2014 Oscar Nominations Predictions Results/Reactions

Andrew: Hello readers! So last night I was able to get my predictions for how I thought the 86th Academy Awards nominations would go in the big categories (directing, acting, screenwriting, picture) and overall I didn't fare too poorly! Overall, in the 8 categories I made predictions for, I ended up with 37 out of 44 predictions correct which comes out to about 84.1%. 

Let's see what exactly I got right and what I got wrong. 

Best Picture

My predictions: 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Gravity, The Wolf of Wall Street, Captain Phillips, Her, Dallas Buyers Club, Savings Mr. Banks

Actual nominees: 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Gravity, The Wolf of Wall Street, Captain Phillips, Her, Dallas Buyers Club, Nebraska, Philomena

Result: 7 for 9. Of the 8 predictions I made I correctly guessed 7 films. But for the third time in three years since they changed the rules for how many Best Picture nominees there can be, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences nominated 9 films, so technically I got 2 wrong.

2014 Oscar Nomination Predictions!

Andrew: Hello readers! So we're right in the middle of that time period we mentioned where Sarah's still in Connecticut and I'm down in Atlanta. But tomorrow is a big day for us movie-lovers because tomorrow morning the nominees for the 86th Annual Academy Awards will be announced!

Now, Sarah's not going to be able to partake in this exercise and I'm not going to really be able to delve into my thinking behind these, but I did want to take the time and post my predictions for who and what I think will get nominated for the big categories tomorrow morning.

Let's start with the screenplay categories and finish with the big award.

Best Original Screenplay
American Hustle (David O. Russell & Eric Singer)
Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen)
Her (Spike Jonze)
Dallas Buyers Club (Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack)
Nebraska (Bob Nelson)

Site News: We're Moving to Georgia!

Andrew: Hello dear readers! First and foremost, thank you SO MUCH for sticking with our blog these last few months as Sarah and I have been going through some craziness at our full-time jobs. We know we've been absolutely terrible at posting new content, but because of you guys we've actually had two of our most-read months ever in November and December of 2013! 

Secondly, we hate to say that we're still going to be pretty bad at posting new content for the next month because we're moving! As the title of the post might have given away, Sarah and I are moving from Connecticut to Georgia. Atlanta, to be more specific. This is a move that we've been trying to make, off and on, for the last three years. When an opportunity came up for me to return to a company I worked for previously we jumped at it.

What does this mean for Two Tickets For…? In the short term it means that Sarah and I won't be posting any new reviews or articles for the rest of January, as I'm heading down south at the end of this week and she's sticking behind to finish out her work. So we won't be able to see movies together for a little while.

In the long term this could mean we'll get back to reviewing movies like we love to do and posting new content because we both may be looking at working fewer hours at our day jobs than we have been, so we'll have the time to devote to the blog again. We'll also be moving to an area of the country that has been booming in the film and TV industry and has movie theatres all over the place, so hopefully we'll be able to catch more films than every before and maybe - hopefully - get to do more interesting pieces involving the booming film and television industry in the State of Georgia. We'll see.

But for now, please continue to stick with us. We've been seeing films when we can and we feel pretty confident that come Oscar time we'll be able to crank out the analysis and predictions we have in the past. We're also looking forward to doing our third annual live Oscar blog! Big things are happening for us here at Two Tickets For… and we'd love to continue sharing them with you. As always, thanks for reading!

Photo Courtesy: georgiamusicmag.com

Two Tickets For… Ranks… The Marvel Cinematic Universe Films (Not Called The Avengers)

Andrew: Hello readers! What did we say in our last post, eh? Definitely our busy season, but with Thor: The Dark World -  the latest entry of Phase 2 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe - hitting theatres this weekend, we wanted to take the time (even if ever so quick) to give you our obligatory personal rankings of the MCU films.

Now, for the purpose of this exercise, when we say the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" films we mean that in the way Marvel Studios does, i.e. no X-Men films, no Spider-Man films, etc. This leaves us with Phases 1 and 2 of the MCU films, and we're going to trim it down by one right off the top by taking The Avengers out of the equation. Why? Because it would be at the top of both our lists, duh. That leaves us with six films to rank, so without further ado please enjoy the very first entry of our new feature, Two Tickets For... Ranks...

Sarah: Personally I'm glad we're sticking to the Phase 1 and Phase 2 films in the MCU because I'm not a fan of the Spider-Man movies or the Fantastic Four movies, so I can guarantee you they wouldn't be on my list anyway. But like you said Andrew, here's how I personally rank the Marvel Cinematic Universe films if we're leaving The Avengers out of it, from least favorite to most favorite.

Slowing Things Down a Bit: A Two Tickets For… Update

Andrew: Hello dear readers! We know we have been VERY bad at doing the whole movie reviewing/blogging thing the last month or so, and for that we apologize. 

Since we posted our last review we actually haven't been to the theatre very much, for a number of reasons. The primary reason though, and the reason behind this particular post, is that we just haven't had the time to do so. We don't want it to sound like an excuse, either. It's just the God's honest truth.

