tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6400420162708362302024-03-12T20:48:22.068-07:00Sum Up FilmA blog about movies & movie-related stuffAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.comBlogger360125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-12468896825943823302016-02-25T05:51:00.003-08:002016-02-25T05:51:47.808-08:00Why Spotlight is still taking Best Picture<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YElFeUwVr96ZLYwLGIaQXRL6SBflhyphenhyphenXGPS4WCiPcX3TvaYZ3OFkgrCRMR2jgucumk7sVkPux7VfE9ovl1RsPFhPA7MgtCREYONWtYIqt7hYFCS6h53aaizW0O-WHVVRjA7neaKBuIcw/s1600/Rev+Spot.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YElFeUwVr96ZLYwLGIaQXRL6SBflhyphenhyphenXGPS4WCiPcX3TvaYZ3OFkgrCRMR2jgucumk7sVkPux7VfE9ovl1RsPFhPA7MgtCREYONWtYIqt7hYFCS6h53aaizW0O-WHVVRjA7neaKBuIcw/s400/Rev+Spot.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">I don't know why I care so much about this silly race, but I guess my brain likes having something inconsequential to obsess about. It's also great to see a film you love win. It's also great to catch up on great historical wins, and to moan about travesty wins. I guess there're many reasons I care about this stupid race. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">The thing about this year's oscar race is that <i>The Revenant</i>, primed as it seems to sweep, is not really the best picture front runner any more than <i>Boyhood</i> was last year.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;"><i>The Revenant </i>may have taken the lead at both the Globes and the BAFTAs - two highly visible awards - but so did <i>Boyhood</i>. This fact highlights two things - first; even when the Globes and BAFTAs are in agreement, they can still be out of sync with the Oscars. Second; they both had a debt to settle with AG Inarittu, because they both 'snubbed' his film last year. The same is not true at the Oscars.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">It's possible that <i>The Revenant</i>'s momentum has become unstoppable at this point - the same way <i>Argo </i>became unstoppable, even though the Oscars had initially considered it unworthy of a Directing nomination.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">It's also possible that the Oscars will offer up some surprises. What's clear is that Inarritu is most likely winning Best Director, after becoming the first Director in history to win back to back at the Directors Guild. What's also clear is that DiCaprio will finally win Best Actor and Chivo will make history with his third back-to-back, richly deserved, Cinematography win.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">But surprises do happen. Occasionally - as in the case of <i>Braveheart</i> and, perhaps, <i>Rocky </i>- they can favour big, epic crowdpleasers (although <i>The Revenant, </i>epic though it is, can hardly be considered a crowdpleaser), but more often, Oscar surprises favor films driven by good old-fashioned great writing and great acting. More specifically, films embraced by industry actors and industry writers.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">Consider <i>Shakespeare in Love</i>'s upset sweep over <i>Saving Private Ryan </i>in 1998. <i>Private Ryan </i>had taken the Globes, the DGA and the PGA and seemed primed to take the Oscar. Only the BAFTAs went all out for <i>Shakespeare</i>, but they're British so why wouldn't they? The only clue that <i>Shakespeare in Love </i>was primed to sweep in a big way was its performance with the actors and writers branches. It won the SAG ensemble award and the WGA award for Original Screenplay. It was also at the SAG awards that Paltrow first bested Blanchett.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">Consider also the curious case of Steven Soderbergh coming in at the last minute to win Best Director for <i>Traffic</i>. The season had been dominated by two moneymaking epics - <i>Gladiator </i>for Best Picture (including a Producers Guild win) and <i>Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon </i>for Best Director (including a Directors Guild win for Ang Lee). When the Oscars came around, the directors unexpectedly favored <i>Traffic</i> - a smaller, independent drama. This could be seen as the directors branch simply wanting to award Soderbergh for his rare double nomination, but it could also be seen as the Academy reacting against epic filmmaking overload, and opting for a film driven more by performance and writing (see also <i>The Hurt Locker vs Avatar;</i> <i>Argo </i>vs <i>Hugo</i> / <i>Life of Pi;</i> <i>12 Years a Slave </i>vs <i>Gravity</i>). It's also noteworthy that <i>Traffic </i>had, up to that point, won only - you guessed it - the SAG ensemble award and the WGA award for Best Original Screenplay. Benicia Del Toro had also surprised by winning lead actor at the SAG Awards (although he ended up winning the supporting category at the Oscars).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">This year, two epic epics - <i>Mad Max: Fury Road </i>and <i>The Revenant - </i>vie for the technical categories, while <i>The Revenant </i>seems to be the preferred choice for the major categories. The guilds and precursor awards have been sharply divided, with no real consensus on a single film outside of the Globes and the BAFTAS (see above). With seemingly wide open possibility, a surprise seems eminent, so it may prove valuable to consider which film won the SAG ensemble award and the WGA award for Best Original Screenplay. You guessed it again - <i>Spotlight</i>.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">Recent years have shown the Academy is comfortable splitting between a smaller, character-driven drama for Best Picture, and a big, epic visual achievement for Best Director, and <i>Spotlight </i>/ <i>The Revenant </i>certainly fits that trend. <i>Spotlight </i>is also still the highest rated film among the nominees on Metacritic, and seems to have the support of the actors and writers branch. It also won the Critics Choice award, for what it's worth (which is not much), splitting with George Miller for director (showing just how much things have changed since then).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">Perhaps it counts against <i>Spotlight </i>that it did not have any other surprise wins at SAG - only Rachel McAdams was nominated, while both Ruffallo and Keaton had been expected to dominate (but they likely split the vote). <i>Spotlight </i>also does not seem to have much support outside of the main fields - making it harder to win on a preferential ballot. While it wasn't really in competition for any of the visual categories, it was expected to show up in Original Score, and didn't. Both Ruffallo and McAdams are representing the actors though, so main category support is strong.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;"><i>The Revenant, </i>o</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">n the other hand,</span><i style="color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;"> </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">outperformed in nominations in both the main and technical categories. A slew of nominations were expected, but with surprises like Tom Hardy for supporting actor and nominations for both the (brilliant but minimal) production design and costuming, <i>The Revenant </i>clearly has deep support throughout the Academy.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">I guess it really comes down to whether the Academy (to the extent that they actually act and think as a united entity) are ready to embrace the effects-driven epic, or if they'll push back again to a writing and acting driven drama.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">It helps to keep in mind that even <i>Braveheart </i>won the WGA before sweeping the Oscars, and <i>Rocky</i>'s screenplay was recognized by the Academy, while no one has shown any love for <i>The Revenant</i>'s script (perhaps unfairly, as it has nearly no dialogue). Even the PGA win for <i>The Big Short </i>seems to indicate that the industry is still favoring actor-writer dramas over big epics.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;">For all these reasons, plus the feels, my money is still on <i>Spotlight </i>to win Best Picture, Original Screenplay and - improbably - Supporting Actor on Sunday. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;"><i>The Revenant </i>will likely take Director, Actor, Cinematography and both Sound Categories, while <i>Mad Max </i>will own the technical categories - Costume Design, Production Design, Make Up and Editing. Or <i>The Revenant </i>will sweep and win everything but screenplay. It is a damn good movie. Only Sunday will tell.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.7273px;"><i>Note: last year I predicted </i>Boyhood <i>would win, so I'm almost definitely wrong about anything.</i></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-41239861527954289272015-02-23T07:20:00.000-08:002015-02-23T07:20:01.330-08:00Oscar winners<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyxbuia7I3DSQlLGVzIPkImogGRfjjh0HJW4Ts19ZrujqsQiOJLnW4DNpWdpisMxRp0Pe9e-dc0_lcLwojDWJihmLiyNGoV_ZjrcoAmVCzrQMXPByiJk60TI81aA7IYmcr24UYirdd-44/s1600/birdman-movie-review-19a22fb4-8c36-4394-b641-e1a0f785b3f9.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyxbuia7I3DSQlLGVzIPkImogGRfjjh0HJW4Ts19ZrujqsQiOJLnW4DNpWdpisMxRp0Pe9e-dc0_lcLwojDWJihmLiyNGoV_ZjrcoAmVCzrQMXPByiJk60TI81aA7IYmcr24UYirdd-44/s1600/birdman-movie-review-19a22fb4-8c36-4394-b641-e1a0f785b3f9.jpeg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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And so, there you have it. Birdman is our new showbiz-themed Best Picture winner. It's an exciting winner, if not the one I was hoping for.<br />
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Interestingly, each of the eight films nominated for Best Picture took home at least one trophy, which must be rare. I don't know. I don't feel like researching it.<br />
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The big winner of the night was obviously Birdman, with four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay & Best Cinematography. A pretty good four to nab. To its credit, it was probably also runner-up in all three of the acting fields it was nominated for.<br />
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But The Grand Budapest Hotel was close on its heels with four wins of its own: Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Costume Design & Hair & Make Up. Worth nothing - this was composer Alexandre Desplat's first win after 8 nominations (also worth noting; he scored, but was not nominated for: Zero Dark Thirty, Moonrise Kingdom, Syriana, The Painted Veil, etc).<br />
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2nd Runner up (much to first-time director Damien Chazelle's delight) was Whiplash, with three wins in Best Supporing Actor, Editing and Sound Mixing. All richly deserved.<br />
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Beyond that, the wealth was spread pretty evenly:<br />
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Boyhood - Supporting Actress<br />
The Imitation Game - Adapted Screenplay<br />
The Theory of Everything - Best Actor<br />
Selma - Original Song<br />
American Sniper - Sound Editing<br />
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Rounding out the major category winners were Interstellar (Visual Effects) and Still Alice (Best Actress).<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-28018222305394320832015-02-22T12:03:00.000-08:002015-02-23T06:41:57.669-08:002015: The battle of two greats with gimmicks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On the eve of the 87th Academy Awards, it seems the race has come down to Boyhood vs Birdman, which is a very difficult but, truth be told, satisfying race.<br />
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As a great admirer of both films and the balls it took to make them, I'm not really sure where to put my loyalty, except that my loyalty is completely and entirely with Boyhood, even though I admire Birdman just as much. Confusing? Much. Welcome to Oscar watching.<br />
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I really don't know how to feel heading into tonight's ceremony (to clarify, I'm watching it on TV like everyone else. I just mean heading into it in an emotional sense). I mean, obviously it doesn't really <i>matter </i>who wins. It's just the Oscars. But then, it also matters who wins because awards and recognition make careers (they also break them, but mostly only if you're a woman and suddenly you're punished for all the bad scripts you need to say yes to after winning an Oscar because there are only so many good parts going around. But more on that later). Also, it's really hard when the race is teetering between two frontrunners that you actually care about.<br />
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I kind of feel bad for not getting behind the Birdman campaign. It's an amazing film, but it just feels like it will live on better as a great film that got fantastic awards coverage rather than as a Best Picture winner. Whereas Boyhood just feels like an enduring classic that will only keep earning it's place in the Best Picture winner lineup more and more as the years go by. Of course, both films have their fans and detractors.<br />
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I want to say a few things about all this:<br />
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1. If Boyhood and Birdman split the vote, like Jack Nicholson & Daniel Day Lewis - both worthy contenders - did in 2002, which film will be the Adrien Brody that comes in to scoop up the difference? There are a few interesting contenders: <i>Grand Budapest Hotel, Imitation Game </i>and then there's <i>American Sniper</i>, which will feel like <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg819WJNIh9K5OKO6uyeU0bej74bFD2Y1-2w_KJyYEtAoY3NEM5wGJVr346rMHVXZawfxar1qpHz84bP-UokWfuMChEZ2ETsHdcukIRnB7llLYVEA7Ha7EEDbRsR_iyQBXe3SsCdjLSWAv8/s1600/tumblr_m3yjrgDA1t1qar5tro10_r1_1280.png" target="_blank">a big let down</a> the moment it happens. Also, it's not gonna happen. If they really believed in the unexpected box office phenom, they would have nominated Clint Eastwood over the guy who made Imitation Game. If anyone gave a damn about <i>Selma</i> at all, I'd be worried for the two frontrunners, but no one does. Long story short, if there's a split the difference situation, let's hope it's Wes Anderson that reaps the benefit. (imagine Beck and Wes Anderson winning twin Grammies & Oscars in the same year - it'll instantly become unhip to be a hipster & jocks will become the new counterculture)<br />
