The Oscars

Two posts in one day, because I'm feeling it. Woo!

The Oscars are tonight and I'm fairly excited because I have seen four of the five films nominated for Best Picture. How I accomplished this epic feat was by attending AMC's 2nd annual movie marathon. Alex sent me the link back in January and I thought it'd be pretty cool to experience a lot of (supposedly) good movies in one day. Plus, it was a fantastic deal...$30 per person, plus a large popcorn with free refills! I got more and more nervous as the day came closer because I am not a "movie person." I am a TV gal all the way. I can commit to an hour of drama every week, but asking me to commit to paying $10 for a big screen TV for 2 hours at once? Not happening. But we thought it'd be fun and different and something to blog about, so there you go. We had no idea what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised at the organization and professionalism of AMC. We had our own host who gave away prizes during trivia time before every movie. The manager of the theater also decided that if we were willing to purchase a $5 Diet Coke, that we should get free refills for it all day. Apparently, this isn't AMC's corporate policy, so that guy got big props in my book. They also allowed you to come and go as you pleased thanks to these nifty lanyards you got to wear with information for all the movies. And my favorite part of the event was that you could bring in food from anywhere. Needless to say, there were A LOT of pizza boxes in the theater by the end of the day.

We only made it through four of the movies, because the last movie of the night was "No Country for Old Men." I had heard many positive things about the movie and everyone is raving about Javier Bardem's performance, so a part of me was curious to see it. However, I cannot handle a lot of graphic violence and senseless death in my movie experiences. I get really, really, really into the movies I watch, which is a total pain, because then I cry over everything and want to puke and stuff. (Example: I had to leave at the end of the "Hannibal" because Anthony Hopkins was doing too good of a job of messing with Ray Liotta's brain. Also? I couldn't even make it halfway through "The Departed" before I turned to Alex and said, "I need to go think about rainbows and sunshine NOW.") I suppose it's also a blessing because when I enjoy a movie, I really, really, really enjoy it and that is wonderful for my artistic and creative side, blah de dah. Not the point.

So in order to prepare myself for the chilling gruesomeness of the movie, I read the book two weeks ago. And it gave me nightmares. Anton Chigurh is just too scary for me, y'all. (Yes, I am a big fat wuss and I know it.) But after two extremely scary dreams about serial killers stalking me and a paranoid fear of every noise in the house when I was alone, I decided watching the movie might not be the best idea for me. At least not when I can't fast forward through the brain splatters. So my husband, being the amazing man that he is, gladly skipped out on the last showing of the night, even though he really wanted to see the movie. But he is a wise man, because "Juno" is a much better way to end the night for both of us. Plus, we have a Netflix account, so it will be at our house haunting me soon enough.

So I'm excited about tonight's ridiculous festivities, because I know more about what people are talking about. Even though I am pretty sure "No Country" is going to win Best Picture and Best Director, I am still far more informed that I ever have been on Oscar Night. And if "There Will Be Blood" wins for anything other than Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis, I will throw something at the TV.

UPDATE: Yep, "No Country" was the big winner. But for the record, that clip of Javier and the coin scared the crap out of me. So I still stand by the decision of skipping out on it last night.