The Dundees: Our Alternative Oscars

The Oscar nominations this year are kind of a snoozefest. Is there anyone that was nominated that was really a surprise?  Though big yays for Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, and John Hawkes, even though none of them will probably win.  Also, Ryan Gosling, Andrew Garfield, and Matt Damon snubbed; the Academy is clearly biased against the dreamy!

So in opposition to the stodgy and predictable Oscars, I created my own alternative Oscars with slightly different categories. Also, some TV awards are thrown in for good measure:

Funniest Movie of the Year:  The Other Guys.  If this was best comedy, Easy A would win hands down.  It's a better executed film, but it's hard to resist the silliness of a Will Ferrell and Adam McKay joint. Which is why it's the movie that I laughed the most at this year.  Mark Wahlberg gives a hilarious performance as Will Ferrell's side kick.  And Michael Keaton is straight up awesome in this!

Find it in the catalog!

Best Romantic Comedy: Going the Distance.  Granted there's not a lot of competition for this slot- Killers?  The Bounty Hunter?  Come on!  But romantic comedy or not, this is a pretty hilarious movie.  I love the scene with Jim Gaffigan and his sandwich!

Find it in the catalog!

Most Enviable Wardrobe, Female Performance:  Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olsen on Mad Men.  Secretarial goddess Joan (Christina Hendricks) used to have the wardrobe to envy, but Peggy seemed to have a gotten a makeover between Seasons 2 and 3.  She now has a flirty and fun work wardrobe that seems more modern than Joan's.

The Assassination of Yogi Bear by the Coward Boo-boo

Animator Edmund Earle created an "alternate ending" parody video for the new Yogi Bear movie that is coming out this week.  I'm probably outside of the target demographic for the Yogi movie, but I did enjoy Andrew Dominik's 2007 revisionist western The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (it has Paul Schneider AND Sam Rockwell in it!), which this parody also references.  It's a pretty funny video clip and probably more enjoyable to most adults than the actual Yogi Bear film, but I definitely missed Sam Rockwell acting as moral conscience in this version of the scene. (via BoingBoing).
Note: In case you can't tell by the title, there is bear-on-bear violence in this clip.



Check out the original:
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007).
Find it in the catalog!

History repeats itself: Historical figures on TV and in the movies

The Young Victoria, currently playing in movie theaters, tells the story of Queen Victoria's early years on the English throne and her romance with Prince Albert. Emily Blunt gives a wonderful performance as Victoria, and Rupert Friend is a perfect match as Albert. Many other historical figures have been given the big-screen treatment, where their lives are portrayed by combining both fictional and actual events. Check out this selection of DVDs that deal with the life of a historical figure. This list provides only a fraction of what we have available at the library (see the Search Tip at the end of this post for more!).

Amadeus
DVD FICTION AMADEUS
Antonio Salieri, composer (1750-1825)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer (1756-1791)
Find it in the catalog!

Amazing Grace
DVD FICTION AMAZING
William Wilberforce, British politician and abolitionist (1759-1833)
John Newton, clergyman and former slave ship captain (1725-1807)
Find it in the catalog!

The Aviator
DVD FICTION AVIATOR
Howard Hughes (1905-1976)
Find it in the catalog!

Braveheart
DVD FICTION BRAVEHEART
Sir William Wallace (d. 1305)
Find it in the catalog!

Buffalo Bill and the Indians: Or, Sitting Bull's History Lesson
DVD WESTERN BUFFALO
Buffalo Bill (1846-1917)
Sitting Bull (1831-1890)
Find it in the catalog!

The Duchess
DVD FICTION DUCHESS
Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806)
Find it in the catalog!

Elizabeth
DVD FICTION ELIZABETH
Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1533-1603)
Find it in the catalog!

Elizabeth, The Golden Age
DVD FICTION ELIZABETH
Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1533-1603)

Find it in the catalog!

Gandhi

DVD FICTION GANDHI

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

Find it in the catalog!

Iron Jawed Angels

DVD FICTION IRON

Alice Paul, suffragist (1885-1977)

Lucy Burns, suffragist (1879-1966)

Find it in the catalog!

John Adams

DVD TELEVISION JOHN

John Adams (1735-1826)

Abigail Adams (1744-1818)

Find it in the catalog!

Malcolm X

DVD FICTION MALCOLM

Malcolm X (1925-1965)

Find it in the catalog!

Marie Antoinette

DVD FICTION MARIE

Queen Marie Antoinette, consort of Louis XVI, King of France (1755-1793)

Find it in the catalog!

Mary of Scotland

DVD FICTION MARY

Mary, Queen of Scotts (1542-1587)

Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1533-1603)

Find it in the catalog!

The Queen

DVD FICTION QUEEN

Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain (1926-)

Tony Blair (1953-)

Find it in the catalog!

The Rosa Parks Story

DVD FICTION ROSA

Rosa Parks (1913-2005)

Find it in the catalog!

The Scarlet Empress

DVD FICTION SCARLET

Catherine II, Empress of Russia (1729-1796)

Find it in the catalog!

Spartacus

DVD FICTION SPARTACUS

Spartacus, gladiator (d. 71 B.C.)

Find it in the catalog!

The Tudors

DVD TELEVISION TUDORS

Henry VIII, King of England (1491-1547)

Season 1: Find it in the catalog!

Season 2: Find it in the catalog!

Search tip!

To find movies that focus on a historical period or person like the ones listed above, try either of these keyword searches:

biographical films and dvd

historical films and dvd

You'll retrieve a long list of DVDs that you can browse through. As long as a DVD was indexed under biographical films or historical films it should turn up in the search.

Mini-series to watch: Into the West

Recently, the cable channel TNT re-aired the 2005 mini-series Into the West. November being Native American Heritage Month, and since we're nearing Thanksgiving, I understand why TNT decided to re-run this enlightening series. A huge ensemble cast (Matthew Settle, Keith Carradine, Irene Bedard, Graham Greene, Skeet Ulrich, Keri Russell, the list goes on . . .) portrays the story that alternately follows a white family venturting out West, and the Native Americans already populating the region. Jacob Wheeler (played by Matthew Settle and John Terry) and Loved By The Buffalo (played by Simon Baker and Steve Reevis) seem to be the characters which all others basically revolve. Decades are spanned as characters experience struggle, betrayal, death and, occasionally, joy.

Unfortunately, some of the storylines do fall flat. The series tries to cover all angles: an African American family travels with the group of settlers out West and a Chinese immigrant helps to build the railroad. Of course, these things did happen, but they're a bit contrived and too insignificant in the plot to truly be representative of those particular expierences. The series' strong points lie in the portrayal of the conflict between white men and Native Americans. Ultimately, it is a fairly balanced look at the era in American history; not all white settlers were greedy opportunists and not all Native Americans were violent and opposed to outsider influence.

The miniseries is comprised of 6 episodes (approximately 90 mintues each) on 4 discs.
Find it in the catalog!