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2. Boyhood has Best Drama & Best Director from the Golden Globes, where Birdman lost to Grand Budapest Hotel (but won Best Screenplay, which it also later lost to Grand Budapest Hotel at the BAFTAS) and the same from the BAFTAS. That feels right. At the same time, Birdman won the Screen Actors Guild ensemble award (and why wouldn't it? Every performer is pitch perfect) & the Directors Guild Award (here it is a toss up, but also easy to see why it would win - it's the more flashy of the two remarkable achievements) & most unexpectedly, the Producers Guild Award (clearly no producer, in particular, is more worthy of praise, in years, than Jonathan Sehring, who greenlit the project and financed it, bit by bit, over 12 years, with 7-year contract limitations and surely endless nagging from studio execs wanting to see return on investment. Of course, <a href="http://www.thewrap.com/two-boyhood-producers-denied-credit-by-producers-guild-exclusive/" target="_blank">Sehring was somehow deemed not eligible as a Producer</a> by the Guild, which might explain why the film itself was passed over. It's all very confusing.) Which is all to say that - we have a real race on our hands! What fun.<br />
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3. Birdman may be about ego and existential dilemmas in the movie business, but Boyhood is about real, ordinary life. I wonder which one Hollywood will respond to more (uh oh).<br />
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4. About the "gimmicks" inherent in both contenders: first off, both films are fantastic & remarkable beyond their gimmicks. Great writing, great performances and razor-sharp, confident directing (the one obviously far more subtle than the other). Secondly, both gimmicks are remarkable & fantastically executed. There's nothing wrong with doing something for the "first time" in cinema. It's to be applauded.<br />
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4.1 While Birdman's seemingly single shot trick has been done before (notably by Hitchcock in 1948's Rope), it's never been done well. Rope is pretty bad & the one shot gimmick distracts more than aids the story (the technology & know-how was also markedly less abundant in 1948). Birdman's "single shot" breathes new life into an already exciting film. It captures the breathless rush of Riggan's existential meltdown, the frenetic pace of live performance, and it just creates a damn cool freaking rhythm of a movie, man. And what's wrong with that? It's a breakthrough achievement that deserves to be celebrated many times over. Would Birdman by as good without its "gimmick"? It's hard to imagine it without it, but it has so much else going for it, I have to believe it would be. Would Gravity be as good without it's long take conceits? Let's not go there...<br />
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4.2 Boyhood's 12-year semi-documentary experiment is a real first in feature cinema, and something both thrilling and profound to behold. This one is trickier because the passage of time is so integral to Boyhood's stories, and the themes of much of Linklater's career. It's a daring conceit, but also the element that drives home the subtle profundity at the heart of this simple story. Time passes by the mundane and the melodramatic and before you know it, you're all grown up (or your kids are all frown up) and you barely know how it happened. There's so much more to the film and it's tenderly observed world of characters than that, but it's kind of the thing that makes it great. The idea, not the gimmick. The gimmick is just a genius way of expressing it. It's also kind of magical watching Mason / Ellar Coltrane grow up before our eyes in the blink of an eye, much as his mother does... I'm going in circles. There are so many beautiful pieces written about Boyhood (like this one) that I won't bother trying to wax lyrical. Would Boyhood be good without the 12-year gimmick? Honestly, yes. Would it have gotten a fraction of the attention? No. It kind of is what put it on the map. So it's a bit of a catch-22. Because the gimmick is so integral to the storytelling, but it also kind of makes it seem like it's the only significant thing about it. But it's not.<br />
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5. So my predictions? Boyhood takes Best Picture. Birdman Director. Because although both are amazing films & incredible directorial achievements, Birdman is the more flashy directing triumph, while Boyhood is the more enduring film, imo. On the other hand, the Indepedent Spirit Awards saw it exactly the other way around last night, and my wife says that makes more sense. So what do I know? At least it's a battle of two truly exciting and refreshingly original giants & both will be remembered for years to come regardless of how tonight turns out. <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-18438418560813292102015-01-23T07:03:00.000-08:002015-01-23T07:08:00.459-08:00The Top 5 classic films I discovered while living in NYRecently, I was honoured to be featured on <a href="http://10and5.com/2014/10/01/watch-this-8-creatives-share-their-top-five-films/" target="_blank">Between 10 & 5</a>, where they asked my to name my top 5 films. Since this is clearly impossible and started giving me sleepless nights, I decided to narrow it down, instead, to the top 5 new-to-me classic films I discovered since moving to New York to study film. It's a fairly random selection of films with little in common other than that I love these 5 films so much.<br />
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Here's (my section of) the post:<br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://10and5.com/2013/11/13/featured-friedl-kreuser/" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Friedl Kreuser">Friedl Kreuser</a> | Film Student and Illustrator</strong></h3>
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Choosing favourite films is like Sophie’s Choice for me, so I decided to narrow the field by listing the five biggest game changers I’ve discovered since moving to New York to study film.</div>
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<strong>Sherlock, Jr. (1924), Buster Keaton:</strong></h3>
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There is no end to the genius of Buster Keaton and, though everything in his filmography is worth exploring, this 45-minute fantasy comedy is bursting with fresh ideas and cinematic creativity.</div>
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The plot is irrelevant when you have Buster Keaton – as a haplessly in love wannabe detective / film projectionist – sleepwalking into a movie screen and experiencing first-hand the magic (and, in his case, danger) of film editing – a technically brilliant piece of Meta self-reflection long before Charlie Kaufman made it cool. As if that wasn’t enough, he finds time for a splendid, Bond-esque chase sequence and a perfect, quietly subversive ending.</div>
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<strong>Strike (1925), Sergei Eisenstein:</strong></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NhfFYXvRvqI" width="533"></iframe></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Warning: this clip contains spoilers of sorts & is pretty rough on animal-lovers</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i>(Also: why are there not better clips of Strike online?! The opening sequences are blissfully beautifully)</i></span></span><br />
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The visceral power of undiluted Soviet montage should be a compulsory life experience, and there is no better place to start than Eisenstein’s masterpiece (far greater in scope, if more lacking in focus, than Battleship Potemkin). Throwing all the rules Hollywood was writing about cinema out the window, Eisenstein needs no protagonist – the humble crowd of factory workers is his hero – makes minimal use of dialogue and simply arranges his endless stream of images as six searing mood pieces of escalating tension.</div>
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And he goes for the jugular – throwing at you, by turns, some of the most beautiful, brutal, surreal and disturbing images you’ll ever see. The devastating climax is a clear influence on both Apocalypse Now and Schindler’s List (and Spielberg owes much of his career to one of Eisenstein’s favourite tricks – cutting to close ups of children at just the right moment).</div>
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The only thing wrong with it is that it is blatantly manipulative propaganda (but then, isn’t everything?) – so be careful, or it may turn you into a commie.</div>
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<strong>L’Atalante (1934), Jean Vigo:</strong></h3>
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This quiet, gentle film – a favourite of both Francois Truffaut and Michel Gondry, who loved it so much he illustrated this poster for it – is the only full length feature by Jean Vigo (arguably the great tragic Van Gogh of film directors, who died of tuberculosis aged 29 while a butchered edit of L’Atalante was being released to lacklustre response).</div>
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Beautifully marrying gritty naturalism with just a touch of lyrical poetry, Vigo takes a simple story of ordinary, working class newlyweds (on a barge, filled with cats, and a decidedly strange cabin mate with a splendid cabinet of curiosities) and crafts it into a subtly complex portrait of two stubborn, brittle humans figuring out whether they can belong to one another. Filled with extraordinary detail, surprising sensuality and the most vivid, authentic acting you’ll find that side of Elia Kazan.</div>
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<img alt="L’Atalante poster, designed by Michel Gondry (1990 French rerelease)" class="size-full wp-image-88015" data-id="88015" src="http://10and5.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/GONDRY_1990_Atalante_movie_poster.jpg" height="400" style="border: 1px solid rgb(189, 189, 189); margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px;" width="283" /></div>
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L’Atalante poster, designed by Michel Gondry (1990 French rerelease)</div>
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<strong>Do The Right Thing (1989), Spike Lee:</strong></h3>
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This is a film so in touch with its time and place, it could stand simply as a document of early 90s cool (a fashion manifesto for young hipsters everywhere), but of course it’s so much more than that. It’s not just about Spike Lee’s invigorating visual style, or the Altman-esque, “plotless” narrative either – what makes <i>Do the Right Thing </i>so great is Lee’s willingness to have something honest and complicated to say about the racial tension he felt around him in early 90s Bed Stuy.</div>
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As his central premise, he presents contradictory philosophies from Martin Luther King Jr and Malcom X, and tries to figure out what it means to “do the right thing.” Rather than give us an easy answer, Lee’s confrontational film demands that we have an opinion. With gentrification still creeping across Brooklyn and cops still shooting kids on the street for no reason other than being black, these are conversations that are sadly as critical in America today as ever.</div>
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There is also important food for thought here for South Africans. Though I doubt I could ever agree with those who call Mandela a traitor (he saved our country’s soul), Spike Lee’s film – if you let it – does offer some uncomfortable insight into the plight of those on the receiving end of (historical and on-going) racism who are constantly required to smile, forgive and forget.</div>
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<strong>Love and Death (1975), Woody Allen:</strong></h3>
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This is a bit of a cheat, because I saw it right before I moved to New York, but it is the great Woody Allen film that I somehow never knew was this great.</div>
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What could be better than Woody Allen channelling Tolstoy via the Marx Brothers and Ingmar Bergman via his New York neuroses while dragging Diane Keaton, Mother Russia, Napoleon Bonaparte and the Grim Reaper along for the ride? Epic, irreverent and, most importantly, hilarious.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-58638472102250790742015-01-22T22:24:00.000-08:002015-01-22T22:24:48.750-08:00The Sound of SilencePlease forgive the silence.<br />
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Sumupfilm is at film school.<br />
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Normal ramblings will resume soon enough.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-43741237600588922092014-03-03T04:59:00.000-08:002014-03-03T05:01:16.976-08:00Oscar winners<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
So I failed at Oscar predicting again. I always try to predict upsets. I can't help it.<br />
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But this is a very satisfying bunch of winners (other than <i>The Act of Killing </i>losing Best Documentary).<br />
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Here are the 24 newest Oscar winners. It doesn't validate films, it it not a confirmation of artistry. It is just an award, but it does become an easily accessible historical document, it alters careers (mostly for the better, although not always) and it does sell movie tickets. I mean, if more people now feel peer pressure to watch the harrowing and important <i>12 Years a Slave, </i>I won't be complaining. <br />
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Other than the obvious significance of <i>12 Years </i>in making plain the horrors of the slave trade (when films like <i>Gone With the Wind </i>had presented a sugar-coated version that was far more convenient to believe), Benedict Cumberbatch summed it up so brilliantly on the red carpet - the slave trade is very much still alive, and in many ways it's bigger (and smaller) than ever. Other than the fact that this is a beautifully made, heart-wrenching film, it really is an important film. Even if it just starts the conversations.<br />
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Ultimately, <i>Gravity </i>was the big winner of the night, going home with 7 naked gold men<br />
