Dear Molly

Dear Kate,

I must admit, this phenomenon perplexed me as well. I went to see District 9 with a friend of mine and he and I came away with two different opinions of it. I thought it was decent, but would have been a lot better had the director, Neil Blomkamp, had stuck to the documentary format, instead of switching to the traditional action/sci-fi format. My friend, however, walked out of the theater excitedly mimicking the explosions. Now don't get me wrong, I love sci-fi and explosions as much as the next dork, but explosions do not for an Oscar nomination make.
If Blomkamp had stuck to the documentary style, I think I would have been much more gung-ho about seeing it on the Oscars list. He would have succeeded in creating a sci-fi social comentary, not that these are at all rare (see PK Dick), but he would have done so using, in my opinion, a visionary format, that I have not yet seen. Instead the resulting product seems to be something that started out as a movie to inspire thought, but ended up just another crowd pleaser.
Over all, I was quite displeased with the Oscar nominations. Avatar did not belong anywhere near the best picture catagory- I'll grant you special effects, but the story was crap. I'm not surprised in the least that UP won for best animation (although my preference was the Fantastic Mr. Fox), original score, however, is another story. I really think that ought to have gone to Sherlock Holmes. I'm thrilled for the Hurt Locker, its just a shame not many people knew what that one was. Best Actress: while this should have gone to Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock is a terribly underated actress, which is partly her fault for doing movies like Premonition and the Proposal. Plus, the woman's a god-damned lady. Look at the way she carries herself. I'm not surprised she was raised in the South (thats South, not south. There's a fine line between the two, and that line makes all the difference.)
Now, let's talk about something much more important: the fashion. Again, I wasn't terribly impressed. There were a few people who knew what they were doing, but the overall impression was that the 82nd Academy Awards were a casual affari. May this was due to the overabundance of youth. Miley Cyrus, Carey Mulligan, and who the hell is this guy and why do I want to punch him in the face?? The people who looked the best were, of course, the seasoned veterans. Helen Mirren, for instance, looked amaing. As did Sandra Bullock. What was up with Demi Moore, though? It looked like she got a bunch of work done to look to Penelope Cruz with out the amazing curves. And Sarah Jessica Parker was just terrifying. How about Robert Downey Jr. bright blue bowtie? Why?

I've exhausted myself,
Molly