oscars 2014

For the first time since we've made the Oscars a betting event, I actually won.  (the first year, my dad won, and he made the picks according to “the sound of the titles”…go figure). The difference this year is instead of choosing with my heart, I picked things that the Academy would choose.  The two categories I really went with my gut – Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay – I lost. So, there you have it.

For a recap, here you are:

The BIG SIX (a nice mix)
Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave
Best Directing: Gravity
Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o

Hard-to-find-in-theatre Awards
Best Foreign Language Film: The Great Beauty (Italy)
Best Animated Feature: Frozen 
Best Animated Short Film: Mr. Hublot
Best Live Action Short Film: Helium
Best Documentary Feature: 20 Feet from Stardom
Best Documentary Short: The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

Creative Awards
Best Original Score: Gravity
Best Original Song: Frozen (Her was robbed…)
Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave
Best Original Screenplay: Her

Technical Awards (a sweep!)
Best Film Editing: Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
Best Sound Editing: Gravity
Best Sound Mixing: Gravity
Best Visual Effects: Gravity
Best Cinematography: Gravity

Production Awards (no surprises)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Dallas Buyers Club
Best Costume Design: The Great Gatsby
Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby

The real winner though? Ellen DeGeneres.  She broke Twitter with that selfie (product placement as an art), ordered pizza (which the glitterati actually ate), and was cute-and-cuddly.  I mean, she wasn't mean like Gervais, or risky like McFarlane, or even as witty as the Fey/Poehler 1-2 knockout, but she made me laugh and made 3 hours go by at a good clip.

Plus, I made $30 and learned how to spell BennyCumby's name.

85th annual academy awards

Only 10 right this year, despite all the effort to watch as many movies as possible.  But I'm happy to have been wrong on some of these categories.
(Let me set this straight - this isn't a ballot of who I want to win; it's a ballot to win the $20 pool, so it's picks of who I think the Academy will choose.  This year, they surprised me more than once.)

- Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained?  I did not think they'd let him win two nominations in a row for playing a German dude in a Quentin Tarantino film, no matter how good he was.

- Ang Lee for Directing Life of Pi, over Spielberg?  That was amazing!  I know I've already expounded over how much I loved Life of Pi.  I thought it was pretty much impossible to adapt that book into a movie, and yet... Personally, I thought they should have really won for Best Adapted Screenplay as well.

- Original Score for Life of Pi: wow.  I totally did not expect that.  I mean, I knew Adele was going to win for Skyfall (a more appropriate Bond song could not have been asked for); but Pi's Lullaby was so poignant, it made my heart ache.  The true power of music: to translate emotion without language. I was really happy to see Mychael Danna pick up the Oscar for Original Score.

I am disappointed to see:
- Beasts of the Southern Wild get so little love.  I thought it was drop-dead fabulous.  Quvenzhané Wallis was simply outstanding, making it pretty incredible that her little shoulders carried such a load.  (Makes me wonder if she's even acting or just reacting?  then it makes me wonder if it even matters?)
- that they chose to revisit old musicals and not actually allow the five nominees for Best Song perform on the big night.
- so many safe, boring speeches (thanking your lawyer?  really?).  At least DDL had fun with his.  The silver lining really was the Jaws theme ushering people off-stage. 

...and thus brings us to the end of the 2012 award season.  I like Seth McFarlane - he was quick-witted and just the right amount of irreverent.  He's allowed to come back.

2013 oscar noms

I know, I know - the nominations were announced like days ago.  Honestly, it's been a busy week in what is, let's face it, a disappointing promotion.  Maybe more on this later.  Actually, probably not.

Anyway.

Oscars! 

For Best Picture, we did really well this year, already having watched almost two-thirds of the list:

• Amour
• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Les Misérables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Zero Dark Thirty

0d30 really just came out this weekend; Beasts I think is available on video (but where does one rent these things any more?); Silver Linings is already on its way out, so maybe that should be ingested first (though I do not believe it to be a contender); and Amour is only at the Varsity.  
 ...In in order to cover Actors/Actresses, I also have to watch The Master, Flight, The Impossible, and The Sessions.

A good crop of movies this year, must say.  Needless to say, I'll be busy for a bit.  Want to play along?  Here's a handy dandy ballot.  And check back here mid-Feb for my predictions... I know, you wait every with bated breath for them.