<i>12 Years a Slave, </i>meanwhile,<i> </i>took home only 3<br />
<i>Dallas Buyers Club </i>nabbed 3 as well<br />
<i>Frozen </i>took 2<br />
<i>The Great Gatsby </i>landed 2 more for the Luhrman-Martin household<br />
And <i>American Hustle</i> was the night's biggest loser, losing each of its 10 nominations <br />
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(Incidentally, there are Oscars travelling all over the world - to Mexico (Alfonso Cuaron & Emmanuel Lubezki), England (Steve McQueen), Kenya, sort of (Lupita Nyong'o who was born in Mexico but is of Kenyan descent), Australia (Cate Blanchett & Chatherine Martin) and, of course, Italy (<i>La Grande Bellezza)</i>). I remember what a big moment it was for South Africa when Charlize Theron did her victory tour back home, so - well done, bunch of other countries!<br />
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<b>Best Picture</b>: <i>12 Years a Slave</i><br />
<b>Best Director: </b><i>Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity </i><br />
<b>Best Actress: </b>Cate Blanchett - <i>Blue Jasmine</i> <br />
<b>Best Actor: </b>Matthew McConaughey - <i>Dallas Buyers Club</i><br />
<b>Best Supporting Actress:</b> Lupita N'yongo - <i>12 Years a Slave</i><br />
<b>Best Supporting Actor: </b>Jared Leto - <i>Dallas Buyers Club</i>
<b> </b><br />
<b>Best Original Screenplay: </b>Spike Jonze - <i>Her </i><br />
<b>Best Adapted Screenplay: </b>John Ridley -<b> </b><i>12 Years a Slave</i><br />
<b>Best Editing</b>: Alfonso Cuaron & Mark Sanger - <i>Gravity</i><br />
<b>Best Cinematography: </b>Emmanuel Lubezki - <i>Gravity</i><br />
<b>Best Production Design: </b>Catherine Martin & Beverley Dunn - <i>The Great Gatsby</i><br />
<b><b><b>Best Costume Design: </b></b></b>Catherine Martin - <i>The Great Gatsby</i><b><b><b> </b></b></b><br />
<b><b><b>Best Hair & Make Up: </b></b></b>Adruitha Lee & Robin Mathews - <i>Dallas Buyers Club</i><br />
<b><b>Best Original Score: </b></b>Steven Price - <i>Gravity</i><br />
<b><b>Original Song: </b></b>Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez - Let it Go (<i>Frozen</i>)<br />
<b>Best Visual Effects: </b>Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk & Neil Corbould - <i>Gravity</i><b> </b><br />
<b>Best Sound Mixing:</b> Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead & Chris Munro - <i>Gravity</i><br />
<b>Best Sound Editing: </b>Glenn Freemantle - <i>Gravity</i><b> </b><br />
<b>Best Foreign Language Film: </b><i>La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty)</i><br />
<b>Best Animated Feature: </b><i>Frozen</i><br />
<b>Best Documentary Feature: </b><i>20 Feet from Stardom</i><b> </b><br />
<b>Best Live Action Short: </b><i>Helium</i><b> </b><br />
<b>Best Animated Short: </b><i>Mr Hublot</i><br />
<b>Best Documentary Short: </b><i>The Lady in Number 6</i><b></b><br />
<b><br /></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-52590659119368462992014-03-02T15:41:00.001-08:002014-03-02T15:41:31.551-08:00Last-minute Oscar predictions<b>Best Picture</b>: American Hustle (Because <i>Gravity / 12 Years </i>splits the vote Day-Lewis / Nicholson style)<br />
<b>Best Director: </b>Steve McQueen - <i>12 Years a Slave</i> (Sasha Stone has a point - when it comes to Best Pic / Director splits, the movie everyone "likes" gets Picture, the film everyone "respects" takes Director)<br />
<b>Best Actress: </b>Cate Blanchett - <i>Blue Jasmine</i> (in the bag and overdue)<b> </b><br />
<b>Best Actor: </b>Matthew McConaughey - <i>Dallas Buyers Club</i> (he's earned it, made himself overdue in just two years, and was on TV being brilliant in <i>True Detective </i>through much of the voting period)<br />
<b>Best Supporting Actress: </b>Jennifer Lawrence - <i>American Hustle </i>(this should be her first. She deserves it, but I would be thrilled if Lupita N'yongo takes it instead)<br />
<b>Best Supporting Actor: </b>Jared Leto - <i>Dallas Buyers Club</i> (they clearly love the film, what with upset nominations in screenplay and editing. Would be happy if Barkhad Abdi upset though)<br />
<b>Best Original Screenplay: </b>American Hustle<br />
<b>Best Adapted Screenplay: </b>12 Years a Slave<br />
<b>Editing</b>: Captain Phillips<br />
<b>Cinematography, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Visual Effects & Original Score: </b>Gravity<br />
<b>Costume Design & Production Design: </b>The Great Gatsby (it would be kinda rad if Costumes went to <i>American Hustle</i>)<br />
<b>Make Up: </b>Dallas Buyers Club <br />
<b>Foreign Language Film: </b>The Great Beauty (upset: The Broken Circle Breakdown)<br />
<b>Documentary: </b>The Act of Killing<br />
<b>Animated Feature: </b>Frozen (although it should be The Wind Rises)<br />
<b>Original Song: </b>Happy - Pharrell Williams - Despicable Me 2<br />
<br />
I didn't see any of the shorts. Bummer.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-55753296010321450932014-01-26T13:30:00.001-08:002014-01-26T13:30:15.246-08:00Mandela didn't throw spears (or: Why I hate Django Unchained)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; line-height: 22px;">“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">- Nelson Mandela</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is a sort-of review of <i>Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, </i>a<i> </i>sort-of farewell to the great man, who passed away on December </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5th</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 2013, and sort of a call for the forgiveness and introspection that Madiba stood for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let's start with <i>Mandela</i>, the film. No, it's not a <i>Lincoln</i>, and it's not quite a <i>Gandhi </i>either. Story-wise, it reads like a Wikipedia account of Mandela's life (or a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CliffsNotes" target="_blank">CliffsNotes</a> summary of Mandela's memoir, <i><a href="http://www.kalahari.com/Books/A-Long-Walk-to-Freedom_p_256866?gclid=CJiS6JaIw7sCFSkEwwodRlwABA" target="_blank">Long Walk to Freedom</a></i>, minus the critical analysis).<i> </i>Naturally, there are many details and nuances lost in the telling of Mandela's whole journey, from his Abakwetha initiation ceremony at 14 to his inauguration as the first democratically elected President of South Africa at 76. If you take the film for what it is - an overview of a great life, an introduction to a complex struggle and hopefully inspiration enough to read (rather than substitute) Mandela's dense autobiography - it is a perfectly decent film with solid production values (handsome photography, fantastic costumes, effective if too-noticeable score) released just in time for the whole world to simmer together in Mandela's legacy. It's clearly a film that loves Mandela and strives to humanise him but it is not an abundantly thoughtful film. One wonders if viewers unfamiliar with Mandela's story would walk away understanding quite why over 20 000 people queued for</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> days to view Mandela's body at the Union Buildings. Mandela's icon status always had less to do with what he accomplished than who he was and how he treated every single person he met. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At the very least, </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Invictus</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> should be compulsory</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ancillary viewing to get a glimpse of Mandela's playful leadership genius.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji3NLXKYCMaAdFeE3WEE_Z9D-NfeBfo5jCEk2Uj3snD1qBQsZ9mrHc1mAMtGK_ack_ZANqKuhVvTDcn0KYqlOYE1GkS9UApfEvw546nsCFCHxLF0QeYTeuRPaRDng4vMvTxX4lzYp5Wl4/s1600/Idris+Madiba+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji3NLXKYCMaAdFeE3WEE_Z9D-NfeBfo5jCEk2Uj3snD1qBQsZ9mrHc1mAMtGK_ack_ZANqKuhVvTDcn0KYqlOYE1GkS9UApfEvw546nsCFCHxLF0QeYTeuRPaRDng4vMvTxX4lzYp5Wl4/s1600/Idris+Madiba+2.png" height="209" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The problem with skimming over much of the detail is losing much of the context. For those who lived through the struggle, wrote about the struggle, analysed the struggle and believed in the struggle, the swift sign-posting of <i>Mandela LWTF </i>may be a very frustrating experience. Director Justin Chadwick <a href="http://www.mandelamovie.co.za/production-notes/" target="_blank">explains</a> that there was simply too much ground to cover in just a few hours so he chose, instead, to focus on Mandela the man, the cad, the womaniser, the fighter. Fair enough, but Mandela never really needed much humanising to anyone who who was paying attention - he never made much effort to hide his flaws, h</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">e was always full of mischief and good humour, he seemed more interested in people than in policy and his loud </span><a href="http://www.iol.co.za/polopoly_fs/fashion-orange-stripe-1.629109!/image/4557.jpg_gen/derivatives/portrait_450/4557.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;" target="_blank">trademark shirts</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> were a gentle, enduring, and endearing, middle finger to convention (that may seem insignificant, but no South African President had ever bothered to be approachable before). That he was a ladies man and knew how to make bombs is fairly self evident from the fact that he was married three times and imprisoned as a terrorist (although it must be clarified that the bombings specifically excluded human targets, which is more than can be said for the ruling party at the time). That he was human was never in doubt. How he managed to be embraced as the Tata of an entire nation - black and white (and everything in between) is the really interesting question. Ul</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">timately Chadwick gives us plenty of What, and too little Why. The Why is what makes this story both interesting and significant.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the spirit of Madiba the reconiliator, I am inclined to say let's celebrate all that is good and competent about the film, and forgive it's shortcomings. In the spirit of Madiba the pioneering leader of our free nation, I am inclined to say, let's tell our own stories and let's tell them better. We can't keep complaining about foreigners' takes on our most <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092804/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">fascinating</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0349260/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">powerful</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1551641/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">complicated</a> histories, if we don't step up and tell them better ourselves. Challenge accepted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On that note, We Need to Talk About the Bono song at the end of <i>Mandela: LWTF </i>(which has since become an award winner). Many have complained about the myriad of talented local musicians who were overlooked in favour of Rock n Roll's most obvious go-to humanitarian. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the inclusive spirit of Madiba, I am inclined to be proud that one of the word's most recognisable rock stars was inspired enough to celebrate our Tata's ethos of love in song - and at least Elton John didn't just recycle Candle in the Wind again. But as a movie-goer and a South African local, I can't help but kind of hate this song. Look, Bono was Irish in the 80s, so he should understand something about liberation struggles and his lyrics do indicate a genuine appreciation for Mandela's philosophy of love as the natural human state we should all remember to aspire to. This poppy, upbeat, radio-friendly song, however, feels tonally irreverent to the film and, in if heard in any other context, not really recognisable as a song about Mandela or the Apartheid struggle. It also jarringly concludes the film on a decidedly Westernised note, once again driving home the point that we should be telling our own stories with our own people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Songs were one of the primary ways of expressing solidarity during the apartheid struggle, and are actively used to this day to memorialise anti-apartheid leaders - for proof, attend just a single ANC rally. Mandela was also Xhosa, a tribe with a rich culture of music and musical storytelling. Now I am </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">grateful that Bono didn't try to Africanise his song with a black children's choir or tribal chanting, but I can't help feeling that he could have put a bit more thought into it. At the every least he could have closed the film with a raw Rock n Roll liberation anthem</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, rather than this preppy, sugary tune</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. But let my r</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">anting be over. I am indulging my inner Winnie Mandela (more on that later). Thank you, Bono, for your efforts, and for caring so much about our beloved Tata.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then the performances. Mandela is a gift to any black actor. Many have tried, mainly only Morgan Freeman has really succeeded. He's still my Mandela for the ages, but Idris Elba does a commendable job. He is not given the same focus and nuance as Freeman, having to jog through about six decades of Mandela's busy life in a mere two hours and nineteen minutes (given the subject matter, you feel like they could have tacked on another 40 minutes and gotten a few more of the details right, stewed in a few more nuances). He lacks any physical resemblance to Mandela, other than being black, but quickly makes up for it with a pitch perfect accent and a comfortable understanding of Mandela's mannerisms. His appearance only becomes a problem in Mandela's prison years and beyond, when distracting aging makeup - the film's biggest technical fail - turns Elba into a weirdly morphed version of Madiba (yes, even Madiba thought he was watching himself <a href="http://images4.mtv.com/uri/mgid:uma:content:mtv.com:1710467?width=281&height=211" target="_blank">walking through a field with children</a>... but did they show him the shots of his <a href="http://www.google.co.za/imgres?hl=en&biw=1441&bih=1319&tbm=isch&tbnid=xu3D8Xnub54SbM:&imgrefurl=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2519078/Charlize-Theron-Idris-Elba-Morgan-Freeman-lead-tributes-Nelson-Mandela-Hollywood-mourns-loss-great-leader.html&docid=odKg5dVug1hWAM&imgurl=http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/12/06/article-2519078-19910CAD00000578-824_634x367.jpg&w=634&h=367&ei=pZK2Uvz1FYXQhAfHpYCADQ&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:93,s:0,i:373&iact=rc&page=3&tbnh=171&tbnw=260&start=89&ndsp=51&tx=151&ty=38" target="_blank">creepily greying hair</a>?). Elba </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is a great actor, and he does Madiba justice with the material he is given. There is great authority in everything that comes out of his mouth and a conviction that feels real rather than another awkward Braveheart impression. From his vibrant fighting spirit as young Mandela to his stirring, restrained SAUK address, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Elba maintains a strong sense of who Madiba was throughout</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. I could have done with more time dedicated to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">what catalysed Mandela's great change of heart in prison - something more substantial than the passing of time and the trimming of tomatoes. Somewhere in the patience, introspection and broad thinking that prison required of him, Mandela touched the divine and become a leader of extraordinary vision and insight. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Trying to sort through all the details and complexities, the film finds its back bone in the contrast between Nelson and Winnie Mandela as their lives become inextricably caught up in the freedom struggle. Both are passionate, educated, highly intelligent and trail blazing individuals who love their country and are willing to sacrifice their personal lives for the greater good of their people. Both are persecuted by the white government, but their lives and struggles turn out very differently (Winnie's life took a particular turn for the bizarre in the new South Africa, but that will be covered in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_kiX4XfHPM" target="_blank">Winnie biopic</a> starring Jennifer Hudson - for which I can only skeptically reserve judgment). In this regard, at least, Chadwick and British Actress Naomie Harris do quite some justice to the complex, contradictory Winnie. Sure, we only see her development in fleeting glances, and in juxtaposition to Mandela's, but Harris plays her with so much fire and conviction, you can't help but sympathise with her cause, while feeling the impending doom of the lines she keeps threatening to cross - and ultimately does. Like Elba, Harris nails the accent without inviting ridicule (we're looking at you, Leo DiCaprio & Terrence Howard) and rings true in every scene. She also wears some sensational outfits - one of the highlights of the film. And she wears them just the way Winnie would have - with a particularity and fierce confidence that let you know she made her own rules and meant business.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">- Nelson Mandela</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Which brings me to what I think I want to talk about - Nelson vs Winnie. It's quite a tragic relationship - a meeting of minds separated by the weight of the Apartheid struggle. They spent their best years apart, they suffered their persecutions apart, they emerged at the other end of Robben Island with irreconcilably divided ideologies. You can't blame Winnie for wanting revenge, for wanting to to unleash the beast - her response to white oppression was reasonable, justified, fair. And you can't blame her for being disappointed in Nelson for turning the other cheek, for insisting on forgiveness to those who had long-since passed the point of deserving it. But ultimately, he was right, wasn't he? He chose an unreasonable higher road; one of forgiveness but, more importantly, of intrinsic human respect. He believed absolutely that the way Africans had been treated in their own country was inexcusable, but refused to treat anyone else the same way. Arguably, whites never belonged in Africa in the first place, and that is a tension that is still playing itself out in our new South Africa, but Nelson would rather embrace those that had come to share his country with him than treat anyone as a second-rate citizen. His forgiveness was controversial - then and now - but it united a nation, astonished the world, paved the way for a free, democratic society and avoided civil war. Winnie's anger, hatred and bloodlust led her down a path of blinded arrogance that almost ruined her and her legacy. It is to the African peoples' credit that they would rather honour her for her contributions to the struggle than persecute her for her bizarre mistakes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And this is the thing about Mandela's high road - he touched something divine. In <i>A Tale of Three Kings, </i>Gene Edwards takes a lyrical look at the Kingship of the first three rulers of Israel - Saul, David and Absalom - and asks "<i>What do you do when someone throws spears at you?" </i>It is fitting that David and Mandela, two flawed, publicly vulnerable men, responded the same way to grossly unreasonable persecution - and it made them two of the most celebrated and influential leaders in history - they refused to throw spears back, even when they had the opportunity to, because to do so would have made them just like their oppressors. It would repeat the cycle and trap them in the same fears that made their unjust leaders abandon their own humanity. When you set yourself up as the moral authority, you set yourself up to become a tyrant. Mandela refused for his people to do that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">"It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black.</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">- Nelson Mandela</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">White people in South Africa can be ludicrously petrified of black hatred (see the absurd, white-created myth of the <a href="http://www.another-day.co.za/uhuru-the-night-of-the-long-knives-is-almost-upon-us/" target="_blank">Night of the Long Knives</a>, now finally dispelled a good number of weeks after Madiba's death). It turns out the majority of black South Africans never wanted to slaughter us all after all. They just wanted their kids to have the same opportunity as ours. (I mean, they were here first and all that). Integration is slow, but it is happening.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black medical staff treat a wounded KKK member</td></tr>
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And then, lastly, on to <i>Django Unchained. </i>Yes, it's a ballsy and entertaining, if messy and self-indulgent, piece of film pastiche, but I loathe it for implying that black slaves would / should have been as cruel and bloodthirsty as the inhuman slave owners who oppressed them. Tarantino's revenge fantasy belies and belittles the incredible grace, restraint and intelligence with which great men like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_luther_king" target="_blank">Martin Luther King</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela" target="_blank">Nelson Mandela</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Tambo" target="_blank">Oliver Tambo</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Sisulu" target="_blank">Walter Sisulu</a> fought for freedom but refused to surrender their humanity and their respect towards the notion that all men - their oppressors included - are created equal. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What the ANC accomplished was nothing short of astonishing. There's no doubt the white minority in South Africa had bloodshed coming to them, but the great leaders of the African National Congress, refused to become the savages they expected them to be. The savages Tarantino still expects them to be. They showed us all that there is a higher way, and it is possible for flawed men to attain it.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; line-height: 22px;">“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">- Nelson Mandela</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rest in peace, Tata. I cannot hope and pray enough that your legacy truly lives on in us.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-80076859268148413772014-01-16T10:42:00.000-08:002014-01-16T10:43:45.898-08:002014 Oscar Nominees<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced its nominees for the 86th time this morning, and they've had a pretty respectable year.<br />
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You can see all the <a href="http://oscar.go.com/nominees" target="_blank">Oscar Nominees</a> here. I couldn't present them more tidily or comprehensively myself.<br />
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This was a fantastic year for midstream (ie, not quite art house, but not quite box office mainstream either) movies, with literally all of my favourite currently working directors - Martin Scorsese, The Coen Brothers, Alexander Payne, Spike Jonze - turning in some of their best work yet (plus we had the privilege of a great Sofia Coppolla - I realise I am fairly alone on that one - and a good annual Woody Allen.<br />
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The Academy gave a fairly warm reception to all of these, with the exception of Sofia Coppola and - bizarrely - The Coen Brothers.<br />
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Scorsese's controversial <i>Wolf of Wall Street </i>scored 5 nominations, including Picture, Director, Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill) and Adapted Screenplay. Amazingly, the legendary Thelma Schoonmaker got shafted for editing. Bizarre, considering the editing in the trailer alone made me weep and her replacement appears to be the guys behind <i>Dallas Buyers Club</i>. It is a great moment for DiCaprio, though, who has received much rejection at the hands of the Academy since <i>Blood Diamond</i>. He goes all out for <i>Wolf</i> and this is a lovely way to commence his apparent acting hiatus. Also huzzah for Scorsese's nomination - he had us worried there for a moment when Academy members started declaring his film repulsive and viewers fled from cinemas in disgust. Fortunately, the Academy retained its balls this year and remembered that cinema is not Disney Land.<br />
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On that note, they all but completely snubbed <i>Saving Mr Banks</i> which, while I haven't seen the film and am willing to believe its perfectly lovely, was a smart move. Pity about Emma Thompson's nomination, but it became inevitable that Amy Adams had to make the cut - and ousting Thompson's performance over Streep's was probably the right thing to do.<br />
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Most perplexingly, after a six year love affair with the incomparable, incorrigible Coen Brothers (which included an inspired Best Picture nomination for the surreal <i>A Serious Man)</i>, the Academy has completely overlooked <i>Inside Llewyn Davis, </i>one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year. Sure, they don't care, but in terms of preserving the year in cinema for future generations, that seems like a pretty big oversight. Sure, <i>Please Mr Kennedy </i>didn't qualify for Song, Director was crowded and Actor was way crowded, but no room in the Best Picture race for a Coen masterpiece? More embarassingly, no Screenplay nod? With Cinematography and Sound Mixing we shall be satisfied. Perhaps they can go back to being underdogs rather than Oscar darlings now, which suits them better anyhow.<br />
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Alexander Payne has always felt like more of a writer than a director, although he balances dark comedy and poignant drama like no one's business and never fails to extract quiet brilliance from his actors. It seems fitting then that he surplants both Spike Jonze and expected nominee Paul Greengrass as Best Director nominee for <i>Nebraska, </i>his first film from a screenplay he didn't also write. His low key, monochrome drama about family, money and mortality contends across the board, including Cinematography; a first for a Payne film.<br />
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Spike Jonze's glorious-looking <i>Her </i>(releasing soon where I live) did smashingly, despite missing out on that Best Director nod. Oh well. Jonze's postmodern digital age love story contends for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Art Directing / Set Decoration and, perhaps most excitingly, Original Song <i>and </i>Original Score by <i>Arcade Fire </i>(credited as William Butler and Owen Pallett). The Academy has a tendency to sideline rock stars and inventive scores in this category (with the sole exception of <i>The Social Network</i> and perhaps Thomas Newman's work), so this is a solid nod. Don't fret though - the rest of their Original Score nominees - other than <i>Gravity - </i>are predictably pallid. It's a pity <i>Her </i>doesn't contend for Editing and, especially, Cinematography, but let's take small winnings where we can get them.<br />
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Even Woody Allen gets a pretty respectable showing for <i>Blue Jasmine, </i>with Cate Blanchett obviously setting the stage for a brilliant acceptance speech on Oscar night, but the delightful Sally Hawkins (she of the dastardly <i>Happy-Go-Lucky </i>snub) and Woody's screenplay come along for the ride. Woody's screenplay almost always comes along for the ride.<br />
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Beyond <i>my </i>favourite directors, the three films leading the nominations - and likely battling it out for the top prize - are the life affirming Box Office Special Effects extravaganza <i>Gravity;</i> the gut-wrenching, devastating, gorgeous slavery drama <i>12 Years a Slave </i>and David O'Russell's crowd-pleasing critical darling ABSCAM con movie <i>American Hustle. </i>It's really no contest. With four acting nods (one for each category) for the second consecutive year, O'Russell is the one to beat for Director and Picture, while <i>Slave </i>missed out on nominations for Cinematography and Score, which does not bode well for its popularity with voters. <i>Gravity </i>will, of course, clean out the technical awards, but if it couldn't even win at the Golden Globes (who anointed <i>Avatar </i>Best Drama), we can stop pretending the Academy is taking it <i>that </i>seriously.<br />
