Tag: Sandra Bullock

#TheNet (1995) starring #SandraBullock: How Some Things Never Really Change in Nearly 20 Years

1995-pizza-dot-net

It’s been almost 20 years since Sandra Bullock starred in The Net (1995.) In the first 5 minutes of the movie, Sandy’s character manages to order pizza online, have a fake fireplace using her desktop, and have a weird, Siri-sounding cyber-date with someone she’s talking to in a chatroom. Now, we can still do all of those things–we order pizza from GrubHub, have a Yule log on our flatscreen TV, and sometimes awkward Skype-dates. There are a few things that have been extinct for years now though–floppy disks and dial-up connections. Oh, the floppy disks…so many floppy disks. Apparently, there are places online you can still buy them. Bullock plays Angela Bennett, a computer programmer who is sort of a hermit. But, when she goes on vacation, she meets Jack Devlin (played by Jeremy Northam in his American film debut.) Northam’s character is basically a super-sleaze set on taking her down because she go a hold of super-sensitive information. All I have to say about the Sandra Bullock/Jeremy Northam relationship is it’s basically a PSA for being careful who you talk to online. And then there’s the whole stolen identity thing. It all proves that some things never change.

 

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The #Oscars Are Tomorrow Night. Who’s Excited? I Totally Am.

The Oscars are tomorrow night. If the Independent Spirit Awards from tonight are any indication, this Oscar race is going to be one to watch. Given the fact that the competition for Supporting Actor is pretty much a given (Congratulations to Jared Leto ahead of time. He just won an Independent Spirit Award. If he doesn’t win, I’ll be really surprised.) Also, congrats to Lupita Nyong’o, unless they give Jennifer Lawrence two Oscars in a row. She’s 23. She’s got time. Cate Blanchett will probably take home the Best Actress Oscar, unless Sandra Bullock comes up from behind. But who knows? This year seems to be a little up in the air for Best Actor and Actress. If the results from the Golden Globes sway voters at all, Amy Adams and Leonardo DiCaprio could take home Oscars instead. Matthew McConaughey is pretty much battling it out with Leo. Chiwetel deserves Best Actor in my humble opinion. Frozen will win Best Original Song (duh.) And Gravity director, Alfonso Cuaron has been sweeping the awards for Director. Then again, since Steve McQueen just won for 12 Years tonight at the Independent Spirit Awards, he could win as well. Best Picture is anyone’s game, but my money is on 12 Years a Slave. But who can tell? American Hustle might be a stealthy one and take the top prize. 

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#KathyBates Makes Every Movie So Much Better

Kathy Bates & Quinton Aaron in “The Blind Side” (2009)

The other night, I was watching  The Blind Side  for the first time expecting myself to be fully engrossed in the story that helped Sandra Bullock win an Academy Award for Best Actress. While I enjoyed the movie, it wasn’t until Kathy Bates came on the screen that I had one of Oprah’s “Ah Ha” moments. To put it plainly, Kathy Bates makes every project she appears in so much better. I saw Revolutionary Road back when it had first come out in theaters, and it was the most depressing movie I had ever  seen in my life. One of the only redeeming qualities of the film (besides the fact that Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio were amazing despite the subject and tone of the project) was that it had Kathy Bates to liven it up. With Michael Shannon playing her son, the two of them brought their unique talents to the screen in amazing performances.

The thing that I love about films and TV shows is the fact that we are able to capture moments that are able to be relived at any time. Kathy Bates has had some fantastic moments captured on screen in her career, and even though she has an Oscar for Misery, I think the general public should be made more aware of her wonderful talent. Quite simply, her gusto and light she brings with every role has helped us enjoy movies like  Titanic, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Midnight in Paris. There is a reason that she won both the comedy and drama Blockbuster Entertainment Awards for Favorite Supporting Actress in the same year (1998) for The Waterboy and Primary Colors. She is fantastic at what she does as an actor, and makes no apologies for being just who she is as a person. She has always been someone I admire as an actor, and she is on my dream list of people I’d love to work with for that reason. She is a character actress. She’s a an actress. And she makes every movie she’s in 1000 times better.

Bonus: Check out her film debut as a singer in Milos Forman’s Taking Off (1971) 

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