84th annual Oscars

Having just squeaked in the ninth film on the Best Picture list, I will say poppets, I dropped the ball.  I normally would have shared my predictions with you prior to the red carpet, but alas; Sunday snuck up on and and I just had so much to do.  I had printed out a ballot for all of us to fill in, and we even put our five bucks into the kitty.  I did not fare well, overall, only getting twelve categories right.  I did not anticipate the love-fest for Hugo in the technical department, who walked away with five statues, tying with The Artist, which I thought was a much more... creative film.  I did bat 1.000 on the Big Six, correctly predicting Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress.  I was also very happy to see that Tree of Life was shunned.

DG's Oscar Roundup

This was the weekend to catch up on all those Oscar movies I missed.  So, without further ado!


Toy Story 3
I actually watched the entire franchise in one go, since Jadek hadn't watched them yet.  The third movie is miles better, and not just in terms of the technology (which is a given) but also in terms of a maturity in thematic storytelling.  That scene with Andy and Bonnie?  I wanted to go and hug all my toys!  It was definitely a cute movie.  I am still a little flabbergasted that this got an Oscar nod and something like Never Let Me Go was passed over, but it is the highest grossing animated movie of all time, so there's that.  It was solid, but I would never have watched it were it not for the Oscars.  3.5 out 5 stars.

The Kids Are All Right
I was worried that this was one of those movie that was being given a lot of credit due to it being a "lesbian" movie.  I'm happy to type that the whole lesbian thing is just a part of the story and doesn't seem to takeover the whole movie.  In fact, this was just a really good story, full of complicated emotions, complex characters and a great script.  I'm not sure if Annette Bening really needs to be in the Best Actress category (and I certainly don't think she should be winning) as I thought her portrayal was a bit weepy.  Almost like she was trying to soften up Nic and could only do so through tears.  4 out of 5 stars.

Winter's Bone
Wow, now here is a seriously under-rated movie.  I was on-edge (where the  hell IS Jessup?) and had this knot in my stomach the entire time.  And Jennifer Lawrence!  Where did she come from?  She's like young Renee Zellweger, but not annoying and can act!  Also: John Hawkes.  I had no idea he was in this movie, and I've loved him since Deadwood.  He is his usual amazing self.  He could give Christian Bale a run for his money.  Seriously, great film: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

***

Bonus Content: Never Let Me Go
Why didn't this amazing movie get nominated for Best Picture?  It was so well done, with great acting, pacing, directing and scripting.  I blame the Oscars' inherent bias against Sci-Fi, though I would barely consider it as such.  And while Inception made it in, I think it's mostly due to its box office gross earnings.  Anyway: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

2011 oscar noms

Given the sheer amount of movies I watch, it would be remiss of me to allow the nominations for Oscar's 83rd cine-gala to go by without mention.  Sadly, I haven't watched nearly as many as I would have liked; I will take solace that the many I missed were fairly late releases.  So, without further ado, the nominations (links take you to my original review, if I've watched it)):

Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
James Franco in “127 Hours”
...3/5 isn't bad and I had planned to see the other two anyway.  Given what I know, I hope Eisenberg takes it.  His portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg was bang-on and I was able to both love and hate him, which are my exact feeling towards Zuckerberg as well.  Reality Check: Colin Firth will probably take it.  He's done an Oscar movie and I don't know what Hollywood's obsession with royalty is (perhaps overcompensating for a lack of their own?) but they love to reward movies with crowns.  Personally, I thought it was highly over-rated.

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”
... Again, 3/5.  And I've never heard of Winter's Bone (which, in and of itself, means nothing as it sounds very Oscar-ish).  Bale should have this one in the bag, though.  He was amazing in his role.

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”
...*wince*.  Okay, clearly I cannot even talk about the nominations as, by sheer elimination, I can only cast one vote.  I would like to comment on the judges deciding to not place True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld in this category, opting for supporting instead.  I call foul!  That young lady was in basically every frame of True Grit, held her own against some of the most decorated actors of our times and blew me away with her delivery.  Had she been in this category, I think she would have even beat out Ms. Portman for my vote.  Alas.

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”
...I think Steinfeld should win it.  She was awesome.  She has tough competition in Melissa Leo (who will probably end up with the statuette) and Bonham Carter.

Directing
Black Swan - Darren Aronofsky
The Fighter - David O. Russell
The King's Speech - Tom Hooper
The Social Network - David Fincher
True Grit - Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
...Yet another omission I don't understand.  I watched all these movies and liked them for the most part, but really?  No Christopher Nolan for Inception?  If nothing else, that movie would be hard to direct, with its multiple parallel storylines and time-spaces.  Personally, I'd have dropped King's Speech (which wasn't anything special for directing... I mean, it was played pretty straight).  Of what's left, I hope Black Swan wins it - it was a nice piece of directing.

Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone
...really?  Toy Story 3?  I haven't watched it, but the three-quel of a Disney flick?  Anyway... tough category.  For sheer enjoyment, I wish Inception would win, but if you don't even acknowledge the director, this really doesn't have a shot.  King's Speech, again, is an Oscar movie, but it was a snore-fest in comparison to these others.  True Grit?  Probably not, as Jeff Bridges' muttering made it hard to connect with the audience.  I am torn between Social Network and Black Swan.  Both were amazing character portrayals; both set the right tone for their respective movies and really engaged their audiences; both had tight, well-paced directing.  A coin toss for me, and I'd be happy with either.  Sadly, though, I see disappointment for both.

For a full list of nominations, go here.  I fully intend to watch in either a ballgown or my fanciest pyjamas.  I may even get cable just for the event.

not-so-golden globes

After seeing all 10 of the movies nominated for best movie (in either the comedy/musical or drama category), I made two statements:
1) the Hangover doesn't belong in such a list; and,
2) if Avatar wins, I'm never watching the Globes again.

Well, I'm never watching the Globes again.

I really did not think the Hangover deserved to beat Nine; and even if we're talking pure comedic gold, I thought It's Complicated was a much smarter film. It certainly does seem like the Globes are pandering to the masses (and the box office revenue-generators) as opposed to actual cinephiles. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing yet - I mean, I guess awards should reward the films that made the most people happy? I don't know - I'm pretty disappointed. And I 'm fairly certain that those who saw Avatar (maybe even more than once) haven't seen the other four nominations in the catageory. Ditto for Hangover. The only categories I was pretty happy with were Best Actress (comedy), Best Supporting Actress (drama) and Best Supporting Actor (drama). le sigh. I don 't even know why I watch these things. I'm never happy about them.

oscar 81 predictions

A short post with my predictions; more later!

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor" (Overture Films)
Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon" (Universal)
Sean Penn in "Milk" (Focus Features)
Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Josh Brolin in "Milk" (Focus Features)
Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder" (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt" (Miramax)
Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)
Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Angelina Jolie in "Changeling" (Universal)
Melissa Leo in "Frozen River" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Meryl Streep in "Doubt" (Miramax)
Kate Winslet in "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Amy Adams in "Doubt" (Miramax)
Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (The Weinstein Company)
Viola Davis in "Doubt" (Miramax)
Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

Achievement in directing
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" David Fincher
"Frost/Nixon" (Universal) Ron Howard
"Milk" (Focus Features) Gus Van Sant
"The Reader" (The Weinstein Company) Stephen Daldry
"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Danny Boyle

Best motion picture of the year
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
"Frost/Nixon" (Universal)
"Milk" (Focus Features)
"The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)
"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

cinephile?

The Golden Globe nominations were announced today. I was rather looking forward to it - it's a way for me to reinforce the idea that, yes, I am a cinephile. For the Globes, I really only focus on the Best Picture category (since there are way to many categories for me to keep straight. So here's the list:

Best Picture (Drama):
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Frost/Nixon
- The Reader
- Revolutionary Road
- Slumdog Millionaire

Best Picture (Comedy or Musical):
- Burn After Reading
- Happy-Go-Lucky
- In Bruges
- Mamma Mia!
- Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Oh. My. God. I have seen ONE out of ten; even more shamefully, NONE of the Drama pics. I was shocked. What about all those movies I've devoured and rated? Surely I've watched something of consequence in the last 11 months? According to the Golden Globe people: no. So, with a heavy heart of disappointment in my own cinematic prowess, I began to look up the release dates for the movies. That's when I realised something: all these movies have December release dates; and those that have been already released are only in limited theatres. What the hell? There have been NO good movies all year? NONE? Do we only release award-calibre movies in December now? And what's with releasing movies on Christmas/Boxing Day? Most of us have families to entertain and malls to frequent.

Also, there are some conspicuous absentees: Traitor, The Dark Knight (drama) and Tropic Thunder (comedy) come to mind. Anyway, I've set up my alerts. Now I just need the company. So! Who wants to see Slumdog Millionaire? Better yet, who can find a local theatre that actually plays it?

