This is late in coming from me. The movie’s been out for a couple of weeks now, so I’m a slacker. Forgive me.

“Date Night” is a movie about a self proclaimed boring couple, the Fosters, from New Jersey who decide to go out for a special dinner in order to hopefully get out of the rut that most married couple with kids inevitably fall into. It stars Tina Fey and Steve Carell, so you know it’s supposed to be funny. It has to be funny. These people’s careers depend on it. Mark Wahlberg also stars in it. He has about 5 or 6 scenes in it, and no word of a lie, he does not wear a shirt in any of them. Not at all. Thank you Shawn Levy (Director of the movie).

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Silvester Stallone. Mickey Rourke. Dolph Lundgren. Bruce Willis. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Steve Austen.

What do all these guys have in common? If your answer is most of them are action hero actors whose heydays range from the late 70s to the early 90s, you’re right. If your answer is also they are all in an upcoming movie together, you’d also be right.

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“Kick-Ass” did just that.

This isn’t your typical superhero movie. There are no super heroes in it. There is an 11 year old girl who has a potty mouth that rivals mine, a penchant for violence and a kill count that would put both Legolas and Gimly to shame. That’s right, I made a Lord of the Rings reference. They kept track of their kills during battle, in case you didn’t get it. Jeez.

This is the story of an average Joe teenage boy Dave (Aaron Johnson) who decides it’s wrong to just sit by and watch the every day injustices of the world. He orders himself a green scuba suit and takes to the streets. He’s not exactly the best fighter or the strongest, but hey, the boy has heart.

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My buddy Dave sent me this link on Facebook:   http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/03/18/all-warner-bros-tentpole-movies-will-be-released-in-3d/

Or, as it should have been named, Alice In Underland. But that’s just my opinion.

I know that there has been some debate about whether or not it was a good idea for “them” to make this movie as a sequel that takes place years later, as opposed to sticking with the original story. Let me ask you this. What happens in the original version of the story? If you know the answer, then why the hell would you want to see it again? I think it was more interesting to add more characters and a less predictable ending than telling the same story for the 300th time.

I won’t bother with a synopsis. If you don’t know what happened in the original, then you are a movie/literary noob. So what the hell are you reading my blog for? Stop reading this immediately and start your film education. All you need is a video store rental card and a couple of hours a day. After a couple of years, you too could be a movie snob, looking down on those who think it’s a good idea to go see the same movie 4 times in theaters instead of diversifying and watching something that makes you have to use your brain. Ok, I’m done. Moving on…..

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Take Martin Scorsese, add Leonardo DiCaprio, sprinkle in some psychological thriller and a little Gothic horror and you have Shutter Island. A strange journey into the mind of a man in pursuit of the truth, this movie keeps you guessing until the end. Maybe even after the movie has rolled credits.

I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll summarize the movie very briefly.

The movie is set in 1954. Teddy Daniels (Leo) is a U.S Marshal and WWII veteran. He and his new partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) get assigned to investigate the disappearance of a mental patient from a hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island.  Once there, Teddy discovers that there may be a conspiracy involving the people who run the institution and how they treat the patients there.

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I went to see “Precious” on Valentines day.

Wow.

This is one of the saddest stories I’ve ever heard or seen. What I took from it was: If you’re feeling sorry for yourself, for whatever reason, you should watch this movie. If by the end you don’t feel better about your own life, you are a horrible, useless person. It was really good, but in a bad way. It was interesting, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. But it made me so sad.

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In the spirit of the award season, I was thinking about what my favorite movies were in 2009. Some of them have won Globes and are nominated for Oscars. Who would get my Sly award? Let’s see….

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I’m playing catchup with the Oscar nominated movies.

I like to see the best picture nominees before the broadcast, as well as the ones nominated for the best acting categories. I hadn’t seen “Crazy Heart” yet, and since it was nominated for best actor (Jeff Bridges) and supporting actress (Maggie Gyllenhaal), I thought I should check it out.