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On that note, though, Steve McQueen just became only the third black man ever nominated for Best Director. It would be monumental if he won, especially since his film is just so damn good, but the Academy rarely splits Picture and Director - and never on purpose. For some reason, everyone is besotted with David O'Russell and he seems to have this in the bag. I'm not complaining - unlike <i>Silver Linings Playbook</i>, <i>Hustle </i>looks legitimately good.<br />
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On the outskirts of the Best Picture race, float one of the year's best films; <i>Captain Phillips</i> - a thrilling real-life survival story that also takes the trouble to be a thoughtful, and thought-provoking, meditation on terrorism and the perceived value of a life. Greengrass's craft is exceptional, and he turns a rah rah Hero's story into the year's great tragedy, without any emotional sleight of hand. It's a huge bummer that Tom Hanks and Paul Greengrass missed out on nominations for their brilliant, tightly wound work. Actor and Director were exceptionally crowded this year, and each ends up with a worthy set of nominees - but I'd gladly boot Payne for Greengrass.<br />
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Rounding out Best Picture is gritty AIDS drama <i>Dallas Buyers Club - </i>bolstered by two of the most talked-about performances of the year - and Stephen Frears' lovely seeming (nothing's been released here, okay?!) <i>Philomena, </i>floating in from the land of Downton Abbey with Harvey Weinstein's seal of approval, and another pitch-perfect performance from Judi Dench.<br />
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Other notable nominees:<br />
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<li><i>Before Midnight, </i>thankfully nominated for its sensational screenplay</li>
<li><i>The Great Beauty</i>, nominated for Foreign Language Film and Cinematography</li>
<li><i>Prisoners, </i>remembered for Cinematography, giving Roger Deakins yet another chance to lose</li>
<li><i>Frozen</i>, nominated for Animated Feature and Song<i>, </i>and sealing the deal to be the first Disney film to win Animated Feature (and directed by a woman at that)</li>
<li><i>August: Osage County</i>, contending for Actress (close call Meryl) and Supporting Actress</li>
<li>The much-maligned <i>Lone Ranger</i>, nominated for Make Up and Special Effects</li>
<li>The much-buzzed <i>Lone Survivor</i>, nominated for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing</li>
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The big losers:<br />
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<li>Sarah Polley's much-celebrated, highly inventive docu-drama <i>Stories We Tell </i>missing out on Best Documentary </li>
<li>Emma Thompson snubbed for Best Actress. Someone had to take the fall. Pity it had to be her. She's so delightful, whatever she does.</li>
<li>Robert Redford. Crowded category, but still an ouch. </li>
<li>Tom Hanks downgrading from potential double nominee to zero nominee</li>
<li>Pixar's <i>Monster's University </i>snubbed in favour of <i>Despicable Me 2 </i></li>
<li><i>Inside Llewyn Davis </i>sidelined to Sound Mixing and Cinematography</li>
<li><i>Saving Mr Banks</i>' sole nomination for Original Score - just to let them know they did see it, they just really didn't like it</li>
<li>Lana Del Rey. It's possible voters recalled her SNL performance and recoiled in fear. </li>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-7789325219921127772014-01-10T00:52:00.002-08:002014-01-10T00:59:02.949-08:00Us and Them: To Have and Have Not in 2013<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #003768; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
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<i>Us and Them </i></div>
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<i>And in the end, we're only ordinary men</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">- Pink Floyd, Us and Them</span></div>
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Human beings have long fostered the unfortunate, and incorrect, idea that in order for one of us to win, another has to lose. We seem to believe that success is a limited resource that can only be attained at the expense of another. And we justify it with the idea that aggressive capitalism and ambition is the main catalyst to economic progress.<u></u><u></u></div>
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Filmmakers of all genres in 2013 are calling for a rethink, for us to challenge our notion of the “other” – the people we exclude to make sure we are included. The <i>haves</i> that enjoy their privilege at the expense of the <i>have-nots;</i> the <i>haves </i>that have lost their soul in the progress, and the <i>have-nots </i>that inexplicably idolise them (of course, <i>having-not </i>depends very much on what you figure you should be having - as <a href="http://www.relevantmagazine.com/rtv/documentaries/memaw" target="_blank">Betty Sue Cox</a> <span style="font-size: 11pt;">reminds us, it doesn't take much to be so very rich). </span><br />
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<i>Elysium</i> & <i>Hunger Games: Catching Fire </i>take the idea of the 1% elite to sci fi extremes – the lesson? You can’t keep the masses down. They will destroy your bubble. The system will equalise itself. Just ask <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHSauBkkVL0NpyFRo0UJA5dCxTxXxUqttU3K0pNP0qBAxFtrkITci9NmPftBc8EoE3gN3ykBaxOwT9mT-dRReJs-ZgLhvzxsTwu5CXBKaVak5uDDp0UXX_S9XSjOyYjJGXSj0qMTxQCwOC/s1600/marie-antoinette.jpg" target="_blank">Marie</a> <a href="http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/283/6/7/marie_antoinette__s_execution_by_tgds-d30hqlz.jpg" target="_blank">Antoinette</a>. And take heed, <a href="http://mg.co.za/report/zumaville-a-special-report" target="_blank">Jacob Zuma</a>. In <i>Elysium</i>, the masses settle for access to health care and seem disinterested in vengeance. In <i>Hunger Games</i>, well we shall have to see (unless you've read the books, in which case you already know), but the point, at least so far, is that the masses possess more humanity than their oppressors.<u></u></div>
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<i><a href="http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/the-big-bad-wolf-wall-street-review/" target="_blank">The Wolf of Wall Street</a></i>, <i>The Bling Ring </i>and <i>Spring Breakers</i> exposed the sick heart of consumerism and excess, while Woody Allen called the heartless 1% to account for <a href="http://youtu.be/MfZoLD9Qthc" target="_blank">the damage they have done</a> in <i>Blue Jasmine</i>, and created a sort-of 21st century Blanche Du Bois for Cate Blanchett in the process (only, no one is trying to destroy her but herself). A change of heart for a man who’s spent so much time idolising Manhattan’s intellectual elite.<u></u><u></u></div>
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<i>Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom</i>, <i>The Butler </i>and <i>12 Years a Slave </i>all look at struggles for social equality and liberty by political have-notes, the victims of unjust laws. While <i>12 Years </i>casts a scathing eye on the racial horrors of America's past, <i>The Butler </i>shows just how slow change can be. The oppression in <i>Mandela </i>is all the more disturbing because it is perpetrated by the white <i>minority </i>(how they ever thought it was going to last is beyond comprehension - that it ended with minimal bloodshed is miraculous), while Bono's closing credits song is a synecdoche of a bigger problem - we still need white people to tell black stories.<u></u></div>
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Perhaps most heartbreakingly, both <i>Fruitvale Station</i> & <i>Captain Phillips </i>examine the very sad truth that the perceived value of a life is still connected to the colour of your skin and the affluence of your origin. Like Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant was profiled, judged and treated according to the colour of his skin - and it was acceptable for him to end up dead. In <i>Captain Phillips</i>, Muse seals his own fate by going up against the US Navy with his puny resources, but it is a testament to his devastating lack of opportunities that he sees no other option. Muse's own <span style="font-size: 11pt;">country seems regards him as expendable - </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">when everyone is too busy surviving, no one has time to risk their own lives for yours. What the US Navy pulled off to save Captain Phillips was commendable, beautifully executed and a picture of America's tenacity in fighting for the humanity of those they consider to be their own. It's a human shame that only certain lives, matching certain criteria, warrant that kind of effort.</span><br />
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Art reflects our reality, and hopefully we use it to reflect back on our own lives and the future we want to create. Some of our best filmmakers have taken the time to talk. Are we listening? Will we try to change the way we see and understand each other, or will we keep repeating an endless loop of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E0fVfectDo" target="_blank">reflections</a>? (disclosure: that last phrase was just an excuse to link to a great music videos).<u></u><u></u></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Final thoughts from Boyd Varty, a white man who learnt something invaluable from two great black men as a kid on his father's game farm: <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/boyd_varty_what_i_learned_from_nelson_mandela.html" target="_blank">TED Talk - What I Learned from Nelson Mandela</a>. </span></div>
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<i style="color: #003768; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">There is room at the mountaintop</i></div>
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<i>for everyone in God’s plan</i></div>
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<i style="font-size: 11pt;">- </i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The Rapture, It Takes Time to Be a Man</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-75652735974009293302013-12-18T23:16:00.002-08:002018-02-23T00:59:28.297-08:00Review: Before Midnight<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Who we were isn't lost before we were us</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Indigo is his own</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Blue always knew this</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tori Amos - Your Cloud</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There's something that fascinates me about pulling off the <a href="http://sumupfilm.blogspot.com/2013/01/kick-ass-trilogies-parts-1-to-5.html" target="_blank">perfect cinematic trilogy</a>. It's a tough nut to crack.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">With <i>Before Sunrise, Before Sunset </i>and now <i>Before Midnight, </i>Richard Linklater has cracked it. It's a wonder he pulled off even one enduring classic built entirely around two characters having a conversation. Instead, together with co-writers & stars Delpy & Hawke, he has delivered three films, each as lovely as the other, enriching rather than diluting what went before and demanding repeat viewings. Like any great trilogy, the first made a lasting impact on the popular zeitgeist, the second stuck to the template but upped the stakes, and the third changes the way we view the former, while faithfully playing out the characters and narrative we've come to love. Brilliant work, Linklater.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But <i>Before Midnight </i>is more than just a brilliant final instalment in a great, unlikely trilogy. It's also a harrowing / humorous dissection of a full-bodied relationship, and one of the best grown up films you'll see this year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Every relationship is defined by the perceptions and participation of both parties. Things are only ever how we choose to see them. Jesse and Celine (<b>SPOILER ALERT</b>) are now officially together, with kids, and see their relationship very differently. What does it take to make it last, and is it worth trying? A preface between Jesse and his son casts a shadow of domestic responsibility over the enchanting encounters of the first two films. Yes, they made the choice we kind of hoped they would, despite the complications they would entail. Now those complications must play themselves out in the real world (or as real world as a family holiday at the Greek villa of a famous writer can be). There's no literal ticking clock here like in <i>Sunrise</i> and <i>Sunset;</i> The clock that ticks is in the unspoken tensions between Jesse and Celine. Or perhaps only in Celine's head. Or perhaps, as Celine would insist, fate. Whatever the cause, the metaphysical clock is set in motion to decide if Jesse and Celine will have a happily ever after. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In a way, for all its indie-kids romantic origins, <i>Before Midnight</i> is the anti-rom com. This is about the work it takes to keep the pieces of any relationship in place, and the terror that strikes when the bond is called into question. Relationships can't be all long walks and profound talks in beautifiul cities. Any choice you could have made, no matter how magical, will ultimately require work. And sacrifice. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This time round, Linklater allows a number of ancillary characters to join the conversation in the middle section of the film, adding their perspectives to the question of love in the modern age - can it last? Is there any point in expecting it to? Wouldn't relationships be easier if we just take off the pressure and accept the expiry date? Only one party offers a differing view, but she makes a compelling case. Either she has been very lucky, or the others are doing it wrong. Or philosophise around their own fear of failure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Both leads are brilliant, fleshing out characters they created nearly two decades ago, and replacing the awkwardness and uncertainty of the first two films with years and years of shared subtext, layered into the long takes and free flowing naturalism. It's hard to understand how well the actors have to know their characters, and each other, to work in so much complexity without losing the in-the-moment authenticity. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But it's Julie Delpy who gives one of the unmissable performances of the year. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Celine has always been the more complicated character - even their host, Patrick, tells Jesse he is the only great writer he knows who has a partner more interesting than he is - but, in <i>Midnight, </i>she is not in a great place.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The mundane responsibilities of motherhood, and the intense devotion she feels for her family, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">leave her tired and s</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">he is keeping score of every sacrifice she makes for the sake of her relationship with Jesse that takes her further and further from the independent intellectual she always planned to be. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She loves her family but fears losing herself to them, especially to Jesse. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">From domestic logistics to gatherings of friends to vicious arguments, Delpy plays it all with a </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">constant swirl of resentment, bitterness, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">wit</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and devil-may-care independence simmering beneath the surface.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Delpy & her co-writers aren't scared to take Celine to dark places - we feel her frustrations, but also how she traps herself in her own contradictory rhetoric and impossible expectations. She's a woman who, in fighting for autonomy, insists on being unknowable, too easily plays the victim, denies her own insecurities and refuses to admit her overwhelming need to be loved, to be appreciated and, likely most embarrassingly for her, to be attractive and desirable, despite age crystallizing her bitterness, pessimism & melancholy into a temperament she knows she wouldn't put up with. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But that is why Celine is Celine and Jesse is Jesse. The very things she criticizes in him are the things she needs from him. For all her complaints, even</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> she does not know what she really wants. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Overwhelmed by the frailty and frustrations of their relationship, she </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">cannot imagine how it could last, or be worth the trouble, and sets about finding enough faults to end it before it can disappoint her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">The power in Delpy's performance is that she never succumbs to easy melodrama or playing Celine for laughs (although she is very funny). She believes in Celine, even as she lays out her fears and flaws for us to criticise. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jesse is still much the same carefree, pretentious kid he's always been; trying to reconcile his romantic views of life with the unsolvable complications his choices have left him with. If he seems happier and more carefree than Celine, she would insist it is only because he is more willfully naive, and selfish, but he ultimately emerges as a heroic romantic; with his eyes wide open, but his heart open wider. The same boy who plucked up the nerve to ask Celine to get off the train with him in Vienna is now the boy who'll keep asking her to spend her life with him, no matter how many times it takes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ultimately, <i>Midnight </i>is a brutally honest study of the moments we choose to save or break a relationship. The truth is, in those moments it can go either way. Celine implies it is fate, but the film suggests it has a lot more to do with choice. The things we break we often break out of fear. It's tempting to feel that <i>if</i> something can fall apart, it was never made to last. As if being breakable is reason enough for it to be abandoned. But we are all breakable. And it is precisely in fighting for each other in the breakable moments of our relationships that the strongest bonds are formed; the moments when we can transcend our fears, insecurities & selfishness to create something we decide will last with another person as breakable as we are. Love is losing ourselves. That is the point. And selfless love will hold us together if we let it. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-42880057753768833352013-12-10T06:40:00.004-08:002013-12-10T11:59:59.283-08:00American Film Institutes Top 10 Films of 2013Good list. Good year for cinema.<br />
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<i>12 Years a Slave</i></div>
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<i>American Hustle</i></div>
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<i>Captain Phillips</i></div>
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<i>Fruitvale Station</i></div>
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<i>Gravity</i></div>
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<i>Her</i></div>
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<i>Inside Llewyn Davis</i></div>
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<i>Nebraska</i></div>
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<i>Saving Mr Banks</i></div>
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<i>The Wolf of Wall Street</i></div>
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To be honest, American Hustle feels lightweight to me (sight unseen), but the NY Film Critics anointed it Movie of the Year, so I guess I should start adjusting my expectations.</div>
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It's a pity some of the fantastic indie fare, like <i>Before Midnight, Mud, Before Midnight, Blue Jasmine </i>and <i>Before Midnight </i>didn't make the cut, but how great is it seeing The Coens, Mr Scorsese, Spike Jonze, Alexander Payne & Steve McQueen dominate (not to mention Paul Greengrass and Alfonso Cuaron)? </div>
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They save their list by nodding <i>Fruitvale Station</i> over <i>The Butler</i>. Smart move.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-10771192554034816292013-12-05T09:04:00.002-08:002013-12-10T11:58:49.314-08:00Review: About Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyT71F6KBGUiAyn_Qrq90QCeZSVp2lbwiE8I3eVxPtgnwGeY9ct2pb2EXVekVuj-3vtV4N3F42SXuC8u07GqC2i_ldtjqIU4dUgj38c6UW2fIgk6axSe9QERoHFnVZkeScC9oTfG2O_bY/s1600/about-time-movie-image-600x400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyT71F6KBGUiAyn_Qrq90QCeZSVp2lbwiE8I3eVxPtgnwGeY9ct2pb2EXVekVuj-3vtV4N3F42SXuC8u07GqC2i_ldtjqIU4dUgj38c6UW2fIgk6axSe9QERoHFnVZkeScC9oTfG2O_bY/s640/about-time-movie-image-600x400.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are three things you may have noticed about </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">About Time</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;">1. </span><span style="color: #222222;">It is a <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0193485/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1" target="_blank">Richard Curtis</a> movie</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">2. </span><span style="color: #222222;">It is a time travel movie</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3. It is a <a href="http://www.google.co.za/imgres?hl=en&biw=1517&bih=724&tbm=isch&tbnid=5u8uSiDUlRJ8YM:&imgrefurl=http://phua.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/red-eye/&docid=jgW5kxrmcndeBM&imgurl=http://phua.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/red-eye-4.jpg&w=714&h=474&ei=JwiWUuraNciAhAe-zYDwBg&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:12,s:0,i:133&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=176&tbnw=263&start=0&ndsp=18&tx=84&ty=78" target="_blank">Rachel McAdams</a> romantic-type movie.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While it succeeds admirably at point 1, it fails miserably at point 2, and I would like to make a case for point 3 meaning something far meatier connotations than it currently does. (And, yes, amazingly points 2 & 3 have co-existed before).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Point 1:</span></h3>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Being a Richard Curtis movie, it is of course charming, cutely eccentric, unashamedly sentimental and just potty-mouthed enough to remind you it is British, and therefore less shallow than an American movie. For this reason alone, <i>About Time </i>will do quite well. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQfDe003zAqxwOH3AVvl7S85besBgqCehgSSB0qCCnQb_W5GdZUVCZIoRWFw0L3nYjl0Hbur6yBh2LnZ7TIijt44VgptVzihxuNR2YCg9JLHh4AAg_AiEjfMp1Rc1nsmIyBsgDEWt0foc/s1600/1-Desktop6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQfDe003zAqxwOH3AVvl7S85besBgqCehgSSB0qCCnQb_W5GdZUVCZIoRWFw0L3nYjl0Hbur6yBh2LnZ7TIijt44VgptVzihxuNR2YCg9JLHh4AAg_AiEjfMp1Rc1nsmIyBsgDEWt0foc/s640/1-Desktop6.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Are they not adorkable?</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Point 2:</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">As a time travel movie, it's </span><a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pants" target="_blank">pants</a><span style="color: #222222;">. If you're interested in the philosophical nature of time travel scenarios, the unforeseen consequences of altering past decisions or the worrisome establishing of multiple timelines (and you should be), </span><i style="color: #222222;">About Time </i><span style="color: #222222;">will drive you bananas. Curtis is not so much interested in time </span><i style="color: #222222;">travel </i><span style="color: #222222;">so much as ruminating on how to spend our limited time on earth wisely. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Curtis makes some lovely observations about family & how to live an ordinary life well and, perhaps, he's on to some poignant points.It's just a pity he's not into tight plotting or space-time continuum logic. </span><span style="color: #222222;">Perhaps I've been spoiled by too many great episodes of </span><i style="color: #222222;">Fringe </i><span style="color: #222222;">and </span><i style="color: #222222;">Community</i><span style="color: #222222;">, but when time travel / <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2060963/" target="_blank">alternate realities</a> are introduced to the plot, it is to be taken seriously (preferably with gloomy, mind-bending results). </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">Curtis doesn't, and he makes this clear upfront by the whimsically casual way he <i><a href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2013/8/29/1377791588531/Domhnall-Gleeson-and-Bill-008.jpg" target="_blank">Bill Nighys</a></i> time travel into the story.</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Sure, when it comes to magic realism, the less exposition, the better, but forgive me for wanting to be at least slightly baffled by the unforeseen implications of tiny shifts in time. I'm pretty willing to suspend my disbelief and overlook plot holes for time travel conundrums, but there need to be some solid ground rules / internal logic. Curtis stays light on internal logic, favouring a more freewheeling approach instead.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8We_RUN3Y2WU9DQRvOjIajp3up66RWaTspscZbhEXlR2_SSsXlWpjoyoJOlQhekraYBpn3sz6huVod4hnTPSkQkB56KuHC2svykEzTVHIW0-O8QI-aNqrrSxfk1U-SsfRyDitylZA2VY/s1600/about-time-domnhall-gleeson-4-600x400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8We_RUN3Y2WU9DQRvOjIajp3up66RWaTspscZbhEXlR2_SSsXlWpjoyoJOlQhekraYBpn3sz6huVod4hnTPSkQkB56KuHC2svykEzTVHIW0-O8QI-aNqrrSxfk1U-SsfRyDitylZA2VY/s320/about-time-domnhall-gleeson-4-600x400.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Tim's time travel abilities leave little in the way of undesired consequences, but much in the way of </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">magical fun & male wish fulfillment. It's kind of a straight-forward </span></span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzibA7YP7VM" target="_blank">Erase / Rewind</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> situation, with a few arbitrary twists and bugs (sperm logic, anyone?) thrown in for some plot tension. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But who cares? It's not the point. You're not watching a Time Travel Movie, you're watching a Richard Curtis movie. Since the point of the movie is kind of not over-thinking life, but just enjoying it, I suppose a similar approach is to be advised for the film itself.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Point 3</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Yes. This is the second time travel romance that Rachel McAdams has made. How bizarre. This one makes the </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452694/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">other one</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> seem more legit from a time travel point of view. But I'd probably still want to watch this one again before that one. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is very bizarre that Curtis seems intent on presenting Rachel McAdams as some kind of frumpy, quirky, smart, loner girl. Yeah, no, vintage dresses, hipster glasses, brown hair & a weird obsession with Kate Moss do not the lovely McAdams into an outsider frump make.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I really wish the description "a Rachel McAdams movie" would carry with it more weight and thrill of anticipation. She's really a much better actress than her agent seems to think. Someone please give this woman a good script. I'd really love to see her play a murderer, or a vile politician, or basically <a href="http://myrachelmcadams.com/pic/20080813/rachel_mcadams_-_mean_girls_promos/rachel_mcadams_mean_girls_20080813_01.jpg" target="_blank">any character not impossibly adorable and lovely</a>. At least half the time. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">But more to the point, McAdams is lovely and huggable as ever in <i>About Time. </i>Domhnall Gleeson is equally charming and together they have a sweet chemistry. Though all the </span><span style="color: #222222;">meet-cutes, chat-cutes and grow-cutes would appear to indicate that Tim and Mary are soul mates of sorts, just</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><i style="color: #222222;">one single tiny fight </i><span style="color: #222222;">would have gone a long way to making their relationship more believable. More problematically, it is unforgivable that Tim never bothers to mention his gift / condition to Mary. Especially since he does little with it but trick his way into her life, heart and pants. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Really, it kind of fails as a romcom, cause it's ultimately much more of a father-son movie, which bring me to my conclusion.</span><br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Conclusion</span></h3>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Taking the film for what it is, here is what is great about it:</span></span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bill Nighy </span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The father-son bits of the story </span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Curtis makes a strong case for the importance of (eccentric, accepting, British, tea drinking) families, and presents a touching, incredibly sincere (if underdeveloped) father-son relationship. Again, Curtis is painting in broad strokes of father-son relationships generally (as neither character is developed enough to really delve into the relationship specifically) but, in its final stretch, Curtis' script and film find a sincerity and depth nothing else in the film touches, </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and emerge with easy sentiment marginally defeated by an authentic delivery of earnest longings. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If only Curtis could give us a more workable