As you may or may not know, I work for a very large sports entertainment television network, and as of late I've been particularly busy preparing for the upcoming college basketball season. Now, I've worked college basketball the last two seasons as well and still had time to do the site on a pretty regular basis, but I'm proud to say that it's not just that I don't have the time to properly review and blog, but that both Sarah and I don't quite have the same amount of time that we used to.

See, when we first moved out here to Connecticut, Sarah was hard-pressed to find a full-time job. She started off working for a local catering company on a part-time basis, which gave her a very flexible schedule and plenty of time at home so that she and I could both write emails back and forth writing our weekly previews, writing Six Packs Of… and What Two Tickets For… Would Do columns, and even the occasional review the old fashioned way.

When Sarah took a different job with a retail company, it was still on a part-time basis which gave her that flexible schedule that worked so well with mine so that we could still see movies at night and do reviews, then one of us would transcribe said review and post it. 

But in a very good occurrence of events Sarah wound up moving to a brand new store her company had opened and with it came a full-time promotion, with the slight draw-back of working later hours, which cut into our availability to see and review movies. (She'd regularly get home between 10:00pm and 10:30pm.) 

Again, this wasn't a bad thing. In fact it's a very good thing because she acquired more responsibilities at work and made new friends while making more money, too. That move - coupled with my working long hours in the summer on the NBA Draft and Little League World Series (which took me to Pennsylvania for a two-week stretch) - created a slower blogging work-flow for us. We just weren't getting the same opportunities to see films like we used to, and when we did see movies on the weekends it was when we were squeezing them into small windows of free time.

So that's the primary reason that we've been so quiet lately. It's not because we don't want to keep running this blog; because we do. We love this blog, we love the movie review blogging community, and we love talking about movies in general. So we apologize that this perfect storm of our two jobs and other social activities (such as a vacation we just came back from) have taken a short-term priority over our blogging duties.

All of that said, I'm here to say that it's still going to be slow-going for a little while longer. Sarah did just recently moved back to her original store to be the second-in-command which is even more fantastic for a number of reasons - one of which is that she will now be working more 9-to-5 shifts than she used to be, which will hopefully allow us to see more movies once again! But I'm still currently knee-deep in basketball preparations and it's going to be pretty hairy for both of us these next two months what with the start of the basketball season and with the Christmas shopping season hitting for Sarah.

Still, we're not giving up on this blog. We don't do it for money, we do it because we love talking film. I'm just here to say that while it may be sporadic, we will definitely be posting more often these next couple of months than we have been. We can't promise regular reviews or columns, but we're going to try because we'll hopefully have more time to write now. We're particularly excited for "Oscar" movies to start hitting theatres, plus we're particularly excited for Marvel's Thor: The Dark World to come out this Friday. Mayhaps we'll even write a column breaking down our favorite Marvel films in preparation for it.

So thank you, readers, for sticking with us during these slow times. We'll make it up to you if you just keep checking in with us.

P.S. Nikki, if you're reading this, eventually we'll see Captain Phillips and post a review of it. And maybe we'll even do a video review of Butter. If you're lucky. ;)

Jackman and Gyllenhaal Headline This Top-Notch, Fincher-esque Thriller: Our Review of "Prisoners" (2013)

Directed By: Denis Villeneuve 

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, Paul Dano, Melissa Leo

Rating: R for disturbing violent content including torture, and language throughout

Run Time: 2 hours, 33 minutes

Synopsis: Keller Dover (Jackman) is facing every parent's worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in. The only lead is a dilapidated RV that had earlier been parked on their street. Heading the investigation, Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) arrests its driver, Alex Jones (Dano), but a lack of evidence forces his release. As the police pursue multiple leads and pressure mounts, knowing his child's life is at stake the frantic Dover decides he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family? (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! We are BACK after a relatively long hiatus, and we’re excited about this film we’re coming back from. Real quick though we want to apologize for the length of our absence from blogging. It’s just been a really busy last couple of months and our schedules have been so mixed up that it’s been difficult to A.) see a movie together, or B.) record, transcribe and post a review if we DID see a movie. But things are starting to get back to normal and we should be coming back with regular review posts as we get closer to the end of the year. We’ll also be posting reviews we’ve had in the can during our hiatus, so be on the lookout for those.

But the other night Sarah and I were able to catch a preview screening of this weekend’s new drama, Prisoners. It is the Hollywood debut of French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, who has already made a name for himself with foreign films like his Academy Award-nominated 2010 film Incendies.

Prisoners starts Jake Gyllenhaal as a Pennsylvania police detective, Detective Loki, who picks up the case of two young girls who have been abducted on Thanksgiving Day. Hugh Jackman and Terrence Howard play Keller Dover and Franklin Birch, the fathers of the girls who are taken; Maria Bello and Viola Davis play the mothers…

Sarah: And Paul Dano plays the prime suspect – a man with a low IQ that lives with his religious aunt, played by Oscar-winner Melissa Leo. It’s a fantastic cast!

