by Christina Waters | Feb 21, 2014 | Home, Movies |
The collaborative selfie (thanks to über hunk Bradley Cooper) was a delightful moment amongst rather predictable turns on the stage.
Harrison Ford will probably not be asked back. Nor will poor Kim Novak.
Alfonso Cuaron was an elegant recipient of the Best Director award – but his outstanding film Gravity, which won seven awards, was robbed of its rightful Best Picture Oscar.
Everybody knows that. But still, it was the huge and obvious snub.
Ditto Leonardo DiCaprio‘s non-Oscar for Best Actor.
Cate Blanchett’s crass and ungraceful acceptance speech should pretty much confine her to Australia for the rest of her acting career. But it was made up for by the stirring remarks from Jared Leto who managed to be both political and sincere.
Meryl Streep proved once again that she’s not only a great screen presence, but she’s also a real player.
And why on earth so much time was spent on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” instead of a photo-montage tribute to both Shirley Temple and Philip Seymour Hoffman I’ll never know!!
Loved Ellen. The pizza. Fab.
by Christina Waters | Feb 11, 2014 | Holidays |
Valentine’s at Hallcrest Winery
Friday, February 14 through Sunday, February 16, 1 – 5pm
Celebrate Valentine’s Day at historic Hallcrest Winery with a candlelit tasting of exceptional Pinot Noirs along with cheese, homemade chocolate desserts and beautiful music.
Wine Proprietor, John Schumacher, has chosen his favorite Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noirs for you to explore, and the Hallcrest team has selected the perfect desserts to complement each of these wines.
This uniquely delicious pairing will take place in the romantic ambiance of our candlelit tasting room, accompanied by live music on Saturday by songwriter and musician Kara Hese. With its soulful and sultry style, Kara’s music is ideal for St. Valentine’s Day!
Please RSVP for parties of four or more people. It is open to all. Complementary for Hallcrest wine club members and $7 for non-members.
by Christina Waters | Feb 4, 2014 | Home |
Gravity is just a theory, one of those soundbytes physicists like to brandish in order to explain the properties of energy and matter.
It’s also the title of a web of visual sorcery woven by director Alfonso Cuarón, whose two-person space odyssey Gravity took me completely by surprise. Prepared to submit to a few hours of special effects tedium, I was instead immediately mesmerized and in the end, deeply moved. And here at last was a film in which the use of 3D photography made gorgeous sense.
Gravity is a loveletter to our sweet, flawed, blue planet, an allegory told—as perhaps it only can be—from a long way away. As two astronauts spin helplessly in a spacewalk gone wrong, the smooth majesty of earth’s oceans, land masses and great graceful clouds orbits slowly in the background. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree of Life; Children of Men) uses his lens as a portal for spiritual meditation on the entire idea of being lost, far from home, terrified yet determined to make it back.
A radiant, resourceful and believable Sandra Bullock is medical engineer (more…)
by Christina Waters | Feb 1, 2014 | Home |
Having finished my popcorn, I had no more excuse for staying in my seat. So I walked out after about 50 minutes of this exercise in conceptual vacuity. “Unwatchable” comes to mind as I ponder what aberration of judgment caused the Motion Picture Academy to nominate Nebraska for: Best Cinematography (visual tedium in black and white); Best Picture (they obviously needed one more title to round out the required ten nominees); Best Actor, Bruce Dern (for once, too smart for the part); Best Supporting Actress, June Squibb (reminiscent of those elder alarm commercials, i.e. “I’ve fallen down and I can’t get up); Best Directing, Alexander Payne (clearly a political payoff).
What were they thinking?
Bruce Dern is the centerpiece of this fuzzy road saga, playing an aging blue collar alkie headed to Nebraska to collect a sweepstakes prize. The acting is wretched, littered with cardboard comments and responses which are worsened by the lack of a believable script. Yes perhaps there are lots of losers in the vast stretches of American high plains country. But watching the squirm-making (more…)