Golden Globes Wrapup

I gotta say, I didn't even bother to be home while the GG's aired. I was watching There Will Be Blood one city over. But, I couldn't let the results slide by without comment, could I? So, below is the list of winners, with my pick and the actual winner indicated. Of course, you'll see that I don't have an exhaustive list of nominees (I only commented on things I had a clue about) and I totally skipped TV (because, well, I don't watch much of it).

Best Motion Picture - Drama
American Gangster
Atonement
Eastern Promises
The Great Debaters
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
...The greatest disappointment of the night. Unlike all these other categories, I actually watched all 7 of these movies and I cannot believe Atonement won out. I had thought NC4OM had it locked up, with DDL's tour-de-force performance giving it a run for its money in Blood. Atonement had some amazing moments: Ronan, Redgrave and McAvoy; that Dunkirk tracking shot; the "twist" ending. But really? it didn't hold a candle to the stark brutality of the Coens' masterpiece.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Cate Blanchett – Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie – Away From Her
Jodie Foster – The Brave One
Angelina Jolie – A Mighty Heart
Keira Knightley – Atonement
...I didn't catch Jolie's performance, but having watched the other four, Christie deservedly won this award. I watched Away From Her at the 2006 TIFF and her performance still stays with me. It is poignant and prickly. I recommend watching it over all others.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
George Clooney – Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
James McAvoy – Atonement
Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises
Denzel Washington – American Gangster
...This is a strong category, but DDL's performance was simply unmatched. He brought so much malevolence and determination to the role, I would be afraid for the voters if they didn't give it to him. As Plainview says: "there's a competition in [him]" - and the others must have heard.

Best Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy
Across The Universe
Charlie Wilson's War
Hairspray
Juno
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
... I wouldn't have commented on this as I only watched two of these movies, but one I did watch won and I thought it was subpar to the other one I watched. Sweeney Todd was a passable film, but Juno was more clever, more relevant and just more entertaining. This was unfortunate.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Amy Adams – Enchanted
Nikki Blonsky – Hairspray
Helena Bonham Carter – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose
Ellen Page – Juno
...Having watched 3/5 of these movies, i had thought Page would beat out Adams and Bonham Carter; I haven't watched Cotillard's performance, so I shall reserve judgement.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy
Johnny Depp – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Ryan Gosling – Lars and the Real Girl
Tom Hanks – Charlie Wilson's War
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Savages
John C. Reilly – Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
... I knew he would win, because Depp was very good in th film (he can't sing himself out of a paper bag, but he can act).

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Cate Blanchett – I'm Not There
Julia Roberts – Charlie Wilson's War
Saoirse Ronan – Atonement
Amy Ryan – Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton
...Again, watched 3/5k, but not the winner. I think Swinton gave a fabulous performance and i had thought she was a lock for it; however, I know Blanchett can be phenomenal. Reserving judgement again.

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Casey Affleck – The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem – No Country For Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Charlie Wilson's War
John Travolta – Hairspray
Tom Wilkinson – Michael Clayton
...no no no. No way. Casey Affleck not only made Brad Pitt look like a rank amateur in Jesse James, I think he acted circles around these guys. Don't get me wrong, Bardem was pretty damn stellar (and menacing in way that makes me scared to stand in front of doorknobs); but Affleck's performance was simply better. He was a bad guy and good guy, a coward and an opportunist, someone you found yourself hating to love but doing so anyway. A pity.

Best Foreign Language Film
4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days (Romania)
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (France, United States)
The Kite Runner (United States)
Lust, Caution (Taiwan)
Persepolis (France)
... I watched none of these. Rentals ahoy!

Best Director - Motion Picture
Tim Burton – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen – No Country For Old Men
Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Ridley Scott – American Gangster
Joe Wright – Atonement
...No. Way. The Coens just rocked the joint with NC4OM. I watched 4/5 (and again not the winner) and they were my runaway favourite. I feel cheated on their behalf. Schnabel will have to blow me away when I finally watch his film.

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Atonement
Charlie Wilson's War
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Juno
No Country For Old Men
... Okay, so after all my praise for NC4OM, why pick Juno? It's simple really - NC4OM's strengths lie in its actors, cinematography and directing; its script is sparse and brittle, reflecting wonderfully the tone of the film. Juno's script, however, was genius: full of pithy one-liners, unique voices and goddamned good dialogue. It was heartwrenching and very very real (Bleaker's speech Juno being the meanest wife ever is classic - la la la). It could've been worse (going to Atonement, maybe), but still disappointing.

All in all I've re-learned one very important thing: awards shows hardly ever get it right. But i seem compelled to know what they think anyway. Now, for the Oscars.