plan for spending less time at work and more time with teenage sons (standing in a cupboard and clenching your fists likely won't work for most of
us). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">All in all, a somewhat lazy, but quite charming & uncommonly meditative Richard Curtis outing.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> Probably great for first dates. Even better for father-son dates (although, if you already do those, you probably don't need to see this).</span></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-15790965586384789702013-11-22T23:02:00.004-08:002013-11-23T00:39:11.570-08:00Review: The Place Beyond the Pines<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8n3HcP2qqw2FxE178zPVsSyh9faXyOofKT7Eu14Hwz1EKVTyeNzHqaZz8x7DHhalwrvntrbZzH0b8VXcjZ9i1i7oiumEWT_W8SlZIusosAS1_rCo0k8Qvh4w0k_myu1ekp8efHk15RYs/s1600/Luke+and+Romina.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8n3HcP2qqw2FxE178zPVsSyh9faXyOofKT7Eu14Hwz1EKVTyeNzHqaZz8x7DHhalwrvntrbZzH0b8VXcjZ9i1i7oiumEWT_W8SlZIusosAS1_rCo0k8Qvh4w0k_myu1ekp8efHk15RYs/s640/Luke+and+Romina.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Derek's Cianfrance's debut, <i>Blue Valentine, </i>blew my freaking mind. A searing, uncommonly intimate portrait of a young marriage alternately blossoming to life and crumbling away that performed beautifully on every level. It was a heart-, nay gut-wrenching powerhouse indie. To stop me going on about it any longer, you can go here to read my <a href="http://sumupfilm.blogspot.com/2011/04/blue-valentine-review.html" target="_blank">Blue Valentine Review</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cianfrance's second film as writer and director, <i>The </i><i>Place Beyond the Pines</i>, is a slower, more measured exercise; a great sophomore effort that shows Cianfrance is not interested in repeating himself, but in letting his stories guide him through the maze of human relationships.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXdL-KBiFdsrZSJVLPm7_Mg3vLZYjbDI7gbZo2g59yULovN3KggWw4qtwS_7mAuhVUww-si4pYK0EpJ-F8UXZPkLV-xsFUHEuIc8J0i__YmXIkeIeGQ894RVp1cvH22j0mwdgiUvrXKl4/s1600/place-beyond-the-pines-ryan-gosling2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXdL-KBiFdsrZSJVLPm7_Mg3vLZYjbDI7gbZo2g59yULovN3KggWw4qtwS_7mAuhVUww-si4pYK0EpJ-F8UXZPkLV-xsFUHEuIc8J0i__YmXIkeIeGQ894RVp1cvH22j0mwdgiUvrXKl4/s320/place-beyond-the-pines-ryan-gosling2.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In <i>Pines</i>, Cianfrance and his two co-writers Ben Coccio & Darius Marder, are interested in father-son relationships and the defining presence they have on the lives of men; how deeply the fact of being a father, or a son, fulfillingly or not, impacts how we shape our identities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Pines </i>is not as intense or swooning a film as <i>Valentine</i>. It's a more ambiguously contemplative slow-burner, boldly presented in three divergent but narratively & thematically connected chapters. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On the surface a crime thriller (or three crime thrillers), but really a multi-generational, multi-protagonist (always a difficult trick to pull off) character study.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chapter 1:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">The strongest of the three and the one that feels most likely to succeed as its own full-length film. It's almost a pity when </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">Pines </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">moves on from it, but everything that follows gives it a different resonance & weight of context. In a way, it lingers far longer in the memory precisely because Cianfrance abandons it so soon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This chapter follows Luke (Ryan Gosling), a heavily tattooed hipster/stuntman who seems to exist purely to smoke broodily on the edges of society & look ridiculously cool doing dangerous stuff on a motorcycle. A spark is awakened, though, when he learns that a former fling Romina (Eva Mendes) has given birth to his son & he sets out to be an involved father & breadwinner - even if it means robbing banks (spectacularly, with motorbike getaways) & luring Romina away from her stable family life with a new boyfriend. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixjyflez0_S2JQE_3wrO6gqZHDwUSOiaa6oagblYbTSZqWCER1d05xw_C1R72YE8JHw0qq9Mvz_sNwVIZH8f3v_lPkV338e0YmplhAWxtHs0nkSWRpoC9L5n_aW1KdlF9U0yfuWmtgBe0/s1600/ryan-gosling-the-place-beyond-the-pines-600x399.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixjyflez0_S2JQE_3wrO6gqZHDwUSOiaa6oagblYbTSZqWCER1d05xw_C1R72YE8JHw0qq9Mvz_sNwVIZH8f3v_lPkV338e0YmplhAWxtHs0nkSWRpoC9L5n_aW1KdlF9U0yfuWmtgBe0/s320/ryan-gosling-the-place-beyond-the-pines-600x399.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can't deny the guy his passion and dedication to being a present father, even if his presence is destabilizing. When Luke says that that he wants his son to know him - because he didn't know his father & look how he turned out - it comes off massively poignant rather than trite. Surely Fatherly love of such conviction counts for something, even if the father in question is less than stable? Well, that's the question. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />This segment of the film has everything going for it. Cianfrance writes a great character for Gosling and Gosling, when given great characters, is naturally dynamite. He plays Luke all coiled rage and beautiful intentions. He doesn't say much but he has a helluva lot more to do than look cool (there's a lesson here for <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1602613/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">Nicolas Winding Refn</a>). This is a great character with a great trajectory, and Cianfrance gives him some great scenes - from </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">crying in a church to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">racking up the tension as he passive aggresively puts together a baby cot in Romina & Kofi's house (uninvited) to his final moments on screen, he is electric. Gosling & Mendes also have great onscreen chemistry - Mendes, with this and last year's <i><a href="http://cinedork.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/holy-motors04.jpg" target="_blank">Holy Motors</a></i>, is starting to make a legitimate case for being taken seriously. Starting.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ8AITJwpXOGtBpZBy_f5YR3pODmNwGlos1lanmtT7rg9X1O22EkjgNZPxO2Sikl1KbwRHxOV0yHsfNcPm50Gb8TXzMuKtNAlHW9ox3MRml6-DQo-RtzEbGjf9CPjTEWs9MTLpjJai7po/s1600/ryan-gosling-eva-mendes-the-place-beyond-the-pines-600x399.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ8AITJwpXOGtBpZBy_f5YR3pODmNwGlos1lanmtT7rg9X1O22EkjgNZPxO2Sikl1KbwRHxOV0yHsfNcPm50Gb8TXzMuKtNAlHW9ox3MRml6-DQo-RtzEbGjf9CPjTEWs9MTLpjJai7po/s320/ryan-gosling-eva-mendes-the-place-beyond-the-pines-600x399.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">DOP Sean Bobbitt also does some of his best lensing here, milking some gorgeous shots from both Luke's theme park workplace & his time spent on motorcycles. He also creates a gentle, melancholy intimacy for Gosling & Mendes' sad-awkward-beautiful family portrait. I should also mention that Ben Mendelsohn is fantastic as Luke's odd/unpredictable/white trash employer/friend/crime mentor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Chapter 2</b>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The story moves on to Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), a nervous-seeming cop who becomes a hero, and alienates his family as he wrestles with his conscience, after he kills a perp in the line of duty, in less-than-ideal circumstances. It's all less angsty than it sounds because a) Bradley Cooper is good, but not yet as good at inner turmoil as he is at <a href="http://www.google.co.za/imgres?hl=en&biw=1441&bih=1319&tbm=isch&tbnid=dp1rppfyJuOtKM:&imgrefurl=http://www.mbird.com/2013/01/mockingbird-at-the-movies-silver-linings-playbook/&docid=Rtz0f_O8pGzkcM&imgurl=http://www.mbird.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/silverlinings7.jpg&w=1330&h=606&ei=1kWQUtihEI2QhQfQnYH4Cg&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:28,s:0,i:177&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=151&tbnw=322&start=0&ndsp=40&tx=207&ty=33" target="_blank">loud, cutesy bi-polarism</a> and b) Avery is kind of a passive character who seems to feel bad about a lot of things but not do much about them. When he does take action, you can't help but question his motives.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoY2NNUxCZWn6srvPy1hMy3Rv1VTaoHQIKwsKo0nvDF6FsgwQ87w3-FD0tbiek2G-Nm7fpCAL0DvOYWuRPyhrbl6C3MB43Ws3Hil6W8-YszkkzGyDdGqlgYOZOhLv0FZvjRBYHql5aVGs/s1600/place-beyond-the-pines-bradley-cooper-3-600x421.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoY2NNUxCZWn6srvPy1hMy3Rv1VTaoHQIKwsKo0nvDF6FsgwQ87w3-FD0tbiek2G-Nm7fpCAL0DvOYWuRPyhrbl6C3MB43Ws3Hil6W8-YszkkzGyDdGqlgYOZOhLv0FZvjRBYHql5aVGs/s200/place-beyond-the-pines-bradley-cooper-3-600x421.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Which brings us to the next part of the story, which introduces Ray Liotta as Deluca, a tough, sinister corrupt cop leading a band of similarly tough, corrupt cops who tries to draw Avery into his circle of extortion. Moral dilemmas ensue. Ray Liotta is great, of course. Rose Byrne is also around, as Avery's longsuffering wife but, while she has some good moments, her presence feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity. </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixsABzAhPlQP7izYodY6n0qQPajM7-IgJf1yvgvstfxgiV4bVGkDSIk6bKxDJ9Jj0VaLRKs-GtgFS5oZG5aNqaAmgxUOxvYR02qdaN-bhzTVXjaRVEUtmwTtCAf-JKRB_WkFb-Ke-B8NA/s1600/movies-the-place-beyond-the-pines-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixsABzAhPlQP7izYodY6n0qQPajM7-IgJf1yvgvstfxgiV4bVGkDSIk6bKxDJ9Jj0VaLRKs-GtgFS5oZG5aNqaAmgxUOxvYR02qdaN-bhzTVXjaRVEUtmwTtCAf-JKRB_WkFb-Ke-B8NA/s320/movies-the-place-beyond-the-pines-03.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This part of the film is odd, but not in a bad way, simply because it takes the narrative in such a different direction and seems to change the tone so sharply. As a character, Avery is hard to read or warm up to and, though there is a clear sense of chaos brewing, it is hard to tell quite how it is going and how it will all tie together.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chapter 3</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">AJ (Emory Cohen) is a teenager sent to live with his father in Schenectady to help him stabilise after he gets in trouble over drugs. His father, however, is distracted by his campaign to be elected New York City General and a son with drug-related misdemeanors is less than convenient. The father in question is Avery Cross.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd4Cr5ou4sCWhhPLBI5Y-mRsi7lQOiIXmvhjGw6BTACPHz2i6pfDv0asUmV1BIzH0l7zYhjFiUNzT3N4C2qRID031DDoC4l5d-JlcsP-QyLdeMbUTjlrlqX_cPpD8G8hCJ3CUE42HIxsc/s1600/Jason+&+AJ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd4Cr5ou4sCWhhPLBI5Y-mRsi7lQOiIXmvhjGw6BTACPHz2i6pfDv0asUmV1BIzH0l7zYhjFiUNzT3N4C2qRID031DDoC4l5d-JlcsP-QyLdeMbUTjlrlqX_cPpD8G8hCJ3CUE42HIxsc/s320/Jason+&+AJ.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At his new school, AJ befriends broody loner Jason (Dane Dehaan) and, sensing a shared void, the two strike up a tentative friendship. Jason is a sensitive kid, ready to boil over under the surface, while AJ is a jock of sorts, hiding his frailty under a layer of douchiness. What neither boy knows is that Luke is Jason's father and their stories are inextricably linked. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Both young actors are excellent (although Dehaan is the broody standout) and the writers must be commended for writing such vivid teenagers: complex beasts negotiating posturing and insecurities they don't yet fully understand. Far from the jocks and nerds trope usually presented as high school standards, they are authentic, unsure adolescents trying to find their way into adulthood and sensing that they may be looking for the same things.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs8zUrzxFP9D_lXKGEg_Y1zhqmOHr6SbQISTAj9U0_63EkSVYneRBXknrds8dsqNjyTQ-BbMUPd_0Yyn3URGtqgFwNTfMdufTtmEFeZvq1VQwhOZj9eEuFyfArlSpNZqCp6nJ_fPkh4uA/s1600/Dan+Dehaan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs8zUrzxFP9D_lXKGEg_Y1zhqmOHr6SbQISTAj9U0_63EkSVYneRBXknrds8dsqNjyTQ-BbMUPd_0Yyn3URGtqgFwNTfMdufTtmEFeZvq1VQwhOZj9eEuFyfArlSpNZqCp6nJ_fPkh4uA/s400/Dan+Dehaan.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This part of the film works and really drives things home because Cianfrance takes it slow and gives it plenty of time to breathe. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Things rise to a slow, broody conclusion that simmers out into the film's thematic inclinations. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the end it all comes together as a slow burner that was always intended to be an enigmatic thinkpiece rather than a straight drama or thriller. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cianfrance is more interested in the legacy of fathers and sons, the choices - even bad ones - that produce life and belonging, and the ones that leave a void.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Each of the characters is somehow marked by the choices of those who went before them; Luke never knew his father while Avery is always living in the shadow of his. Both AJ and Jason, in turn, continue to live out shadows of the secret crimes, compromises & </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sacrifices of their fathers</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, without even knowing it. It is simply imprinted on their spiritual DNA.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-27549995248093662402013-11-06T12:29:00.002-08:002013-11-06T12:29:42.104-08:00Review: Gravity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqntA6EMD4MzFuDELSCvZw6lB54ScNkueNEQUXslrvgLoG_0x35-3QeX9x-xbdEFaju6qfflw2pd1vOSVVKTx4Zf253MuKI8oXzw5ZjaQZz6mj8uSs5N1QL-_gTdpXD0GrSpb6qcMDZhI/s1600/gravity-movie-wallpaper-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqntA6EMD4MzFuDELSCvZw6lB54ScNkueNEQUXslrvgLoG_0x35-3QeX9x-xbdEFaju6qfflw2pd1vOSVVKTx4Zf253MuKI8oXzw5ZjaQZz6mj8uSs5N1QL-_gTdpXD0GrSpb6qcMDZhI/s640/gravity-movie-wallpaper-9.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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With a <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/movie/gravity" target="_blank">Metacritic score as high as 96</a> and talk of Best Picture gongs, it's best to go into <i>Gravity </i>with normalised expectations.<br />
