The Hannah Movie Awards: March 2011

For the past couple years, I've been trying to keep a consistent record and write mini reviews for all the new movies I see. I thought I would have some fun with that and at the end of every month, do a little awards post. But as far as deciding how these awards are given out, they have to be referencing things I said in my reviews.

That's a really awkward way of saying it, because it's 2:17 in the morning and I really should be sleeping, but for example, if I mentioned that a movie was "fun" in 3 different movie reviews from March, those three movies are all nominated for the "Most Fun" category. This means I will have slightly different categories each month. Then I'll make an actual decision on which was the most fun out of those 3. Any category with only one nominee gets no award handed out, because that is no fun.

This is probably going to be more for my entertainment than anyone else's. But if nothing else, maybe I can use it to recommend some movies to people. So let's see what oh so prestigious Hannah Awards we can hand out.

I saw 24 movies this month, but I know a few of them didn't get nominated for anything because there was just nothing redeeming in them.

Best Acting

(This is best acting throughout the cast - best actors and actresses have their own categories)

- Quills

- Talk Radio

- Interiors

Those are some pretty interesting ensemble casts. But looking back on them, the one that stands out the most to me as far as acting was Talk Radio. Eric Bogosian was really really good, and he had a really good supporting cast.

Best Actor

- Geoffrey Rush (Quills)

- Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver)

- David Tennant (Hamlet)

- Walter Matthau (I'm Not Rappaport)

- Shawn Hatosy (Borstal Boy)

- Robert Downey Jr (Chaplin)

- Paul Newman (Cool Hand Luke)

Holy cow. That's a pretty long list. There are some classic performances in here, as well as some that were just plain fun, and one that was the only high point of a not-very-good movie. This is really tough for me, actually. I really want to give it to Tennant, just because I loved his Hamlet, but I'm pretty sure I would have to denounce my claim of liking movies if I didn't go with De Niro on this one. Not that he doesn't deserve it.

Best Characters

- Talk Radio

- Single White Female

- The Grapes of Wrath

Like there's any contest here. The Grapes of Wrath takes it. It even being in the same category as Single White Female is amusing to me.

Most Enjoyed Watching

- Taxi Driver

- Wayne's World

With just two nominees, it becomes a lot like a FlickChart battle. Wayne's World was funnier (good for it, being a comedy and all), which you'd think might mean more enjoyable, but it had a lot of "eh" moments. Taxi Driver was far more consistent. So it gets the award.

Most Fascinating

- Quills

- Catfish

I've been having problems lately with watching movies all in one sitting on my own. I get antsy, get up and get a snack, check my Facebook, and come back. But I didn't do that once while watching Catfish. It totally gets this one.

Most Fun

- As It Is In Heaven

- The Witches of Eastwick

That's a silly one. I described As It Is In Heaven as "fun" when "pleasant" would have been far more accurate. Witches of Eastwick is so much more fun. Even when it goes crazy at the end.

Favorite Scene

- The Grapes of Wrath: Ma wants to share their food with the starving children

- Chaplin: Opening, where Chaplin removes his makeup

- The Meaning of Life: The "marching up and down the square" sketch

Wow, those are three pretty different scenes. Heh. Since these awards are doled out solely by me and I'm allowed to use my biased personal preferences, I am going to go ahead and give it to Chaplin. It drew me into the movie instantly as a scene and just... struck me. Most likely because I'm involved in performing arts stuff. But it was such an oddly gripping scene for just being a quiet opening to music.

This concludes the Hannah Awards for March 2011.

Some weird awards that had a single nominee: Most Entertainingly Terrible (Hamlet 2), Best Line (Cool Hand Luke - and it wasn't "failure to communicate," it was "I can eat fifty eggs") and Most Surprising (Wayne's World). Who knows? Maybe some of these will show up in the future.