, you’re captivated.

Actress: Meryl Streep. Same deal as above. I actually thought Julie and Julia wasn’t a great movie, but once again, when Meryl was on screen you become very emotionally involved with the character. Julia Child was such a fun and great character for her. I think she really deserves it. Amy Adams was not so great in the same film ( I LOOOVE Amy Adams in June Bug)

Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique.

I was really apprehensive before Precious came out, since I really wanted it to be good. So I’m kind of a fangirl. Monique definately stands out. I’ve always liked her, since I saw her on Charm School on VH1 (Lawl!) This is more of a coronation than a real prize. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Academy agreed with me on this one.

Animated Film: Coraline (Mary and Max if it were nominated)

Director: Kathryn Bigelow. Because it would recognize not only her amazing work but the work of other female directors and writers.

Documentary: Food, Inc.  BUT I haven’t seen all the documentaries this year. Loved Food, Inc though. Cows > Dolphins.

Foreign Language: A Prophet. Loved this movie. I liked the White Ribbon, but I loved this one more. I always feel this category should have multiple winners and way more nominees. But whatever.

Visual Effects: Avatar.

Writing: A Serious Man. Coen brothers tend to be overrated, but this was a great one, imo.

This was the best Caprica episode so far. I loved the filming, and all the scenes in V-world. Screencap above is of my favorite scene in this episode.

I’m starting to feel more excited about Caprica than I am about Lost. I will continue to watch Lost till the end though since I’ve made it this far. But I love love love Caprica. Wish it had better ratings & lower risk of cancellation.

Overall: 9/10
Plot/Structure: 10/10
Dialogue: 10/10
Art: 9/10
Re-watchability: 9/10

In a sort of act of serendipity, I stumbled upon this movie. I’ve long been searching for the greatest romantic comedy ever. I think it’s an under-appreciated genre where directors & writers think it’s okay to slack off. The Good Girl proves it can be done well, it can surprise you and have phenomenal dialogue. The film is set somewhere in a boring Texas town. A great example of this style of dialogue that I love is the opening line:

As a girl you see the world as a giant candy store, filled with sweet candy and such. But one day you look around and see a prison, and you’re on death row.

The comedy is dark, yet romantic. Jake Gyllenhaal and Jennifer Aniston make a great on-screen couple. She’s 30 in the movie and he’s 22, but they fall in love like confused teenagers. Even though none of the characters are particularly lovable, you cringe when they die. You feel like you’re in that windy old Texas town and your neighbor died, and you ask yourself why. why. why. Jennifer Aniston’s character at one point says “I wish someone would write a story of my life” while we are ironically watching a story of her life. She continues “but nobody would want to read it.” It’s a story about a common situation, in a boring place surrounded with typical people, yet we’re interested, because they are being honest and sad about life, and that human condition is what makes us care and what keeps us watching. It reminded me alot of Nabokov. (Themes like: People being “put on”, Nobody gets me, Being imprisoned)

As a little easter egg, there’s a clip of Colleen on HSN that I caught. It doesn’t look a lot like her, but it really sounds like her. Maybe Colleen wore tranny makeup back in the day:

Overall: 8/10
Plot/Structure: 8/10
Dialogue: 10/10
Art: 10/10
Re-watchability: 9/10

**This is a spoiler-free review**
First of all, I want to say that I love psychology and I read about it often and have been fascinated by it since I took my AP psych class in high school. That being said, I normally HATE psychological thrillers. What I hate is when they romanticize mental illness, demonize psychology and psychiatry, and give it an overall fantasy feel. The truth is, mental illness is real, it’s not romantic, although it can be a ‘creative’ experience. Ultimately, it’s tragic. What shutter island succeeded in doing is giving the illnesses, and psychology of that era an authentic feel. I feel that this movie has great re-watchability because the quality is in the story-telling and not the plot twists or plot devices. Even though it’s not a perfect film, I still think it’s one of the best psychology-themed movies I’ve seen. That’s all I can say without spoiling too much, so I’ll write a more complete review below!

