Film [talkies]

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The "awards season" is getting really close. Every year it feels like the onslaught of Oscar bait movies starts sooner and sooner. Something about this fall seems special though. I am not sure if it's the fact that 007 and Luke Skywalker will be in the movies with in a month of each other. Or maybe it's the fact that this fall there seems to be good movies made by real artist. Either way...welcome to our very first FALL MOVIE SNEAK PEAK. 

We are going to break up some films [and their release dates] in THREE groups; 1) Must See, 2) Buzz, & 3) Popcorn.

A Must See film includes films that range from Blockbusters with soaring expectations to small passion films that remind us about the power of my favorite art form.

Buzz are films that are getting good word of mouth put the jury is still out on if the studios PR firm is doing a good job or a gem was really made.

And finally, Popcorn are fun films to watch. Pretty simple category there. An excuse to get out of the winter cold, eat some salted butter popcorn and sit next to your special somebody or bff, nudge each other over silly plots and horribly written lines and then make jokes after the movie is over.

So, here we go!

	MUST SEE	BUZZ	POPCORN
Sept	Black Mass [9/18]* Sicario [9/18]	The Walk [9/30]	Sleeping With Other People[9/11] Cooties [9/18] A Walk in the Woods [9/2] The Intern [9/25]
Oct	Legend [10/2] The Martian [10/2]* Bridge of Spies [10/16]* Suffragette [10/23]*	Steve Jobs  [10/9]* Beasts of No Nation  [10/16]* Rock the Kasbah  [10/23] Our Brand is Crisis  [10/30]*	Pan [10/9]
Nov	SPECTRE [11/6] The Good Dinosaur [11/25] The Danish Girl [11/27] Carol [1/20]*	Spotlight [11/6] Trumbo [11/6]* By the Sea [11/13]* Secret in their Eyes [11/20] Creed [11/25]	The Peanuts Movie [11/6] The 33 [11/13]* The Night Before [11/25]
Dec	Star Wars: The Force Awakens [12/18] The Hateful Eight [12/25]* Joy [12/25]* The Revenant [12/25]*	Youth [12/4] Son of Saul [12/18] Snowden [12/25]*	In the Heart of the Sea [12/11]* Sisters [12/18] Concussion [12/25]*

Bold=real excitement on my part | *Some Oscar Potential/Baiting

As it is every year there is a flood of good movies released for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and of course the late season releases of movies to qualify for the Academy Awards [a film must be released in NYC and LA on or before December 31st to qualify].

Out of this list there are two movies I am going gaga over. Yup...you guessed it. SPECTRE and of course...STAR WARS!!! I am really really excited to see a new Star Wars film [that isn't Episode I...oh God what a nightmare]. And course continue a tradition started with Casino Royale, by seeing the new 007 movie with my friend Joe.

Other traditions that have started recently: I see a Thanksgiving and Christmas movie with my main girl Friday. Usually who ever picks one holiday gets to pick the other, unless it's a year where we both agree on the films [i.e. Thanksgiving 2013 - 12 Years a Slave]. I think we have a good chance of agreeing for Thanksgiving as we are both huge Pixar film fans. And after the wonderfulness that was Inside/Out why wouldn't we be excited to see The Good Dinosaur. Christmas will be tough but I can already sense that Joy will win out over The Hateful Eight.

Keep checking back as we view these Fall films and put our comments on them up here!

We hope are watch along and join in on the discussion. Remember it's never to early to start the Awards Season Buzz.

-AVL 9/2

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As I prepared my first FALL MOVIE SNEAK PEAK I remembered a great list I made with my main girl Friday.

Top Pixar Films.

We will keep this post really quick. There are currently 15 released Pixar films. The ranking is divided into groups of five. So here is the list.

15. Cars 2

14. Cars

13. Up! 

12. Monster's University

11. Brave

10. A Bugs Life

09. Finding Nemo

08. Toy Story 2

07. Toy Story 3

06. Ratatouille

my all time top five Pixar films:

05. Inside/Out

04. The Incredibles 

03. WALL-E

02. Monster's Inc. 

and my favorite Pixar film of all time...

01. Toy Story 1

In defense of my list. Now I am sure when making up this list on the drive home from watching Inside/Out I gave a different 4-10. I believe I am pretty solid on my # 1-3. Toy Story will forever hold a special place in my heart. It was released at just the perfect time in my life that the plot was meaningful on several levels and the animation. It was breath taking. Monster's Inc. is a film I can watch over and over and still laugh. The chemistry between John Goodman and Billy Crystal [who I love] is top notch. WALL-E. It's a piece of cinematic history. A pure work of art. I still remember how mad I was that a mother took tiny children to see this movie and was dismayed when there was no dialogue for the beginning part of the movie! Do some homework lady! I purposely went to a night showing of a movie that the press had extensively covered as an adult Pixar film with possible one of the best love stories captured on film. Rounding out my top 5 are The Incredibles which still makes me laugh and is entertaining after multiple viewings and Inside/Out which was a wonderfully done film that tugged at the right emotional heart strings [que the tween girl sitting next to me at the film holding back her tears so her little brother won't see her cry]. 

Ratatouille is a joy to watch and I still enjoy after multiple viewings. In fact I am thrilled when my Godson is watching Ratatouille and explains why Finding Nemo is lower than many people would have on their list. Toy Story's 1-3 could very well be in many people's top 5. In making this list I made a personal choice that 2 movies of a series would not crack my 1-6. To me Toy Story is the better of the 3 films. Toy Story 2 gets a spot above 3 because of the more original plot. Films 10-15 are either geared strictly towards kids [Cars & Cars 2] or not fully fleshed out [Brave] or I haven't had the urge to revisit [A Bug's Life] or is Up!. I love the love montage in Up!. In fact if I had to rank any 10 minutes of Pixar film that montage would be in my top 5. But there was another 90+ mins of film after that sequence that just didn't do it for me. Maybe I came to Up! to old [I was 25+ when I first saw it]. Maybe the nostalgia of 1930 style adventure films hadn't settle in [Indiana Jones 4 had just been a big bust]. I know Up! is ranked a lot higher for other people. Maybe the montage is enough to move it up in other people's list. No hard feelings. But when films like Toy Story, Monster's Inc., and WALL-E are out in the world the Up!'s gotta move on down. 

It is my list after all.

-AVL 9/2

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