Home Oscar Watch Marathon

Joanna and I normally attend an Oscar viewing at a local theater, but it came up last night at dinner to host our own rotating Academy Award Best Picture marathon.  I said I would put together some ideas on the order in which we view the films and here they are.
I personally think Options A and C are the two best and would likely lean toward Option C as my vote since the timing matches the closest for all three days.

Option A:
Danny’s House:
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – (129 minutes) 9/11 drama
The Artist – (100 minutes) French black & white silent romantic comedy/drama
Moneyball – (133 minutes) sports drama
362 total minutes of viewing

Matt’s House:
War Horse – (146 minutes) war epic
Midnights in Paris – (94 minutes) romantic comedy
Hugo – (128 minutes) adventure
368 total minutes of viewing

Mystery House:
The Help – (146 minutes) Civil Rights drama
The Tree of Life – (139 minutes) non-linear narrative experimentation drama
The Descendants – (115 minutes) family drama
400 total minutes of viewing

Option B:
Danny’s House:
The Descendants – (115 minutes) family drama
The Tree of Life – (139 minutes) experimental drama
Moneyball – (133 minutes) sports drama
387 total minutes of viewing

Matt’s House:
War Horse – (146 minutes) war epic
The Artist – (100 minutes) French black & white silent romantic comedy/drama
Hugo – (128 minutes) adventure
374 total minutes of viewing

Mystery House:
Midnights in Paris – (94 minutes) romantic comedy
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – (129 minutes) 9/11 drama
The Help – (146 minutes) Civil Rights drama
369 total minutes of viewing

Option C:
Danny’s House:
The Help – (146 minutes) Civil Rights drama
The Artist – (100 minutes) French black & white silent romantic comedy/drama
Moneyball – (133 minutes) sports drama
379 total minutes of viewing

Matt’s House:
Midnights in Paris – (94 minutes) romantic comedy
The Tree of Life – (139 minutes) experimental drama
War Horse – (146 minutes) war epic
379 total minutes of viewing

Mystery House:
The Descendants – (115 minutes) family drama
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – (129 minutes) 9/11 drama
Hugo – (128 minutes) adventure
372 total minutes of viewing

Danny, Brandy, and Joanna, let me know what you think and we can iron out any details.

84th Annual Academy Award Nominations Announced

Today was the release of Oscar nominees.  It was the moment I would find out what films and actors/actresses would forever be known as Academy Award nominees/winners.  It is also the day I know how many movies I will be seeing the weekends prior to the award ceremony on February 26.  This year it will be a total of nine movies in the AMC Best Picture Nominee Picture Showcase and I have only seen one of the nominees, that being Moneyball.
Hugo received the most nominations with 11.  A bit of a surprise is the lack of a Pixar movie in the Best Animated Picture category.  Since the inception of the Best Animated Picture category in 2001, Pixar has received a nomination for all eight of its films released, winning six Oscars in that time.  Two of those winning films, Up and Toy Story 3, even received Best Picture nominations.  The two movies to not win the Best Animated Picture statuette were Monsters, Inc. and Cars.  As I didn't think Cars 2 was that great a movie, I was sure it wouldn't win the award this year, but to not even be nominated was not expected.
Below are all the nominees for every category.

Best Picture
The Artist - Thomas Langmann
The Descendants - Jim Burke, Jim Taylor, Alexander Payne
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Scott Rudin
The Help - Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Branathan
Hugo - Graham King, Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris - Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum
Moneyball - Michael De Luca, Rachel Horowitz, Brad Pitt
The Tree of Life - Nominees to be determined
War Horse - Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Alexander Payne – The Descendants
Martin Scorsese – Hugo
Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life

Best Actor
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as George Smiley
Brad Pitt – Moneyball as Billy Beane
Jean Dujardin – The Artist as George Valentin
Demian Bichir – A Better Life as Carlos Galindo
George Clooney – The Descendants as Matt King

Best Actress
Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs as Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis - The Help as Aibileen Clarke
Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as Lisbeth Salander
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady as Margaret Thatcher
Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn as Marilyn Monroe