** Warning: Spoilers below **

I think the movie is ultimately a love story, and this is apparent throughout the film. It’s about a doctor’s love for his patient and the lengths he is willing to go to – to heal him. One of the things I thought would’ve improved Shutter Island is the role-playing was revealed at the beginning. The plot twist served a minor role and it was so gradual it wasn’t really necessary for the viewer to be in the dark. I thought by being in the dark the first hour of the film, I got a poor experience from the movie. I thought the events were too trivial, and a bit random, and I thought Teddy/Andrew was not believable as a US Marshall at some points. Of course this makes sense later on since he’s actually a patient, and a former US Marshall. I didn’t enjoy the first half of the movie until I saw the latter half. This is why I think the plot twist should’ve been eliminated and just explained briefly in a starting scene. (Perhaps the doctors discussing it at the table, and then straight to the ferry scene) I thought the final scene was perfect and it resolved the movie beautifully. Once again, I liked how psychology was accurately portrayed (for that era) and how mental illness was shown in the tragic way it truly is through Teddy/Andrew’s final sane moments.

Caprica is a prequel to the critically acclaimed series on SyFy Battlestar Galactica. I haven’t watched more than 5 minutes of BSG. It looked good but it seemed to be a complicated story to get into. I recently watched a BSG movie called “The Plan” and thought I might try out Caprica. Caprica was meant for new viewers, which I’m thankful for. There are little easter eggs for seasoned viewers and it helps if you know what a cylon is, but overall you don’t need to have watched BSG to enjoy Caprica.

I started watching it on hulu and so far, 4 episodes in, I really love it. It’s very family-drama based with a touch of sci-fi. I also love the way they incorporated the futuristic technology into it. Caprica is a world where they are on the brink of creating true artificial life robots. It’s simple enough that we can imagine it happening within our lifetimes, and its fascinating enough to keep me interested. Although it’s a brand new series, I give it 5 out of 5 stars. It’s not a perfect show – but the great family dramas and beautiful filming will keep me watching well into the first season.

Let me start with this: I used to hate my nose. I used to hate my cheeks. I used to think about doing this to myself, but I grew out of it. Somewhere along the line, I snapped out of it. But I guess some people don’t, and they get on reality shows, they make tons of money, and then they actually go through with it. Enter, Heidi Montag:

Is Heidi obsessed? She herself claims that she is – obsessed with the science of plastic surgery. (I’m paraphrasing) To be honest, she does look better. I think people are giving her a hard time because she’s Heidi, she’s a notorious attention seeker and all of us are guilty for giving her attention. She is still swollen according to her doctor, and her face is still fragile. I personally think that the end result will be much better than the recent pics shown on Perez and TMZ, as well as the spread in People. She looks very swollen. Her lower jaw is drastically larger than it was before – and she had no work done there. Her face will thin out and end up looking better. I think her 2nd nosejob was an improvement, but I don’t really like huge boobs like what she has now.

At the end of the day, everyone has a right to modify their body. I don’t think she’s mentally ill as some people have implied but perhaps just a little too obsessed and vain.

What about Heidi Montag’s music? Some people have speculated she had orchestrated this whole thing to create a media frenzy around her new album, Superficial. I’ve listened to the entire album and honestly the only good song is called “Blackout” it sounds like something that would be tacked on to a Britney Spears album at the last minute. (Ironically it has the same name as one of Britney’s albums) Blackout is catchy, has a nice rhythm, and has actual singing. The rest of the songs do not. In fact, most of them seem to have the same beat, and they start about the same with the same dance techno screeches. Unfortunately for Heidi, she didn’t make Blackout her leading single. She started it off with Superficial, which is a tedious song with painfully bad lyrics. Then came “Fanatic”, which Perez liked, but I can barely listen to. Her 3rd single is Twisted, which sounds alot like Superficial, which sounds alot like everything else on the album. The only other reedeemable song on the album is “More is more” which isn’t good, but gets a bit of credit for it’s ABBA sound and inspiration.

You know what’s weird about the song Blackout? Taylor Momsen participated in the writing of this song. A 16 year old half-wit actress who is still confused about what to do with eyeliner and her identity wrote the best song on Heidi Montag’s Album. Heidi didn’t write any of it, even though most of it sounds like she did. Regardless, she picked these songs and it’s entirely her mistake this album is so terrible. Here’s my 2 cents: Release Blackout before everyone discounts your album. Blackout could be the hit Heidi has been waiting for.