Misery/The Mist Double Feature Review

While watching my movie collection in alphabetical order, I got to a point where I had two movies based on Stephen King novels, two of which I have not read.  First up was Misery, followed by The Mist.

Misery was released in 1990 and is considered by many to be a classic.  Misery is about an author, Paul Sheldon, played by James Caan, who goes to Colorado to write his novels.  While leaving Colorado after finishing one of his novels a snow storm hits and he slides off the side of the road where he becomes trapped in his car.   "Lucky for him", Annie Wilkes, played fantastically by Kathy Bates, was following him and helped him from his car.  Unfortunately Paul is injured in the accident and Annie helps take care of him since the storm has blocked the road and disabled phone lines, or at least thats what Annie tells him.  See Annie is Paul's biggest fan and idolizes everything he has written and knows really random facts about his life.  Overtime Paul starts to realize that Annie has a few screws loose and thats when things get crazy intense.  Kathy Bates plays the role of Annie perfectly, you can really tell she is a nutcase.  It's almost like she isn't even acting, like she is just playing herself.  It is very easy to see why she went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress.  You also have to give James Caan some credit, he seemed to take some real abuse in this movie, both physically and psychologically.  Misery is a great movie and will have you sitting on the edge of your seat rooting for Paul to get out of Annie's crazy grasp.

The Mist was released in 2007, and I would say it's extremely underrated.  The Mist takes place in a small Northeast town that experiences a violent storm that knocks out most the power in town.  This forces David Drayton, played by Thomas Jane, to go to the store to pick up some necessities to make it through until their house is repaired.  David takes his small son with him, leaving his wife at the house. While David is at the store, a thick mist rolls in, making it impossible to see outside the store.  Some people start to get scared in the store, but the real panic sets in when someone runs into the store screaming that there is something in the mist that is snatching people up.  No one really knows what is in the mist, they just know it can't be good.  David and a small group of people finally get to see what's in the mist when Norm, a bag-boy, decides to go into the mist and unplug the generator vent so the store can get some electricity.  When the side door opens, Norm is grabbed by a giant tentacle that actually has these pinchers that rip the flesh off is skin.  David and the small group are able to fight off the tentacles, but can not save Norm.  From that point on David gets a small group of followers that have to deal with other small groups within the store that have varying thoughts and beliefs on what is actually in the mist.  The biggest thing that stays with you after seeing The Mist is easily the ending.  I'm not going to give anything away but it is pretty intense and can easily make some people hate the movie and others love it.  I sit on the "love it" side of the fence.  I really enjoyed The Mist, way more than I thought I would when I bought it.  I don't even know why I bought it actually because I never really heard much about The Mist when it was in theaters, but I am really glad I picked it up.  Also I would like to point out that both times I have watched The Mist I have watched the black-and-white version of the film.  That was director Frank Darabont's intended way to see the film.  I can see how the movie could be less received in color due to possible issues with special effects plus I think the black-and-white aspect makes it more intense.

Movies based on Stephen King novels can be hit or miss.  For every The Shining and The Shawshank Redemption, you have a Thinner and The Secret Window.  But I must say that Misery and The Mist are extremely solid movies and should not be missed, especially if you like intense thrillers

Instant Thoughts on the 2013 Oscars

This year I will be blogging during the 2013 Oscars, giving my thoughts as the awards are given out.

I hope you all enjoyed reading my thoughts.  Thanks for your time!

Looks like I got 14 of the 21 awards I picked correct.  Not too bad if I do say so myself.  How did you all do?

Best Picture: Argo. Surprise, surprise.  Way to go Ben!  It was a tough year to pick Best Picture but Argo was well deserving, I really enjoyed it.

I like how Michelle Obama casually leaves a conversation to introduce the nominees for Best Picture.  Didn't look planned at all.

I was starting to worry that Jack Nicholson still had his sunglasses on.

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln.  Daniel Day-Lewis is probably this generations greatest actors.  Everything he does is absolutely amazing!  And of course his speech is great, best speech of the night so far.

Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook.  I absolutely loved Jennifer in this movie.  She stole every scene she was in.  I liked how you could tell in her speech she was completely blown away by winning.  Congrats Jennifer!

Why do they keep showing all the clips from Amour that were the most shocking and surprising?

Why isn't Jean Dujardin in more movies?

Best Director: Ang Lee - Life of Pi.  Upset of the night so far in my opinion.  I thought this would go to Spielberg hands down.  Ben Affleck probably should have been nominated but I'm glad to see it go to Ang Lee.

Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained.  Quentin is seemed pretty tame, I'm a little disappointed.  I was hoping he would do something crazy like usual.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio - Argo.  Solid acceptance speech.

Best Original Song: Adele - Skyfall.  Is anyone really surprised with this one?  No matter the award if you are nominated against Adele be prepared to lose.