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill - Moneyball
Nick Nolte - Warrior
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo - The Artist
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer - The Help

Best Writing – Original Screenplay
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids - Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo
Margin Call - J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen
A Separation - Asghar Farhadi

Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay
The Descendants - Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
Hugo - John Logan
The Ides of March - George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
Moneyball - Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan

Best Animated Feature
Une vie de chat
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Best Foreign Language Film
Bullhead - Michael R. Roskam, Belgium
Footnote - Joseph Cedar, Israel
In Darkness - Agnieszka Holland, Poland
Monsieur Lazhar - Philippe Falardeau, Canada
A Separation - Asghar Farhadi, Iran

Best Documentary – Feature
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

Best Documentary – Short Subject
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami

Best Live Action Short Film
Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic

Best Animated Short Film
Dimanche
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Best Original Score
The Adventures of Tintin – John Williams
The Artist – Ludovic Bource
Hugo – Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Alberto Iglesias
War Horse – John Williams

Best Original Song
"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets – Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from Rio – Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett

Best Sound Editing
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

Best Sound Mixing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

Best Art Direction
The Artist – Laurence Bennett and Robert Gould
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – Stuart Craig and Stephenie McMillan
Hugo – Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
War Horse – Rick Carter, Lee Sandales

Best Cinematography
The Artist – Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo – Robert Richardson
The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki
War Horse – Janusz Kaminski

Best Makeup
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
The Iron Lady

Best Costume Design
Anonymous – Lisy Christl
The Artist – Mark Bridges
Hugo – Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre – Michael O'Connor
W.E – Arianne Phillips

Best Film Editing
The Artist – Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants – Kevin Tent
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
Hugo – Thelma Schoonmaker
Moneyball – Christopher Tellefsen

Best Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Texas Rangers Close Deal On Yu Darvish

I will let the link below provide the grit of the story, but my only two opinions on this turn of events are this:
1. I haven't seen many of Darvish's games in Japan, so I don't really know if he can live up to the potential people are wanting.  However, I have to trust the Rangers front office and scouting department that they knew what they were getting themselves into.
2. It's only been a few weeks of this and I'm already tired of the bad Yu jokes.  I don't know if I can make it six years listening to cringe-worthy puns.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2012/01/yu-darvish-texas-rangers-contract/1

Now I've Had The Tour Of My Life

No, I never felt this way before.  Yes I swear it's the truth, and I owe it all to you.
That's goes out to my buddy Brad (in the most heterosexual way possible) for taking my wife and me on a tour of the Ballpark in Arlington where the Texas Rangers play home games.  We saw all sorts of things you just don't get to see during the season as a normal fan, such as the media room, press conference room, batting cages, basement tunnels where the players and umpires enter and exit the field, player's parking lot, weight room (although we couldn't go in for legal reasons), Rangers Hall of Fame, and plenty more.  We even got to go out on the field and sit in the Rangers dugout.  Doing the "Wash" exactly where the manager sits during games was a dream come true.
Our nine-month-old son Jackson joined us on the tour, and while he will never remember the event there were some great photos of him around the stadium that should make a bag this coming Christmas that he will get the chance to look over for all time.
I really appreciate the experience and a special shout out goes to Brad for taking time on his day off (which he gets few of) to lead us around the ballpark (and for carrying Jackson half the time while Brad's sister Brandy, Joanna, and I wandered the hallways staring at all the great things there were to see).

Half Broke Horses By Jeannette Walls

Her follow-up novel to the best-seller The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls's Half Broke Horses presents the exciting tales of her grandmother, Lily Casey Smith.  From life on a Texas farm breaking horses at the age of 6 to teaching destitute children in the smallest of towns and running a gigantic ranch, Smith's story is a triumphant one.  She overcame poverty to make a happy existence for herself, never letting bad times get her down.  The woman's outlook on life was, "When God closes a window, He opens a door.  But it's up to you to find it."
While Half Broke Horses doesn't amount to the same level of astonishment as to what the author had to go through growing up the way she did in The Glass Castle, this book does have a great insight into life for an independent, tough-as-nails woman growing up in the early 1900s.  If you haven't read either book, I recommend starting with Half Broke Horses as it will give you a glimpse into the author's father, Rex Walls, as well as some background of what the author's mother's childhood was like.  Both are great books, but if I had to recommend only one it would be The Glass Castle.  However, Half Broke Horses is a great, easy read for all lovers of American history and stories about personal triumph.

