Golden Globes 2012

The Broncos are in the playoffs.  Why am I beginning my post with that, instead of say, just jumping right into the Golden Globes? Because due to the fact that the Broncos are IN THE PLAYOFFS, I won't really be fully devoted to making my predictions this year.  I'm too nervous about the game tomorrow.  I could wait until after the game to write up my predictions, but I will either A) be in a funk because they blew it, or B) be on such a game-winning high that I cannot focus on anything else.  So here goes my very quick overview of which actors, actresses, movies, TV shows, etc. etc. will win the 2012 Golden Globes.

Best Picture - Drama: The Descendants

Best Actress - Drama: Meryl Streep

Best Actor - Drama: George Clooney

Best Picture - Comedy: The Artist (although I would rather have Midnight in Paris win)

Best Actress - Comedy: Kristen Wiig

Best Actor - Comedy: Jean Dujardin

Best Animated Feature Film: Puss in Boots

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius

Best Screenplay: Woody Allen

Best Foreign Language Film: The Flowers of War

Best TV Series - Drama: Homeland

Best TV Actress - Drama: Claire Danes

Best TV Actor - Drama: Bryan Cranston

Best TV Series - Comedy: Modern Family

Best TV Actress - Comedy: Zooey Deschanel

Best TV Actor - Comedy: Alec Baldwin (although he may have fallen out of favor with Hollywood over the whole Words With Friends fiasco)

Best Mini-Series - Downton Abbey

Best Actress - Mini Series: Kate Winslet

Best Actor - Mini Series: Bill Nighy

And there you have it.  Let's hope that I'm actually in a good mood to watch the awards ceremony.  What if someone tebowed during their acceptance speech.  Hmm....

Emmy 2011 Predictions

The Emmys air on FOX this Sunday evening.  I'm looking forward to the fashions and, of course, the awards themselves.  While I can't wait to watch, the Emmy's are actually my least favorite awards show of the major awards.  But, alas, I always get sucked in and so here are my predictions...

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Apparently I don't like comedies seems as how the only show I've seen that has been nominated is 30 Rock.  I guess I'm just a super serious person. So I'm going with Liz Lemon.  I mean Tina Fey.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Again, the only one I watch is 30 Rock.  I mean, yes, I've watched a few episodes of The Office, and I didn't find it funny.  (On a side note, Zombie just came on. Gotta love the 90s.) I am voting for Alec Baldwin, who I would have voted for anyways even if I did watch the other shows.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: The Modern Family characters.  They are both so great.  Maybe I should just flip a coin.  Heads: Julie Bowen.  Tails: Sofia Vergara.  Tails.  Sofia is my prediction.  But can I just add that I love that Kristen Wiig has been nominated for "various characters"?

(Brandon Flowers - Right Behind You.  Love, love, love).

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Oh wow.  All four of the men on Modern Family have been nominated.  All are great.  Although Mitchell drives me insane sometimes.  So that narrows it down to three.  This poses a problem (Lenny Kravitz - Rock and Roll is Dead).  Don't be confused.  I don't mean that Lenny Kravitz poses a problem.  I mean that I have three options, but a coin only has two sides.  So I guess I will just have to choose.  Umm.  We'll go with Phil.  Whose real name is Ty Burrell.

Outstanding Comedy Series: Modern Family

Outstanding Lead Actress is a Drama Series: (The Killers - Losing Touch).  This is hard.  I love many of the actresses on this list while at the same time have a love/hate relationship with their characters.  Peggy from Mad Men - I love that she doesn't take crap from the chauvinist pigs of the 1960s, but at the same time, why does she have to be so annoying.  And get a better haircut, please.  Mrs. Coach from FNL.  I love her y'alls and the fact that she wants to try to get the kids out of the hell hole that is Dillon, TX.  And now that I'm writing this, I realize that she doesn't really bother me that much.  She didn't back down when crazy Luke's e-van mom came after her, and she didn't put up with Coach's crap.  (Elvis Presley - Wooden Heart.  We may have hit a snag in the playlist).  Alicia Florrick - The Good Wife.  It's great that you went back to work after being the homemaker and going through your husband's sex scandal.  But seriously, Alicia.  Make up your mind.  Either give Peter a chance or divorce him.  And am I crazy to be on Peter's side for their last fight? So Kalinda slept with Peter.  Like Peter said, she wasn't Alicia's best friend when he slept with her.  I'm just saying.  I don't really know why the chick from The Killing was nominated, but she is giving gingers a voice, so I guess that is good.  After typing all of this out, I guess I'm going to have to go with Connie Britton, although I know she's not going to win it.  It will come down to Peggy or Alicia.  (Bruce - No Surrender.  Thanks Bruce, for coming through and saving the day).