“Crazy Heart” reminded me a lot of “The Wrestler”. It’s about an older man, past his prime, trying to make a living off of what he used to be famous for. He’s struggling with addiction, is estranged from his kid and meets a younger woman who gives him a taste of life again.

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The Oscar nominations are out today. You can see all the nominations here: http://oscar.go.com/nominations/nominees

My Bestie Janice and I have a yearly tradition. We watch the Academy Awards show together, and this year will make it our 4th year doing this together. Neither of us are particularly thrilled about them this year. I’m especially not thrilled about the new 10 Best Picture nominees idea. It’s a response to the Dark Knight backlash from last year. How could Dark Knight not get nominated? Because it didn’t deserve to be. 5 other movies were better, and that’s how it should be. Popularity at the box office does not mean a movie should get nominated. Why isn’t “Twilight” getting an oscar nom then? I’d be willing to bet the tween girl viewership would go up if they did that.

Announcing that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were hosting together felt more like a promo for their then upcoming movie. Why not get the chicken foot demon from Paranormal Activity then? Or a 12 foot blue dude with dread locks? Now that would be an accomplishment; A live 3D CGI host.

I’ve been watching the show religiously since I was 13, when “Schindler’s List” rightfully stole the show. I’ve seen the good (The Titanic Sweep)and the bad (Shakespeare In Love? Really?) and I accept the fact that my opinion may not be the popular one, seeing how the votes seem to swing in the other’s favor sometimes.

I liked the show last year. I thought Hugh Jackman brought energy and enthusiasm, and yes, a little comedy. The hosts have generally been comics, and last year they decided to go with 2009′s sexiest man alive. I thought the past winners announcing the nominees and rewarding the newcomer to the group was also a nice touch. This year I’m interested to see if they still do that. I rather enjoyed the change, perhaps because I’m still young and appreciate a good musical number involving a hot guy in a suit.

The show’s format has pretty much been the same since I started watching it, but for the last couple of years it seems they’re trying gear it towards a younger audience. It seems they don’t just want movie nuts and film students to watch. They want the average Transformer fan to enjoy the show too. By that I mean -to me, in my opinion, they seem to want people who just go to the hottest CGI driven action film with big name actors to watch the broadcast. They also want the rest of us who watch movies for more than entertainment to still watch. That’s how “The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar” both got lumped in a Best Picture category.

I feel that a Best Picture should encompass everything that makes a movie great. It should have a great, hopefully semi-original story. Great acting, directing, visuals. It should make you feel something, and do it in such a way that you didn’t believe possible. Maybe my standards are a little high, but this is my site and I’ll express whatever unrealistic ideals I deem fit.

I thought that “Up”, “Up In The Air” and “Avatar” were good movies. Great even. But they don’t deserve to be nominated for Best Picture. “Up” is an animated movie. Not to take away from the marvel of modern animation, but I don’t think a cartoon should win a best picture award. There’s a whole award dedicated to them. It’s called the “Best Animated Feature”.

How a film (UP) can be nominated for best picture AND best animated feature is beyond me. It’s like nominating an actor for best leading and best supporting for the same role in one movie. It’s ridiculous. They needed to fill the 10th hole and couldn’t think of another good movie that came out this year? It’s been a pretty lame year movie wise, but come on. Give me a break.

Leonardo DiCaprio has never won an Oscar, which is a travesty. But a cartoon can get nominated for 2 different best picture awards, and that’s ok?

I’m not naive, and I’m not an idiot. “Up” will not win best picture. It doesn’t stand a chance. Neither does “The Blind Side” or “Inglorious Basterds”. They just don’t cut it. They’re great movies, but not good enough. Sorry, but they just aren’t. They’re hole fillers. They made the decision to go with 10 best picture nominees in a year when there weren’t 10 Oscar worthy movies that came out.