Through My Eyes By Tim Tebow

Getting a little too much insight into every game he ever played in college, the book Through My Eyes by Tim Tebow is an adequate book that covers the life of a fascinating sports story.  If you haven't heard of the polarizing Denver Broncos quarterback, then what rock have you been living under.
Tebow is an inspiration to young people and Christians everywhere, but has sport pundits shaking their heads stating he can't compete at this level and should be moved to a different position as he mounts another (and another) miracle drive to win games late.  Tebow's accomplishments every Sunday has supporters puzzled at how he works his magic, giving fans all the same response to those who say he shouldn't be a starter in that Tebow "just wins games."
His book follows the Heisman winner's story from before his birth until after his rookie season in the NFL, with insightful thoughts from Tebow himself about his faith and how it applied to every single moment in his life.  Overall I give the book a B- as I like what he has to say about his faith and where his wisdom and understanding of the Lord comes from, but the middle half of the book about his days at the University of Florida are meticulously detailed.  Not being a fan of the Florida Gators, it was not overly interesting to hear about each week's game and what it took to win (or sometimes lose) against every opponent.  Some of the highlights from each season could have been touched upon and dissected with how his faith was tested or upheld through those few moments, but it just wasn't necessary to read every single game's outcome and what he did in those games.  I'm not going to say that it was all put in there to be self-congratulating, but it did seem unnecessary.
Tebow's story is a really great one to hear about and I think he is a genuine guy.  I believe that even more so after reading his book, but without the Florida Gators play-by-play documentation it would have been a more enjoyable read overall.

Top Movies By Decade: Part 3 – "Here's looking at you, kid."

Author’s Note: I apparently did this in July of 2009 but didn’t list my top ten favorites.  It simply had my favorite film and then a few honorable mentions that would have been in the top five.

I started a series of lists that rank my top ten favorite movies by decade.  I started with the 1920s and will be working my way toward the new millennium.
To compile this list, I took my ranked films from IMDb, which I grade after every movie viewing, and sorted them from highest to lowest.  Then looking at each movie in each decade I came up with my favorite ten.
I have included some honorable mentions to show what the top ten were up against.  We will continue with the 1940s.

1940s
Honorable Mentions: The Philadelphia Story (1940), Rebecca (1940), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), and Bicycle Thieves (1948)

10. Gilda (1946) – One of the most sensuous characters in movie history, Rita Hayworth oozes sex as the femme fatale title character.  Not earning any major award nominations, Gilda is a great mix of tense film noir and hard-edged romance drama with powerful performances from Hayworth and Glenn Ford.  Another memorable moment of the movie is Hayworth’s performance (although dubbed by Anita Ellis) during “Put the Blame on Mame.”  Although not an award show darling film, critics showed a great liking for the movie and it has increased its legacy through references and being featured in other films since its debut.

9. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) – Considered one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time, as a stand-alone feel-good drama, Miracle on 34th Street is an audience favorite that shouldn’t be overlooked.  Edmund Gwenn gives one of the most convincing performances of all time as the questionable Kris Kringle.  Winning Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Gwenn), Best Original Story Writing, and Best Screenplay, the film was also up for Best Picture.  The American Film Institute included it on the 100 Cheers and 10 Top 10 Fantasy lists.  Miracle on 34th Street was also nominated to AFI’s 100 Movies, 100 Movies Anniversary Edition, and 100 Scores lists.  In 2005, the Library of Congress selected this film to its National Film Registry for preservation due to it being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

8. Double Indemnity (1944) – Written by detective fictionist Raymond Chandler and director Billy Wilder, this is a paramount example of the film noir genre, setting the standard for decades as to what a gritty crime story should look like.  The original story the film is based on was involved in a multi-studio bidding war but wouldn’t be made for eight years after the Hays Office sent out a warning to not make the film due to its “low tone and sordid flavor” that would harden the impressionable audience members.  While garnering high praise from critics, Double Indemnity received seven Oscar nominations but lost in all categories.  The film entered the National Film Registry in 1992 and was among AFI’s 100 Movies and 100 Movies Anniversary winners.  Having to contend with two legends of the screen in Edward G. Robinson and Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck portrays the cold-hearted wife who wants her husband dead for the insurance money with magnificent effect.