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Here I am, scrolling through the nominees list and saying, Jon Hamm for sure.  Then what happens? I scroll down a bit more and see Timothy Olyphant for Justified.  I'm still going with Jon Hamm, but Olyphant is really fantastic as well.  And you never know if that really weird looking guy will come out of no where (and by really weird looking guy, I mean the oddly hilarious Steve Buscemi).

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: (Edgy cover of Who Wants to Live Forever).  Christina Hendricks.  CHRISTINA HENDRICKS!!!! Gingers of the world Unite! Christina, Christina, would you like to play the single mother to an angst-ridden, pre-adolescent ginger?

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: I was thinking to myself that I really want the guy that plays Jesse in Breaking Bad to win, and then I realized that Breaking Bad hasn't been nominated in any of the categories.  I then remembered that they were not eligible for any awards for some reason.  It's a shame really.  And now I've looked at the nominees.  WTF? How am I supposed to choose? I thought the Lead Actress/Drama was a hard decision.  I feel like you could just pull any one of these guys' name out of a hat, and that would be a fair assessment of the talent.  Okay.  Let's get serious.  John Slattery.  Obviously love him.  Don't know much about Andre Braugher.  Wolton Goggings - Gimmick guy from Justified! Who would have known that a criminal could be so charming.  Peter Dinklage looks like a midget, so he's bound to be funny.  Josh Charles.  I think he's fabulous.  He is just one part of a great love triangle on The Good Wife.  And then you have Alan Cumming, who plays the brilliant Eli Gold.  I'm narrowing it down to John Slattery and Alan Cumming, with my final vote to John Slattery.

And Finally (Because I don't care about mini-series/made for TV) Outstanding Drama Series: Mad Men.

A Dog Returning to its Vomit...

I know I've been MIA for the summer.  I know I promised that I would review the movies I saw.  But guess what...I don't actually like to blog.  But rather than giving up, I like to keep telling myself that it will get better, so here it goes.  A quick rundown of both movies and books from the summer...

Something Borrowed: I liked it.  It wasn't as good as the book, but it was still entertaining. And I hate to say it, but I like John Krasinski now.  He was the one character that I loved, though that doesn't surprise me, as in the movie his character is a mashup of my two favs from the book. But I won't bore you with that.

Harry Potter: 7 Part 2 or whatever it's called.  I'm glad that the series is finally over, but seriously, the movie sucked.  It was incredibly anti-climatic.  Even the gimmick 3D glasses couldn't make up for it.

Sarah's Key: I saw this at what my kid brother likes to call the "edgy movie theatre." I don't think Shirlington qualifies as edgy, but to each his own I guess.  This was the first movie of two that I would see during the annual GJWHF held each August before I head back to school.  I hadn't seen previews for this movie until the week before it came out.  I was excited that they were making it into a movie.  I had read the book and remember liking it, but I really couldn't remember what happened in the story.  The movie was good.  It wasn't anything earth shattering, but it was a nice change of pace from the movies I had seen around the same time.  And any movie where French is the dominant language spoken is always a good decision.  After watching French movies I always wonder why I didn't keep up with my French classes.  It's such a beautiful language, even if I can't get the freaking accent down.  But back to the movie...I find Aidan Quinn attractive.  Enough said.

Midnight in Paris: LOVE LOVE LOVE! This was such a great movie. I may or may not have been the youngest person in the audience, but don't let that make you shy away from this movie.  Owen Wilson was back to his hilarious self.  The guy that always plays Tony Blair played a role that wasn't Tony Blair.  It was great to see many of the places that I visited when I went to Paris.  And although Owen Wilson was fantastic, I think the guy that played Hemingway stole the show.  I honestly can't say anything bad about this movie.  You need to see this the first chance that you get.  By far the best movie I saw this summer.

Now to books: Book Club didn't go as planned.  Me and the bros just couldn't take the ball-breaking that is Dumas' The Man in the Iron Mask.  I only made it through about one-third of the book before giving up.  And we consulted the trusty 1001 Books to Read Before You Die to find out that it wasn't even in the book! So I had to go back through and revise the book list - at least for myself.  I ended up reading the following:

Slaughterhouse Five: This was my second Vonnegut, and it was pretty entertaining.  The thing I love most about Vonnegut's novels are that they are short and they are funny.

The Plague: This was pretty much an early 20th century version of Outbreak/The Hot Zone.  It was really interesting, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.  This is my second Camus novel that I've read (The Stranger), and I have enjoyed them both.  I guess I should check out more of his work.  And it doesn't hurt that the artwork on the books is fantastic.