Why didn't they let the other songs be performed life?  Academy don't play favorites please.  Oh wait there's Norah Jones!

Best Original Score: Mychael Danna - Life of Pi.  Great score for a great film.  I look forward to buying Life of Pi on Blu-ray.

Not a Barbara fan at all.

Best Production Design: Lincoln.  Great movie.  Even though you knew the outcome of the vote you were on pins and needles wondering if the bill would pass.

Why is Kristen Stewart presenting an award?

This is a really tough year to pick the Best Picture winner.  All the films nominated are truly amazing.

Is there anything better than hearing Adele sing?

Best Film Editing: Argo.  Finally Argo won an award.

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway.  Surprise surprise on that one.  I really do love Anne Hathaway, I can't wait to see what she is in next.

Best Sound Editing:  Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall.  I bet this whole tie thing really screws over some Oscar pools going on.

Wait a tie?!?!?!  Is that allowed to happen?  Maybe they allow write in votes and Ben will win Best Director.

Best Sound Mixing: Les Miserables.  This was a good sounding film, minus Russell Crowe.

Oh look they do present awards at this show.

I do enjoy seeing the Les Miserables cast getting back together, until they brought out Russell Crowe and Sasha Baron Cohen.

Did Chicago really deserve to win Best Picture? I should probably see it at some point.  I have no real desire to ever see Dreamgirls.

Best Foreign Language Film: Amour.  I saw this movie today and I really enjoyed it.  I was the youngest person there by probably 20 years.  Amour was really touching, but made me not want to get old.

Best Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man.  I really want to see this documentary.  I've read some great things about it.

Have they ever switched hosts midway through the show?  I'm starting to hope they do tonight.

I was wondering when Gigli was going to be brought up.

Best Documentary Short Subject: Inocente.  I really need to start seeing these short films.

Best Live Action Short Film: Curfew.  Yup don't know anything about this film and why do they get boxed seats?

I really need to see more Bond films.  That song made me really want to see Goldfinger.  I am pretty disappointed all the Bond actors didn't make an appearance.

Time for the Bond Tribute, I'm looking forward to this one.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Les Miserables.  I was impressed with how much I actually enjoyed Les Miserables.  Usually not a big fan of musicals but this was well done and emotional.

Best Costume Design: Anna Karenina.  This movie is on my "to rent" list but mainly just because Keira Knightley is in it.

I enjoy the "time to shut up" music, but do you really have to silence the mic?!?!?!

Best Visual Effects: Life of Pi.  Looks like Life of Pi will be winning a lot of the technical awards tonight.  You got to give them credit for what they did with the animals in this movie.  It was pretty much impossible to tell when the tiger was real or cgi.

Best Cinematography: Life of Pi.  Loved this film.  I really need to go back and reread the book.

Best Animated Film: Brave.  BOOOOOOO.  I actually haven't seen any of the films in this category, but I would have liked to see Wreck-It Ralph win.  I've heard Brave is not up to the Pixar standards.  And why was the guy that won yelling?

Best Animated Short Film: Paperman.  I've heard some good things about this short.  I should try and find it online somewhere.

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz.  I really enjoyed Christoph's performance in Django Unchained, but I do feel like Leo should have been nominated as well.  And what's the deal with Jack Nicholson wearing sunglasses indoors? And is Quentin Tarantino ever sober?

Opening Number:  I enjoyed the opening number by Seth MacFarlane.  I really liked his first joke making fun of Tommy Lee Jones for his straight face during the entire Golden Globe Award show.  Not really sure how I feel about the whole William Shatner bit, I'm kind of ready for him to go away.  I did enjoy geting to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt get on stage to do a little singing and dancing.  Is there anything Channing Tatum can't do?  The "I Saw Your Boobs" song was pretty funny.

Predictions for the 2013 Oscars

Here are my predictions for 2013 Oscars that take place tonight:

Best Picture: Argo
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Anne Hathaway
Best Animated Picture: Wreck-It Ralph
Best Director: Steven Spielberg
Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio - Argo
Original Screenplay: Mark Boal - Zero Dark Thirty
Best Foreign Language Film: Amour
Production Design: Life of Pi
Achievement in Cinematography: Lincoln
Achievement in Costume Design: Les Miserables
Best Documentary Feature: Searching for Sugar Man
Achievement in Film Editing: Argo
Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: Les Miserables
Best Original Score: Mychael Danna - Life of Pi
Best Original Song: Adele - Skyfall
Achievement in Sound Editing: Life of Pi
Achievement in Sound Mixing: Les Miserables
Achievement in Visual Effects: Life of Pi

I'm skipping these categories because I know nothing about the nominees:

Best Animated Short Film
Best Live Action Short Film
Best Documentary Short Subject