7. The Maltese Falcon (1941) – While Double Indemnity set one of the standards that all film noirs would be compared to, John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon is considered the first major work in the genre.  Bogart’s representation of the hard-hearted, quick-witted, morally ambiguous detective Sam Spade, Mary Astor as his femme fatale, and Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, in his film debut, rounding out the characters couldn’t be more perfectly cast.  Like another movie included later on this list, the cinematography was ground-breaking at the time.  Accomplishing a rare feat in film, this of The Maltese Falcon is actually the third version to be made.  The original was released ten years prior to the Hays Code preventing such lewd material from reaching the silver screen and the second, more light-hearted comedy version was released in 1946 under the title Satan Met a Lady.  The Maltese Falcon received three Oscar nominations in the Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay categories with no wins acquired, was among the inaugural selections to the Library of Congress National Film Registry, and has been hailed as one of the greatest films of all time by critic Roger Ebert and Entertainment Weekly.  Among its many other praises from critics and film groups alike, AFI has included this film among its 100 Films, 100 Thrills, 100 Quotes, 100 Films Anniversary Edition, and 10 Top 10 Mystery lists, and it was also nominated for AFI’s 100 Heroes and Villains twice and a second dialogue line for 100 Quotes.

6. The Third Man (1949) – Another film noir to make this list, albeit one from Britain cinema, this Orson Welles-starring, Carol Reed-directing murder mystery sets a perfect tone with its brilliant performances, moody tone and cinematography, and unforgettable music, created with only a zither.  All aspects of the film come together to give it the right touch of drabness that personifies post-World War II Vienna.  The Third Man received the top prizes at that year’s Cannes Film Festival and British Academy Awards, as well as receiving an Academy Award for Best Black and White Cinematography.  In 1999, the British Film Institute selected it as the best British film of the 20th century.  Total Film magazine ranked it the fourth best film of all time.  It has also made many AFI lists, including 100 Movies, 100 Thrills, 100 Heroes and Villains, and 10 Top 10 Mystery.  It also received nominations on AFI’s 100 Quotes, 100 Scores, and 100 Movies Anniversary Edition lists.  There is also a Third Man Museum in Vienna dedicated to the movie.

5. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) – If you haven’t seen It’s a Wonderful Life yet, stop what you’re doing right now, go to your local Blockbuster (if you can find one), and rent this movie.  Forget that it’s generally considered a Christmas movie.  Certainly it belongs in the pantheon of holiday favorite films, but it is also a heartfelt and inspiring tear-jerker of a movie.  Directed by the iconic Frank Capra, whose filmmaking career garnered a total of 53 Oscar nominations and 14 wins including two Best Picture and three Best Director statues, It’s a Wonderful Life stars James Stewart as George Bailey, who when attempting to commit suicide on Christmas Eve is shown by his guardian angel Clarence what impact George has made because of his existence.  Initially a financial disappointment, time has been kind to the feature, with it topping AFI’s most inspirational films list.  Other AFI lists acknowledging the importance of It’s a Wonderful Life include 100 Movies, 100 Passions, twice on 100 Heroes and Villains, 100 Movies Anniversary Edition, and 10 Top 10 Fantasy.  At the Academy Awards, It’s a Wonderful Life received five nominations, but won none of them.  The Library of Congress included the movie among its 1990 inductees to the National Film Registry and for decades it has topped many favorite film lists among national and international media outlets.  Seneca Falls holds a It’s a Wonderful Life festival every December, opened The Hotel Clarence named after the guardian angel, and recently opened a It’s a Wonderful Life Museum.

4. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) – Another John Huston/Humphrey Bogart collaboration, this is one of the first American films to be shot almost entirely on location outside the United States.  The source of one of the most misquoted film lines of all time, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre exemplifies the moral descent mankind will tailspin into when greed and distrust creep into a friendship.  Huston won the Academy Award for directing and writing.  Walter Huston, the director’s father, won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor the same year.  It was also nominated for Best Picture, but lost.  Director Stanley Kubrick listed The Treasure of the Sierra Madre as his fourth favorite movie of all time.  AFI recognized the movie by placing it on its 100 Movies, 100 Thrills, 100 Quotes, and 100 Movies Anniversary lists.  It also received nominations on the 100 Heroes and Villains and 100 Scores lists.  In 1990, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was selected to the National Film Registry.

3. The Great Dictator (1940) – In Charlie Chaplin’s first true “talkie,” the legendary filmmaker wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the first major motion picture to satirize Nazism and Adolph Hitler, resulting in a masterpiece of film.  The Great Dictator was also Chaplin’s greatest financial success.  The film’s out-of-character plea regarding war and oppression is one of the most moving moments this form of art has ever captured on celluloid.  It was winless in five categories at the Academy Awards, losing in Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Outstanding Production.  The Library of Congress included The Great Dictator in its 1997 class to the National Film Registry.  It was ranked at 37 on AFI’s 100 Laughs list.

2. Citizen Kane (1941) – Six sentences isn’t enough to extol the litany of great things Orson Welles’s directorial debut provided the history of cinema.  A few of the innovations Citizen Kane provided for the film industry include narrative techniques, cinematography, camera angles, use of shadow and light, and experimentation with editing and sound.  To be blunt, it completely changed the way movies were watched.  A critical darling when first released, the movie did not do well at the box office, but since then it has frequently topped Best Of lists, including AFI’s 100 Movies and 100 Movies Anniversary lists, Sight & Sound, Editorial Jaguar, FIAF Centenary List, France Critics Top 10, Cahiers du cinéma 100 films pour une cinémathèque idéal, Kinovedcheskie Russia Top 10, Romanian Critics Top 10, Time Out Magazine Greatest Films, and Village Voice 100 Greatest Films.  Citizen Kane was among the National Film Registry’s inaugural group in 1989.  It received nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Cinematography, but ended up winning only in the Best Original Screenplay category.

1. Casablanca (1942) – The winner of three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Writing, Casablanca has become a legendary film due to its flawless characters and memorable dialogue.  Shot in sequence due to only half the script being completed at the start of filming, the movie reunites The Maltese Falcon stars Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre with Ingrid Bergman, Claude Raines, and Paul Henreid.  While not a true film noir, the movie does implement many of director Michael Curtiz’s lighting and camera styles to give it a brooding tone.  Casablanca expertly combines elements of romance, drama, suspense, and humor resulting in a classic for audiences of both sexes and all ages.  Due to its wide audience appeal, the film finds itself on countless lists of great films.  Along with the three Oscars it received, it was nominated in another five categories.  In its first year of induction, the National Film Registry included Casablanca amongst the films deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”  The Writers Guild of America deemed the screenplay the best of all time.  AFI repeatedly have selected Casablanca to its 100 Years lists, including 100 Movies, 100 Thrills, 100 Passions, 100 Heroes and Villains, 100 Songs, 100 Quotes (with six lines making it on the list), 100 Cheers, and 100 Movies Anniversary.

Despite restrictions from the Hays Office and having to endure budget cuts due to the war, Hollywood was still able to make some remarkable movies that have endured and become greater as time marches on.  Some of the most memorable and paramount films were produced during this period.  Legends of the big screen struck it big in this decade and are still considered the most identifiable products of Tinseltown to this day.  With the advent of television, the decline of the studio system, and the unclear threats of a Cold War, Hollywood would never again see the height of theater attendance as it did during the 1930s and 40s.