Far From the Madding Crowd: Poor Gabriel Oak.  The poor guy has to deal with such douches while he tries to win his woman's heart.  The guy just wants to be a simple farmer.  He wants his dirty woman, and he wants to tend to his sheep.  Instead, he has to deal with a creeper old man, and a British, 19th Century version of a Bachelorette contestant (thanks, Steve, for that great comparison).  Of course I loved this book.  This is my fifth Thomas Hardy, and I have loved everyone that I've read.  He just does such a great job of describing the human condition and all of the experiences and emotions that that may entail.  And spoiler: this one doesn't end in the tragic, downward spiral that is characteristic of Hardy novels.

In the Pond: This was the first book I've read that deals with Chinese culture.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.  This book had very similar tones to 1984.

And finally...Brothers Karamozov: Talk about ball-breaking.  Talk about a masterpiece.  How is it that I could be so into something that is simultaneously killing me softly? I wasn't sure that I was going to finish it by the time that I left for school, but thanks to a few power outages, I was able to pull it off.  Russian literature really makes you step back and think about people and relationships.  And there is something just so enticing about snow and fur hats.

And there you have it.  The movies I saw in the theatre proper this summer and the debrief of the Christensen Summer Book Club.  I could say that I am going to continue writing reviews of movies and books as I see them, but I don't want to set myself up for another failure.  I will say, however, that the book I am currently reading is fantastic.  Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's is a great read.  I'm only one chapter in, but I can already tell that I'm going to love it.

Christensen Book Club Finalized List

Each summer, my brothers and I choose a handful of books to read. We don't ever really discuss the book like a traditional book club would; we just read the books. All of these books are pretty intense, so who knows if we will actually read them all. I will most definitely be reading other books that are easier to get through, but I like to check off a few of the books found in 1001 Books to Read Before You Die every year, and this is a way to do that.

This year, we originally started out with three books: one from Britian, one from the US, and one from Russia. However, one of my brothers suggested that we add a French and Chinese novel to complete the gimmick of a trip through the security council. Here's the book club list for 2011:

The Man in the Iron Mask

The Brothers Karamozov

Far from the Madding Crowd

This Side of Paradise

In the Pond

The Horse Whisperer

The other night, I had a dilemma. Coverage of the Royal Wedding was set to start at 3am EST. I had planned on staying up through the night to watch all the coverage, but at the same time, I wanted to take a nap, knowing that I would fall asleep during the coverage if I didn't. My brother and I decided that we would watch a movie before the coverage started, and if we happened to fall asleep during it, I set an alarm for 3 to make sure we were up for the wedding. I suggested The Horse Whisperer. Looking back, I should have suggested something that I could fall asleep during and not care. I didn't end up taking a nap, and I did end up falling asleep during the wedding. But more on that later.

Quick rundown of the movie: Scarlett Johansson plays a young, teenage girl (Grace) who loves horse riding. One snowy day, she is out riding with a friend when something goes tragically wrong. Grace and her horse are badly injured and Grace goes into a deep depression. Grace's mother Annie (played by Kristin Scott Thomas) is a type-A, micromanaging mother that enlists the help of Tom Booker (Robert Redford) to heal her daughter's horse, and in a way, Grace as well. This city-girl is very much out of place in the rugged Montana landscape. However, as Annie sees Tom work his magic on the horse, she stops worrying so much about her problems (a strained marriage, being fired from her job, etc.) and begins to enjoy life.

I love this movie. It had been years since I had seen it (probably since 1998 when it first came out) and I thought about it a few months ago as I was writing a paper for my Urban Sociology class. Then when I found out Robert Redford was in it (not to mention directed it), I just had to watch it. Like a friend of mine said, "Bobby R + Horses = Perfection." If I could sum up the movie into an equation, that would be it. If you were to peel back all of my complex layers of a cosmopolitan life, at my core you would find a country girl. Some of you may be laughing right now, thinking, "Jenny getting dirty? Country Girl? She HATES country music and any place that doesn't have a Barnes and Noble." True. But growing up in SoJo requires you to have a love for a bit of country. I would love to have a care-free life up in a cabin in the mountains (as long as I could still have my TV and the occasional trip into a city for a shopping spree for clothes and books.) Although I never really got into becoming an equestrian and can count the number of times I have ridden a horse on one hand, I have always had a soft spot for horses. This movie hit that soft spot just right.

