The answer would be, um, Oscar season?

That's right - forget Christmas and Wedding season (which season is that, exactly...Spring?), Oscar season is upon us! This morning, the Academy announced their nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards. Most of the nominations are no surprise and in my opinion, are popular films to begin with. Sure, you've got the signature indie films that slipped into the nominations, but three of the ten films nominated for Best Picture have grossed more than $200 million worldwide (The Social Network - $208,608,473; Inception - $823,576,195; Toy Story 3 - $1,063,161,943). A few other ones are almost at the $100 million mark as well. Here are the top category nominations followed by a link to the full list. Enjoy!!

1. Best Picture: "Black Swan," ''The Fighter," ''Inception," ''The Kids Are All Right," ''The King's Speech," ''127 Hours," ''The Social Network," ''Toy Story 3," ''True Grit," ''Winter's Bone."

2. Actor: Javier Bardem, "Biutiful"; Jeff Bridges, "True Grit"; Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"; Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"; James Franco, "127 Hours."

3. Actress: Annette Bening, "The Kids Are All Right"; Nicole Kidman, "Rabbit Hole"; Jennifer Lawrence, "Winter's Bone"; Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"; Michelle Williams, "Blue Valentine."

4. Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, "The Fighter"; John Hawkes, "Winter's Bone"; Jeremy Renner, "The Town"; Mark Ruffalo, "The Kids Are All Right"; Geoffrey Rush, "The King's Speech."

5. Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, "The Fighter"; Helena Bonham Carter, "The King's Speech"; Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"; Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit"; Jacki Weaver, "Animal Kingdom."

6. Directing: Darren Aronofsky, "Black Swan"; David O. Russell, "The Fighter"; Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech"; David Fincher, "The Social Network"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "True Grit."

Complete list of 83rd Annual Academy Award nominations announced Tuesday: - NYPOST.com

The King's Speech (Was Really Good)

I didn’t have this movie on any type of wish list, by any means. It sounded kinda dumb. Well now, and I hate to say this next part because I don’t want to admit to doing something because everyone else does it but, it has been winning a bunch of awards. I like to see the movies that are nominated for awards because typically, the Academy knows what they’re doing. So to the movie theaters I went to see The King’s Speech starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter.

It delivered. Colin Firth plays King George VI who was known to have a serious stuttering problem. He has been quoted saying he practiced his stammer for three weeks so that the audience would feel his pain. Every “M-m-m-m” uttered had me at the edge of my seat, wanting to yell at him to spit it out! But that was the job of Geoffrey Rush who plays Dr. Lionel Logue. His unconventional speech therapy is promised to remedy all of the future King’s problems. When I say unconventional, I mean straight-up weird. Rolling like logs across the rug, relentlessly repeating rough tongue-twisters, and blasting classical music. The results of his methods were about to be witnessed by all of England in the climax of the movie, the King’s speech.


Helena Bonham Carter plays a loving and yet sly wife who wants the best for her husband. Though he had the toughest job in the film, Geoffrey Rush’s doctor role was so enjoyable to watch, especially his bickering with Colin Firth’s character. The Golden Globe win for Actor in a Drama was well-earned by Colin Firth. Up until this movie, the only person I associated with a speech impediment was the character “Stuttering Stanley” from The Sixth Sense. Thank you, Colin Firth, for giving me a new person to relate to the next time I find myself saying “T-t-t-today juniaaa”.

Spend or Save? Spend your money and see this good-natured, heart-warming, and potty-mouth ridden movie!

Black Swan...WTF

This picture gives me nightmares.

Upon the movie’s end, I sat speechless for approximately two minutes while the credits started rolling.  Fortunately, I am no longer speechless and thus can attempt to put into words my review of the movie Black Swan starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Vincent Cassel.  The movie is about the cutthroat world of ballet and its ability to delude the dancers that compete for the principal role.  So basically, take that comforting and beautiful idea of ballet that you had in your head and throw it away.  Black Swan gives it to you raw and real and at times even makes you feel uncomfortable.

Natalie Portman plays Nina Sayers in what will inevitably be an Oscar-winning role.  Nina is a perfectionist who is influenced and controlled by her has-been mother and looks up to the person that judges her most, the ballet’s director played by Cassel.  Portman is cast as the lead in a new rendition of Swan Lake where she will play both the white and the black swan.  Then things get funky.  There are a lot of graphic scenes and some unexpected gory scenes as well.  The kind that make you squirm in your seat and wonder if everyone around you feels as awkward as you do.

Portman is scary skinny and plays the innocent role so well that it becomes terrifying to see her turn into her counterpart, the black swan.  The movie had a Shutter Island feel to it in the sense that you’re still not sure what happened in real life and what was imagined.  Chatting with friends won’t help solve your problems…that’s just the reaction director Darren Aronosky wanted from his audience (he is also known for his controversial film, Requiem for a Dream).  Any more word vomit from me and I might give away too much.  And yet, I can’t stop thinking about the movie and developing my own theories as to what it all means. 

Spend or Save?  Spend before someone spoils it all for you.  Not reason enough?  Spend so that you can say you saw the Oscar-winning film before it won all its awards.