Finally, Some Modern Art I Can Get Behind

Not really understanding or ever enjoying what is considered normal, classical art, it has been impossible for me to get modern art.  Painting a red square on a blue canvass or reconstructing an outhouse from the mid 1800s but installing the latest Japanese toilet technology isn't art in my opinion.  As Muppet Sam the Eagle would put it, "You are all weirdos!"
However, recently doing some research on my favorite movies by decade unearthed a project from two bloggers from the Walker Art Center who are deconstructing a single frame from every 62 seconds of film from the 1949 movie The Third Man.  The two will be analyzing each frame twice a week until they reach the end of the movie.  The project began last year and is expected to wrap up in December.
The project is called Still Dots and will consist of 102 blog posts.  The blog can be found at http://blogs.walkerart.org/filmvideo/category/still-dots/.
To most this sounds like an epic waste of time, which normally I would argue isn't all modern art an epic waste of time, but since I'm a nut about movies this interests me ... a lot.  I will be spending the next year anticipating every Tuesday and Thursday post, getting two people's perspectives on one of the greatest movies of all time.  If you have seen The Third Man and loved it like I do, please visit the site and see what it is all about.  If you have deprived yourself so far by not viewing this movie yet, go check it out.  It is not only worth the 104 minutes of your life that it will take to watch the movie in one sitting, but it will be worth then visiting the Still Dots blog and analyzing the movie frame by frame.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Not counting the second installment of the Mission: Impossible movies (which is a big pile of goat manure), the series is quite thrilling.  While the first is my favorite and the third comes in second place for me, the latest offering, Ghost Protocol, is an action-packed, insanely over-the-top spy thriller with stunning action-sets and awe-inspiring scenery of Budapest and Dubai.
Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise's character and star of the Mission: Impossible series, has gradually morphed into an Americanized version of James Bond.  He knows everything, can do anything, has a gadget for all scenarios, and always supplies a witty retort in whatever situation he finds himself.  Ghost Protocol is likely the most 007-like of all the movies yet as Hunt and his team globe trot from the Kremlin in Moscow to the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai to a wealthy Indian mansion in Mumbai, encountering along the way the most attractive of people the world has to offer.
Ghost Protocol stars Cruise, Jeremy Renner (who is believed to be the heir apparent for when Cruise decides to step away from the franchise), Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, and Michael Nyqvist.  Pegg returns from the third film and is likely known for his roles in the 2009 Star Trek reboot or the zombie-comedy Shaun of the Dead.  Brad Bird, director of Pixar favorites The Incredibles and Ratatouille, makes his live-action directorial debut.
As long as you are willing to suspend all disbelief, leaving no room for doubt that the human race has limitations to pain or technological advancement, Ghost Protocol is a two-hour-long action sequence that forgoes story or characterization for intense fights, mind-blowing explosions, and infeasible stunts.  The solo climb outside the Burj Khalifa tower and a rousing battle in an automated multi-level parking garage are alone worth the admission price.
The Mission: Impossible movies will never be serious award contenders (excluding the possibility of visual and sound effects praise), but what they deliver in cheap stimulation and heart-racing good times is what the audience should be wanting from this kind of movie.  And in my estimation, Ghost Protocol delivers on a grandiose scale.

Ulysses By James Joyce

Having spent countless hours reading and unknown time limits re-reading the so-called masterpiece Ulysses, I can now say I have finished the toughest novel I've ever had the displeasure to lay eyes on.  Ignoring that the plot itself is painfully boring, the narrative styles are nearly impossible to follow.
If you haven't read the book then a tiny glimpse into the torture that is Ulysses is that the final chapter is eight paragraphs long over about 40 pages with absolutely no punctuation.  You read that correctly.  For 40-something pages you have to constantly decipher stream-of-consciousness narrative with no end and no beginning in between paragraphs.  A "well" could be well or we'll, but you have to read the line through to figure out if it is necessary to go back and re-read it so that it makes some sort of logical sense.
Should you happen to attempt reading this novel, all I can say is good luck.  You are going to need it.  I suggest getting a copy of Cliff Notes to help you understand what the heck is going on.

2012: The Year Of Apocalarious

There are only 353 days left until the world ends (according to the Mayan calendar).  How will you spend your final months on Earth?