Anyways, back to the review...Scarlett Jo does a great job of playing the moodie teenager. Yes, she just went through a traumatic experience, but she still acts like a privileged brat for quite a bit of the movie. The landscape of Montana is gorgeous. The story itself is entertaining. And of course you have Robert Redford. He's quite good-looking and looks even better up on a horse. He's a great actor, and he is in his traditional role of a character sticking it to the man. (Challenge: name me a movie where RR doesn't stick it to the man.) If you can get past the rather graphic accident at the beginning of the movie, then you will enjoy it. (During the accident, my brother yelled at me, "This is horrible! Why are you making me watch this?!" Don't worry though; he ended up loving the movie.) Warning though (besides the graphic accident): It's your traditional open-ended Robert Redford ending, so don't expect to have any closure.

The Lion King

My brother and I decided to watch a movie yesterday to really check out the new sound system. A few weeks earlier, we had discussed with our kid brother the movies we believed that everyone should have their own copy of. We came up with: Spy Game, Top Gun, Legends of the Fall, and The Lion King. After this discussion, I really wanted to watch TLK again. It had been years since my last viewing, but TLK has always had a special place in my heart. It's one of the movies from my childhood that is actually a normal kids movie. (My other favorites as a kid included Beetlejuice, Raising Arizona, and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane.) As much as I love Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast, I have to say that TLK is the best Disney movie ever made. I challenge you to come up with a movie that is better.

Where to even begin about what I love about TLK. First, it's a great storyline. Anything that is loosely based on Hamlet is bound to be fantastic. The plot is very simple and yet so intriguing and inspiring at the same time. I always cry when Mufasa dies. (Uhh, I guess I should have mentioned spoiler alerts, but if you haven't seen TLK yet as a 20-something year old individual, then I think you have bigger problems.) I always thought that I was in the minority that I would always cry during this scene no matter what, but after talking to other individuals, I learned that I'm not the only one that sobs when the King dies. The story just makes me want to be a better person.

Second, TLK contains fantastic music. I love Elton John. As strange as he is, he can make some damn good music. The opening of the movie starting right off with Circle of Life is wonderful. I found myself throughout all of the songs singing along in my head, remembering all of the words even after all of these years. And the filler music is composed by Hans Zimmer, composer extraordinaire. Basically Elton John + Hans Zimmer = Perfection.

Finally, the all-star cast. I have to admit that knowing that adult Nala is voiced by the same person that plays Lucas' mom in One Tree Hill really ruined Nala for me. However, Nala is a nagging chick - (Don't be confused - I'm using slang. I don't mean that Nala is a baby chicken. She's a lionness.) - anyways, so I guess it's fitting to have a person I picture as nagging being the voice of a nagging character. So Moira Kelly is annoying, but she is counterbalanced by so many great people: James Earl Jones, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Whoopi Goldberg, and even Rowan Atkinson. And of course, there is Jeremy Irons as Scar. If you don't know this already, I have a strange obsession with Jeremy Irons' voice. It's just so sexy. So obviously, it's a huge plus that he is a voice, even if it is for a creepy character.

So the moral of the story is: The Lion King is the best Disney movie ever made, and if you haven't seen it, then you need to find a copy ASAP to fill a huge void that you may not know you even have.

Let the Summer Begin!

The awards season has come and gone this year, but does that mean that entertainment has gone with it? Of course not! We are just about to start the mindless summer movies, which are usually bound to be entertaining on the least possible level. All anyone really wants in the summer is to be in an air-conditioned theatre where they can watch a movie with a simple plot and escape from their lives for a few hours. I love going to the movies during the summer, but sadly movie ticket prices are ridiculously high back East and it seems like a waste to go to the actual theatre when you can have the DVD just a few weeks later for about the same price as two tickets and you can watch it however many times you want. Last year, my brothers and I decided that we could go to a maximum of three movies in the theatre. (My choices were Robin Hood, Salt, Knight and Day.) I don't know if that will still hold true this summer or if it was just a one summer only gimmick. Anyways, what I'm saying in a roundabout way is that I will be doing movie reviews this summer to fill the void until the next round of awards shows. In addition to newly released movies, I will also be reviewing movies that I just watch at home. My mom got a new Bose surround sound system - finally making my dad relinquish his hold on his 30-year old box speakers - and it's amazing. Movie watching has reached a new level.

So be sure to check in every now and then to read my thoughts on various movies AND - wait for it....BOOK REVIEWS! And I'm not talking your easy beach read either. I mean classic lit. The Christensen book club will commence in a few short weeks, so you will have the honor of also reading book reviews. I know; it's an odd combination. Popular block-buster movies with classic lit. But that's just who I am. Trashy and Classy - although I hope I'm more classy than trashy.

And a note. I realize that I spell theatre the wrong way instead of theater. But it's something that I carried over from my time across the pond, and it's something that I haven't really tried to get over. So no, I'm not stupid. I'm just stubborn.