Les Miserables Review

"I dreamed a dream" and it was the Oscar Nominated Les Miserables.  This film could be one of the best musicals we will ever see.

The film work was very well done! I like how smooth and detailed the transitional scenes are. My favorite one was towards the start of the movie, because of how they used a moving object to do the transition.  (You will know which one it is).

Anne Hathaway singing "I Dreamed A Dream" will blow you away all alone.  Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe are also two very strong voices in the film.  Overall the cast does a wonderful acting and singing, there truly are no bad voices in this film.  It was fun to see a film that has no spoken word, all that needed to be said was said by song.

The Oscar Nominated Director Tom Hooper did a fantastic job bringing a epic musical to life on the big screen in a just as epic film. There is no doubt in my mind about this movie and it's cast and crew being up for Oscars, that was a great choice by the Academy.

The costumes and props were quite good at bringing even more detail into the story, as they matched perfectly to the year they were suppose to be from.  The same goes for the astonishing scenery including the beautiful insides of the churches   Shout out to United Kingdom and France for being the filming locations.

Thank you to ESSEX CINEMAS and T-REX for being the theater of choice for my movie reviews. When you are looking for the best place to check out a movie, make it ESSEX CINEMAS and T-REX at the Essex Outlets Center in Essex, VT! http://www.essexcinemas.com


The T-Rex Theater is AMAZING!!! With the 60 foot curved screen and 124 speakers which is part of 7.1 Digital Surround Sound, there are 401 extra wide luxury seats with memory-foam headrests making a movie theater trip you will never forget! T-Rex stands for “Theatre Real Extreme” 

Also check out movies in Plattsburgh, New York at Cumberland 12!

85th OSCAR® NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards® were announced today (Thursday, January 10) by this year's Oscar host, Seth MacFarlane, and actress Emma Stone.

MacFarlane and Stone announced the nominees at a 5:38 a.m. PT live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives. For a complete list of nominees, visit the official Academy Awards website, www.oscar.com.

Academy members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories – actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, etc. In the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominees are selected by vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.

Official screenings of all motion pictures with one or more nominations will begin for members on Saturday, January 19, at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Screenings will also be held at the Academy's Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood and in London, New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Active members of the Academy are eligible to vote for the winners in all categories.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

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Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook"
• Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln"
• Hugh Jackman in "Les Misérables"
• Joaquin Phoenix in "The Master"
• Denzel Washington in "Flight"

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

• Alan Arkin in "Argo"
• Robert De Niro in "Silver Linings Playbook"
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Master"
• Tommy Lee Jones in "Lincoln"
• Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained"

Performance by an actress in a leading role

• Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty"
• Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook"
• Emmanuelle Riva in "Amour"
• Quvenzhané Wallis in "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
• Naomi Watts in "The Impossible"

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Amy Adams in "The Master"
• Sally Field in "Lincoln"
• Anne Hathaway in "Les Misérables"
• Helen Hunt in "The Sessions"
• Jacki Weaver in "Silver Linings Playbook"

Best animated feature film of the year

• "Brave" Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
• "Frankenweenie" Tim Burton
• "ParaNorman" Sam Fell and Chris Butler
• "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" Peter Lord
• "Wreck-It Ralph" Rich Moore

Achievement in cinematography

• "Anna Karenina" Seamus McGarvey
• "Django Unchained" Robert Richardson
• "Life of Pi" Claudio Miranda
• "Lincoln" Janusz Kaminski
• "Skyfall" Roger Deakins

Achievement in costume design

• "Anna Karenina" Jacqueline Durran
• "Les Misérables" Paco Delgado
• "Lincoln" Joanna Johnston
• "Mirror Mirror" Eiko Ishioka
• "Snow White and the Huntsman" Colleen Atwood

Achievement in directing

• "Amour" Michael Haneke
• "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Benh Zeitlin
• "Life of Pi" Ang Lee
• "Lincoln" Steven Spielberg
• "Silver Linings Playbook" David O. Russell

Best documentary feature

• "5 Broken Cameras" Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
• "The Gatekeepers" 
  Nominees to be determined
• "How to Survive a Plague" 
  Nominees to be determined
• "The Invisible War" 
  Nominees to be determined
• "Searching for Sugar Man" 
  Nominees to be determined

Best documentary short subject

• "Inocente" 
  Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
• "Kings Point" 
  Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
• "Mondays at Racine" Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
• "Open Heart" 
  Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
• "Redemption" 
  Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

Achievement in film editing

• "Argo" William Goldenberg
• "Life of Pi" Tim Squyres
• "Lincoln" Michael Kahn
• "Silver Linings Playbook" Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
• "Zero Dark Thirty" Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Best foreign language film of the year

