Carole Knits

october zinnia
october zinnia
martinis with a view
martinis with a view
gettysburg fence for
gettysburg fence for
germinate shawl on rocks
germinate shawl on rocks
field of flags 2
field of flags 2
color affection with edge
color affection with edge
cedar leaf shawlette 2
cedar leaf shawlette 2
3_27_2014
3_27_2014
3_18_13
3_18_13
2_24_2014
2_24_2014
1_11_13
1_11_13

The Oscars Are Coming!

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You know what’s a great distraction from the stuff of every day life? Movies. Oh boy do I love the movies! Yesterday the nominees for the 92nd Oscars were announced and I watched it live with pencil and paper in hand, ready to update the list of movies I need to see.

Now. I’ve been doing this whole see-all-the-best-picture-nominees for many many years and I already had a pretty exhaustive list of potential nominees (courtesy of Kym this year since my head wasn’t in the game last month) but it’s so exciting to create the actual list of nominated films. It’s also exciting to know that I’ve already seen several and I’ve got a plan of attack for seeing (most) of the rest.

Of the Best Picture nominated movies I have seen four total: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, A Marriage Story, Little Women, and 1917. I have also seen Bombshell, which was not nominated in the Best Picture category but Charlize Theron was nominated in the Best Actress Category, Margot Robbie was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress Category and the movie also received a nomination for Makeup and Hairstyling. The Best Picture nominated movies also received nominations in other categories. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was nominated in ten categories total, A Marriage Story received six nominations, Little Women had a total of six nominations and 1917 came in with ten nominations.

It should be easy enough to see the other Best Picture nominees except for one. The Irishman is on Netflix, JoJo Rabbit, Joker and Parasite are already (or will be) on Amazon before the Oscar show. Ford v. Ferrari will be trickier. It’s currently in the theater but it’s not playing near me. And by near me I mean somewhere less than 45 minutes away and other than Boston because parking. Sometimes when a movie is nominated for Best Picture the release becomes wider and I’m hoping that will be the case with this movie. (Cross your fingers for me please.) I’d also like to see some of the other movies that have been nominated for various categories and are available for watching at home like Harriet, The Two Popes, Judy, The Lighthouse, and Pain and Glory. I’m hoping to see A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood but, like Ford v. Ferrari it’s not playing near me so we shall see on that one.

I don’t have any predictions yet since I haven’t seen all of the movies but I will say that I have enjoyed the 4 that I have seen and think they are all worthy of being in this group. We just saw 1917 on Sunday and wooo boy is it intense! Little Women is charming and although I’ve heard some people don’t like what they did with the timeline I have to say that for me it kept it fresh and I enjoyed it immensely. A Marriage Story is an utterly realistic portrayal of the disintegration of a relationship. Finally, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is fascinating and an incredible blend of fantasy and history.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this years race to the Oscars!

Oscar Recap 2019

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How ’bout that Oscar show?! I have some random thoughts I’d love to share with you . . .

  • I did not miss having a host . . . much. I’m always going to miss Billy Crystal as host so without him I’m actually okay with no one.
  • Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper were fabulous. I loved that they walked up to the stage from their seats and the chemistry between them is smokin.
  • Spike Lee . . . it’s about time he won, that’s awesome. His temper tantrum, though? Understandable but maybe not so cool.
  • Olivia Colman was clearly not expecting to win and that made her speech so utterly genuine and bumbling and wonderful.
  • Melissa McCarthy and Brian Tyree Henry in those elaborate gowns complete with stuffed bunnies was hilarious.
  • There was diversity and that was great. More women, more POC, but clearly there’s still a long way to go. I loved Green Book and it’s great that it won but really, it’s another movie about a white person helping a black person and then they all live happily ever after. Truthfully, I’d have much rather seen BlackKlansman or Black Panther or even Roma (which I thought was dullsville but I recognize is A Film) have won the big award of the evening.
  • Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are just awesome. Perhaps the 3 of them could host next year.
  • And, finally, one of my favorite lines of the entire evening: A period should end a sentence, not a girl’s education. Preach, Melissa Berton.

Here’s the food we served:

You get extra credit if you can figure out how we came up with our menu.

And that’s a wrap on the Oscars of 2019.

Three On Thursday

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The week after Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I love hanging out at home, I love having no lists of things I have to cook or bake or wrap, I love that Dale is off but that he spends some time pursuing his own hobbies so that I get plenty of alone time, and I love that we often make time for the movies.

Guess how many we saw last week? I’ll give you a hint. Today is Thursday . . .

Yep! We saw three! And I swear I didn’t do that on purpose but I’m awfully glad it worked out that way so that I can blog about them today.

  1. BlacKklansman We really enjoyed this one. It’s provocative and timely despite the fact that it’s based on events that took place in the 1970s. The ending is particularly moving and, while there is a layer of satire to the whole thing it’s ultimately a frightening commentary on racism in America.
  2. Mary Poppins Returns This one is utterly delightful and not to be missed. I smiled through the entire movie, I think. I was a bit skeptical, being a hardcore fan of Julie Andrews, but I found this to be charming and fresh with a few well placed nods to the original movie. In other words, it’s practically perfect in every way.
  3. Bohemian Rhapsody This film, as you may suspect, follows the life of Freddie Mercury and the band Queen. The reviews are mixed but I thought it was great. Dale especially loved it, in particular because of his work with a band for over 45 years now. Rami Malek’s performance is at the heart of this one and his delivery of Freddie Mercury’s talent, loneliness and recklessness are on point.