Site Update! (8/17/13)

Andrew: Hello dear readers! Our sincerest apologies for our silence on Two Tickets For... the last few weeks. This is an incredibly busy time for both Sarah and I at our day jobs, what with me away in Pennsylvania for the Little League World Series for 15 days and Sarah working overtime at Ann Taylor, then include the fact that we're not even in the same state currently and it's really tough for us to see the same movie separately and then do a review.

BUT, we do have a few reviews in the can that just need to be transcribed, and our goal is to get those posted within the next week, and when I get back to Connecticut from the LLWS both of our schedules open up a LOT, so we'll be able to get back to doing our regularly timed reviews as well as some column ideas that we've had brewing.

So please bear with us for the next couple weeks. If we're able to post new content during this busy time we'll tweet out the link and post it on our Facebook page like we normally do. Thanks for your patience, and as always, thanks for your readership!!!

Andrew's Top Five Films of 2013 (So Far)!

Andrew: Hello readers! My apologies that Sarah and I have posted our lists of our favorite movies of the year this late in the game (seeing as it's almost August), but better late than never right? Yesterday Sarah posted her list (which you can check out HERE) and as you can see, she didn't think too highly of this year's crop. I've been a little higher on most films this year so far, but you'll see that overall our lists are quite different!

Again, a reminder that there are a few criteria for our lists: the films included have to be films we’ve actually seen and reviewed, and they had to be films that were released in theatres for public consumption in the United States during the 2013 calendar year. If you don't see a movie on this list, you can check it against our Reviews page and it's possible we just didn't see it, so it didn't qualify for our list.

So without further ado here, in descending order, are my Top Five Films of 2013 (So Far)!


5.) Now You See Me

Kicking things off with a bit of a surprise, I know! But hear me out: when Sarah and I go to the movie theatre, it's to be entertained, plain and simple. Obviously most movie-goers are the same, but with us it's even more so because of this blog. We don't get paid to do this, we don't make any money off of it, we do it for fun. So when we see a film in theatres, we generally want to make sure we'll enjoy it somewhat (hence why we haven't reviewed films like Alex Cross or anything else Tyler Perry's fingerprints are on). 

But back to my point: I had a blast with Now You See Me. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery behind who The Four Horsemen were and what they're motivation was. I enjoyed pretty much the entire cast, particularly Mark Ruffalo and Jesse Eisenberg. And more than anything I liked that it was a heist movie on par with the Ocean's films, one that kept me guessing right up until the very end, and ultimately left me with a smile on my face as we left the theatre. That's really all I can ask out of a movie, and Now You See Me delivered. (This is also a bit of an indictment on the quality of the movies that came out in the first half of 2013.) (Read our review of Now You See Me HERE!)

The CK's Not-So-Secret Santa Review Swap: A Two Tickets For... Video Review of "Trainspotting" (1996)

Andrew: Hello readers! It's been a little while since Sarah and I have done a video review, and when our friend Nick at The Cinematic Katzenjammer invited us to take part in his Not-So-Secret Santa Review Swap (In July), we figured it was a perfect opportunity to make another one!

The basic idea is that we gave Nick a movie that we want someone else to review and he gave us a random one from a fellow blogger taking part in the blogathon. We can't really say which film we gave out, but be assured that it was one of our favorite films that we wanted someone else to watch and review. The film we were given was Trainspotting, Danny Boyle's 1996 film about heroin addicts in Scotland starring Ewan McGregor. So to check out our take on the film we were assigned, watch the video after the jump! (And don't hesitate to leave any comments after you do!)

Sarah's Top Five Films of the 2013 (So Far)!

Sarah: Hello readers! Here we are at the end of July and Andrew and I are just now getting around to posting our lists of the top movies of the year so far. It has been such a crazy summer so far, so our apologies for the delay. As you may know, at the end of the year we do our Top Ten lists for year, but since it is the middle of the year, I thought that we should just do our Top Five Favorite Movies of the Year (So Far).

Like every time we do this list, there are a few criteria: the films included have to be films we’ve actually seen and reviewed, and they had to be films that were released in theatres for public consumption in the United States during the 2013 calendar year. If you don't see a movie on this list, you can check it against our Reviews page and it's possible we just didn't see it, so it didn't qualify for our list.

Today we're going to be posting my Top Five, and tomorrow we'll post Andrew's (since he hasn't written it yet). Instead of listing my films 1-5, I'm going to give my five in chronological order starting at the beginning of the year.


WARM BODIES 

This was such a surprising movie! It was heartwarming, funny and a great zombie movie! I loved the premise that the zombies were turning back into humans. It was just so clever! And at the base of it all is a love story starring the much more talented Kristen Stewart look-alike, Teresa Palmer, and young Hank McCoy/Beast, Nicholas Hoult. If you haven't seen this movie yet, then you're missing out. I think that this is a great alternative for people who don't like the super scary zombie/Halloween movies. (Read our review of Warm Bodies HERE!)