• "Amour" Austria
• "Kon-Tiki" Norway
• "No" Chile
• "A Royal Affair" Denmark
• "War Witch" Canada

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

• "Hitchcock"Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
  Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
• "Les Misérables" Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

• "Anna Karenina" Dario Marianelli
• "Argo" Alexandre Desplat
• "Life of Pi" Mychael Danna
• "Lincoln" John Williams
• "Skyfall" Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

• "Before My Time" from "Chasing Ice"
  Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
• "Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from "Ted"
  Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
• "Pi's Lullaby" from "Life of Pi"
  Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
• "Skyfall" from "Skyfall"
  Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
• "Suddenly" from "Les Misérables"
  Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Best motion picture of the year

• "Amour" Nominees to be determined
• "Argo" Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
• "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
• "Django Unchained" Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
• "Les Misérables" Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
• "Life of Pi" Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
• "Lincoln" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
• "Silver Linings Playbook" Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
• "Zero Dark Thirty" Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers

Achievement in production design

• "Anna Karenina"
  Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
  Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
• "Les Misérables" 
  Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
• "Life of Pi" 
  Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
• "Lincoln" 
  Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson 

Best animated short film

• "Adam and Dog" Minkyu Lee
• "Fresh Guacamole" PES
• "Head over Heels" Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
• "Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"" David Silverman
• "Paperman" John Kahrs

Best live action short film

• "Asad" Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
• "Buzkashi Boys" Sam French and Ariel Nasr
• "Curfew" Shawn Christensen
• "Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)" Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
• "Henry" Yan England

Achievement in sound editing

• "Argo" Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
• "Django Unchained" Wylie Stateman
• "Life of Pi" Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
• "Skyfall" Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
• "Zero Dark Thirty" Paul N.J. Ottosson

Achievement in sound mixing

• "Argo"
  John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
• "Les Misérables" 
  Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
• "Life of Pi"
  Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
• "Lincoln" 
  Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
• "Skyfall" Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Achievement in visual effects

• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" 
  Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
• "Life of Pi" Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
• "Marvel's The Avengers" 
  Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
• "Prometheus" Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
• "Snow White and the Huntsman"
  Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

Adapted screenplay

• "Argo" Screenplay by Chris Terrio
• "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
• "Life of Pi" Screenplay by David Magee
• "Lincoln" Screenplay by Tony Kushner
• "Silver Linings Playbook" Screenplay by David O. Russell

Original screenplay

• "Amour" Written by Michael Haneke
• "Django Unchained" Written by Quentin Tarantino
• "Flight" Written by John Gatins
• "Moonrise Kingdom" Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
• "Zero Dark Thirty" Written by Mark Boal

Real Steel Review.

When you think about a movie based on robots boxing, the first thing that comes to your mind is probably a really cheesy movie about the game "Rock'Em Sock'Em Robots", I am here to say that would be wrong. Yes you can see a few look-a-likes of that game as you watch the fights during the movies, but that isn't the base of this movie. The true base of this movie is a story of a guy named Charlie Kenton (Played by Hugh Jackman), who is a retired fighter and now trains robots in the same sport he used to fight in, BOXING!

I had no doubt that Hugh Jackman (X-Men Movies), was going to be great in a new action movie since I have seen every X-Men movie staring him as Wolverine. I was wondering about the other side of the movie which was the heart filled story about family and being an champion outside the ring. I think his non fighting scenes were first-class. Jackman worked great with Dakota Goyo (Thor), who played his 11 year old son Max Kenton and did an awesome job. Now there is more to the story behind this father and son but I do not want to spoil the movie, trust me when I say it is a story to remember. Along side Charlie and Max was Bailey Tallet the owner of "Tallet Boxing Gym" as well as Charlie's long time friend, Bailey was played by Evangeline Lilly (Lost, The Hurt Locker) who was outstanding. The rest of the cast did an high-quality job, as well as the robots.

Now I have always been a fan of movies done by director/producer Shawn Levy, which include both Night At The Museum movies and both Cheaper By The Dozen movies. That's only some of the movies he has done, also along side Shawn Levy was the screenwriter John Gatins (Dreamer, Coach Carter), both and their teams did brilliant work with this movie.

I leave you with this,
Real Steel is the greatest action packed, uplifting, heart filled, robotic meets human movie of our time.

The T-Rex Theater is AMAZING!!! With the 60 foot curved screen and 124 speakers which is part of 7.1 Digital Surround Sound, there are 401 extra wide luxury seats with memory-foam headrests making a movie theater trip you will never forget! T-Rex stands for “Theatre Real Extreme”