We’ve got more we’re planning to see soon: Vice, The Favourite, Roma and more but we’re off to a good start on our Oscar quest, particularly since we’ve already seen A Star is Born and that seems to be favored in nearly every category.

If you wrote a post for today please include your link below!


Three On Thursday, But Not Really

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We interrupt our regularly scheduled Three On Thursday to share this post on a very timely subject . . .

You know what’s coming up this Sunday, right? It’s THE OSCARS! Yes! All the months of movie going and popcorn eating and list keeping are finally coming to a conclusion with this glorious day that’s all about the movies. Well, and the fashion. But mostly the movies and I love me the movies.

I have seen all of the best picture nominated films as well as The Big Sick, I, Tonya, and Mudbound and I plan to see The Florida Project by Sunday. I have seen all but one of the best actor nominated performances and two out of five of the best supporting actor performances. I have seen all of the best nominated actress and supporting actress performances. And that’s a lot of movie watching!

Here’s my ranking of the Best Picture Nominated Films, from most to least favorite.

  1. The Shape of Water
  2. Darkest Hour
  3. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, MO
  4. The Post
  5. Lady Bird
  6. Call Me By Your Name
  7. Get Out
  8. Phantom Thread
  9. Dunkirk

The prediction of a Best Picture win is rough this year. Some critics are predicting a win for the outlier Get Out but most come down to choosing either The Shape of Water or Three Billboards. I’m going to hope for The Shape of Water to win but I won’t be surprised if it’s Three Billboards instead.

I didn’t see all of the Best Actor performances but even without seeing them all I can’t imagine anyone could have done a better job than Gary Oldman did with Winston Churchill in The Darkest Hour. I often think it’s more difficult to recreate a well known personality than it is to create a character from scratch (think Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles and Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash) and Oldman portrayed Churchill beautifully. Timothee Chalamet is very good in Call Me By Your Name and Daniel Kaluuya is terrific in Get Out. Daniel Day-Lewis is okay in Phantom Thread but it’s not like his performance as Lincoln and so I come back to Oldman every time.

I’m torn between Richard Jenkins from The Shape of Water and Woody Harrelson from Three Billboards for the performance I think is most deserving of the Best Supporting Actor award. They both gave great performances of very unique characters. Woody Harrelson’s voice overs are wonderful and heart breaking and Richard Jenkins’ misunderstood, bumbling artist who rises to the role of hero is fabulous.

All of the Best Actress nominees are excellent. My wish is for Sally Hawkins (Shape of Water) to win because, really, she gave an amazing performance without speaking but I have a feeling Frances McDormand will be taking home the statue on Sunday night. She is wonderful as the angry, vengeful and resourceful mother in Three Billboards. Meryl Streep is epic in The Post but I can’t say that the role felt like a stretch for her. Margot Robbie is crass and funny in I, Tonya and Saoirse Ronan is truly believable as a teenager with angst in Lady Bird and, even though Sally Hawkins is my favorite, my money is on McDormand.

My pick for Best Supporting Actress is a tough one because I think Allison Janney in I, Tonya and Laurie Metcalf in Lady Bird are both fabulous as misunderstood mothers who have difficult relationships with their daughters. My personal choice is Laurie Metcalf because I think her character’s heart is in the right place, at least, but I think Janney has a lock on this win. Octavia Spencer is a great sidekick to Sally Hawkins in The Shape of Water but it was like watching her in The Help all over again. Lesley Manville is creepy and weird in Phantom Thread but that whole movie is creepy and weird and Mary J. Blige in Mudbound didn’t do much for me – that whole movie didn’t really do much for me, in fact.

And there you have it – my summation of the major categories for The Oscars. Now that the movie watching is out of the way it’s time to start planning the party!

If you wrote a post for Three on Thursday please include your link below. And forgive me for going off course this week!


Movie Season Is Here!

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Sundays around here are generally for football. But. The Pats had a bye week and that left us with a free Sunday. In November. You know what that means?

Movie time.

Yes, my friends, movie season is here. The time to go the theater and see the movies that are likely to be nominated for an award. Kym sent me this list and I think it’s a good place to start. And that’s why, yesterday, Dale and I went to see The Girl on the Train.

It was good. Not great. But good. And here’s the thing (you know what I’m going to say, right?) The book was better. Way better. And Dale, who hadn’t read the book, was a little bit lost during some parts. It all came together during the last 3rd of the movie but it was a little messy getting to that point. Emily Blunt, though, was fantastic, and totally deserves an Oscar nomination.

martini-at-waxys

After the movie we headed to a new-ish restaurant and had a drink (or two) and discussed the movie. It’s one of my favorite parts about going to the movies with Dale – that after part where we talk about what we watched and what we thought and what else we want to go see.

Movie season. It’s one of the things that helps me embrace shorter days and colder nights.

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