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This is <i>not</i> an arthouse sci-fi extravaganza in the tradition of <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i>. It is also <i>not </i>an unspeakable horror film detailing a slow suffocating death in outer space (both a pity and a huge relief).<br />
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It is, however, breathtaking visual filmmaking and a marvel to behold. Director Alfonso Cuaron beautifully marries fancy (CGI) camera work (read long, slow, complex shots) with perfectly rendered special effects, a romping spacey score, deathly silence, where needed, and sharp pacing to put us right out in space with Dr Ryan Stone (Bullock) and Matt Kowlaski (Clooney), he taking in the beauty of space while she focuses on fixing whatever it is she is out there to be fixing.<br />
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(As a side note, it's weird that Cuaron fought to have a woman in the lead and then gave her a man's name, for no apparent reason. Not important, just odd.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7RR7UfnSVp48bv_MtHgX3inu0HwhhfHwfTJildDFVhhgt3TIfCNIHvf_692XmEiyhx8N3ggnoyAcLx8LWD3G1h0JXiTA__ytsTOTjmOfzmhedYMfS9hqFm-tAWdT3MKnwqG4DdZQJKoM/s1600/gravity-movie-review-space-earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7RR7UfnSVp48bv_MtHgX3inu0HwhhfHwfTJildDFVhhgt3TIfCNIHvf_692XmEiyhx8N3ggnoyAcLx8LWD3G1h0JXiTA__ytsTOTjmOfzmhedYMfS9hqFm-tAWdT3MKnwqG4DdZQJKoM/s320/gravity-movie-review-space-earth.jpg" width="320" /></a>Disaster ensues, of course, in the shape of Russian space debris of some sort and the next 90 minutes are a breathless survival adventure, during which Dr Stone will learn life-affirming adventures. It's great stuff. It's just not the artistic masterpiece we may have been led to expect. Make no mistake - it's a great, gripping, expertly made film. You'll probably want to see it twice because, visally, it <i>will </i>blow you away. You just have to set your expectations at <i>standard,</i> script wise.<br />
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It's kind of like <i>Cast Away, </i>in space, with a woman,<i> </i>but<i> </i>much<i> </i>leaner and far more exciting<i>.</i> Like <i>Cast Away</i>, it puts one of the most likeable people in Hollywood in extreme, isolating circumstances where they must learn to let go and stop trying to control life. Unlike <i>Cast Away, </i>the action in<i> Gravity </i>is confined to what must be just a few intense hours in the life of Dr Stone. In <i>Cast Away, </i>Tom Hanks cries over a basketball. In <i>Gravity</i>, Sandra Bullock howl's with a dog. But I digress.<br />
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The other important thing about <i>Gravity </i>is that it centers almost entirely on a 50+ woman all alone in space. And still made tons of money at the box office. Take that 14-year-old-boy-demographic. More importantly, it is also the moment that Sandra Bullock finally approaches enough credibility as a character actress to start justifying her <i>Blind Side </i>Oscar as a career Oscar (this will all change for the worse if she manages to steal Cate Blanchett's Oscar). For the most part, her performance as Ryan is understated, heartfelt and appropriately subtle. It's just a pity the script didn't allow the second half of the film - and by extension Dr Stone's journey - to be as understated as the first. It may have tipped a gripping adventure yarn into haunting, devastating masterpiece territory. Or maybe not.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCUKJYeRslQP_SuFgDUxKz4q9BeP0DppeWaSrAUr6QtXbALCNXTwNrNphzzM1UfMuZ05i0XTAX_Fb8AlL53QCu-hUn1LXhDbkCVrBJbb6lNOfNWNC89vy9P-F2jknyiQjK7BApXmijhtA/s1600/Gravity-Image-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCUKJYeRslQP_SuFgDUxKz4q9BeP0DppeWaSrAUr6QtXbALCNXTwNrNphzzM1UfMuZ05i0XTAX_Fb8AlL53QCu-hUn1LXhDbkCVrBJbb6lNOfNWNC89vy9P-F2jknyiQjK7BApXmijhtA/s400/Gravity-Image-2.jpg" width="400" /></a><i>Gravity </i>does have philosophical ambitions beyond the great visuals, but they're closer to Richard Curtis' <i>In Time </i>positivity vibes than Kubrick's abstract ruminations on consciousness in <i>2001. </i>That's not necessarily a bad thing. Simple contentment may be the smartest thing of all.<br />
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All in all, you really have to see <i>Gravity</i>, but just expect a good night at the movies, not your world to be changed. Then you should be fairly blown away.<br />
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Another side note: this movie has amazing sets. For real.<br />
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And on a final note, Emmanuel Lubezki. Seeing as the whole ship on digital cinematography has clearly sailed (was there ever even a debate), we can accept that the way-overdue Director of Photography (the man behind the camera for <i>Tree of Life, Children of Men, The New World, Lemony Snickets etc) </i>will finally be bagging his first Oscar. 3D seems to do the trick lately, but he is well and truly deserving. For this and everything else he has shot. Huzzah.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBsntLKqA54bJKlp6XxKGkBJWQoHB_2CDS8vwKNpixlDU8ZwwyG8i5Wfc0bbnJ87RWf5RWlslEimzP2ws0QzopNcrtD0Q9he8lSCiOpYWyb6WfQFd8W4CjlcUpaaPvnBMh5F2pfYrbVoE/s1600/Gravity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBsntLKqA54bJKlp6XxKGkBJWQoHB_2CDS8vwKNpixlDU8ZwwyG8i5Wfc0bbnJ87RWf5RWlslEimzP2ws0QzopNcrtD0Q9he8lSCiOpYWyb6WfQFd8W4CjlcUpaaPvnBMh5F2pfYrbVoE/s640/Gravity.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-51373320606595808542013-11-05T10:54:00.000-08:002013-11-23T01:26:00.233-08:002013: The year black history took center stage<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisi8iAkXsHGJ0hXKlHzCwVid2NpISc-0Re4MFCnWt07RsP0YjgnUIr0Ypu9EcfTDZ-ZWdqUeemRqVpF3a3gU7CeT75CYayQ8iQ6xv-pR325OZicDerte0oAfQst6LIeZWSJt-TBhN3k-Q/s1600/Trayvon+Martin+Hoodie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisi8iAkXsHGJ0hXKlHzCwVid2NpISc-0Re4MFCnWt07RsP0YjgnUIr0Ypu9EcfTDZ-ZWdqUeemRqVpF3a3gU7CeT75CYayQ8iQ6xv-pR325OZicDerte0oAfQst6LIeZWSJt-TBhN3k-Q/s200/Trayvon+Martin+Hoodie.jpg" width="200" /></a>The acquittal of George Zimmerman in July this year (for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin">shooting of Trayvon Martin </a>in February 2012) made it tragically clear that racism, fueled by ignorance, fear and rote assumptions, is alive and well in America (as, sadly, it is all over the world).</div>
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Not that everyone didn't know about it before, but the Zimmerman / Martin saga got everyone talking, and angry, about it again. It couldn't be timed better, then, that three emerging black directors managed to sneak three powerful dramas (okay, two plus <i>The Butler</i>), telling the real-life stories of black Americans across the ages, past the Hollywood powers that be.<br />
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<i>12 Years a Slave, The Butler </i>and <i>Fruitvale Station</i> feature exceptional black (and white) ensembles, are directed by black directors with strong, unique vision and written by exceptional black writers (okay, <i>The Butler </i>was written by a white guy). Considering it's also the year that gave us Idris Elba as Nelson Mandela and some <a href="http://atlantablackstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Captain-Phillips-2.jpg">legit African bros</a> playing some of the most complex terrorists a mainstream director has dared to put on screen, 2013 is truly an embarassment of black American riches.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfhlecXk98HNE7Ppr-J431s00rKUI6SkrNMPKmVxnWd_PQqNB8cOjlqmj6uHetHt_BxWpXcWHfEl_5TAdIUn3MK3sFhuEYkhEx9imsVfnhingrt6chDD1GJYyGsvF1i_Czl_0gJxeFIRU/s1600/Best+Actor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfhlecXk98HNE7Ppr-J431s00rKUI6SkrNMPKmVxnWd_PQqNB8cOjlqmj6uHetHt_BxWpXcWHfEl_5TAdIUn3MK3sFhuEYkhEx9imsVfnhingrt6chDD1GJYyGsvF1i_Czl_0gJxeFIRU/s400/Best+Actor.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
None of these films are made by, or feature, Tyler Perry (proof that there is a God), nor have they been been confined to the Tyler Perry target demographic. Helped along in no small part by the presence of Madame Oprah, <i>The Butler</i> crossed the $100 million box office threshold in America (not bad for a film that tells four decades of American history from a black perspective), while <i>12 Years a Slave </i>is working its way up with $8.7 million so far from selected cinemas. <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/movie/12-years-a-slave">Its <i>epic </i>aggregate score</a> <span style="font-size: 11pt;">of 97 on Metacritic</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> so far </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">- based on 45 critics' reviews - should help boost word of mouth and, oh, its chances of actually winning all those Oscar races it already, inevitably, leads (Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting </span>Actress<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> & Supporting Actor).</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> <i>Fruitvale Station</i>, by comparison is more of an independent affair, but one that's made quite an impact thanks to its <a href="http://www.sundance.org/calendar/event/7508/">Sundance victories</a> and the presence of Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer as Producer and actor. $16 million in Box Office and an 85-er on Metacritic is not bad for a film about an ordinary black guy that got killed. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOECMpuF-KA7eR15Qw1bvpJy4ZOfDvNLp1NKe4rK0cy-_5yPQ-GMdLiClxnE4oRKuVCwxZnCBNMF3OABw3NxniglfJsQ2jIdaEkT1ByBhd7-ea34PnKXsNB1Zwa8rsn0_U5ZlArb86a0c/s1600/Supporting+Actress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOECMpuF-KA7eR15Qw1bvpJy4ZOfDvNLp1NKe4rK0cy-_5yPQ-GMdLiClxnE4oRKuVCwxZnCBNMF3OABw3NxniglfJsQ2jIdaEkT1ByBhd7-ea34PnKXsNB1Zwa8rsn0_U5ZlArb86a0c/s400/Supporting+Actress.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #003768; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Last year kind of set the stage for this, with both </span></span><i style="font-size: 11pt;">Lincoln </i><span style="color: #003768; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">and </span></span><i style="font-size: 11pt;">Django Unchained </i><span style="color: #003768; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">priming the conversation on slavery (in wildly different ways). But both films </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">revolved around the white men fighting the good fight against slavery on behalf of their black brothers.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> And both were told by white writers and white directors. Nothing wrong with that, but in a world where black people were systematically oppressed by white folk in far too many countries, there is something very significant about black artists telling black history in their own voice.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #003768; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Also, while </span></span><i style="font-size: 11pt;">Lincoln </i><span style="color: #003768; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">was mesmerising historical cinema (for those with the patience to let it cast its spell) with great dialogue plenty of food for either thought or the soul, depending on how you're wired, I found </span></span><i style="font-size: 11pt;">Django </i><span style="color: #003768; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">cheap, offensive and even exploitative (not to mention overlong and self indulgent, but those can be forgiven) in the way it presumes an eye-for-an-eye bloodlust on the part of black slaves which belies the incredible grace and restraint with which black leaders like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela fought for freedom. </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">But I digress. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">So where does that leave us? With three films pondering racial inequality across American history - slavery in the mid 1800s, the fight for civil rights in the 1960s and the inherent tension, and danger, of being a black man in America today (as Trayvon Martin so tragically discovered) - entering the awards race with full force: </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFk74Y1Yu2As1kXIDtnXRK9-YZxgCLm-PMD-mKMe4pHgL5-zgZ4yGvjkYJ6s7yDRfDcS_vWeTwrmGYKWBPs8d2ZfA_CDYFywCUyLC5CNCfJsbjMDtTHQozU5hdkIPMqNN0yYedzYTjOIs/s1600/Supporting+Actor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFk74Y1Yu2As1kXIDtnXRK9-YZxgCLm-PMD-mKMe4pHgL5-zgZ4yGvjkYJ6s7yDRfDcS_vWeTwrmGYKWBPs8d2ZfA_CDYFywCUyLC5CNCfJsbjMDtTHQozU5hdkIPMqNN0yYedzYTjOIs/s200/Supporting+Actor.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">At this stage, <i>12 Years a Slave</i> makes a strong case for Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Actor, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress. It may be too harrowing / painful / divisive to pan out in most of those, but it still enters the race as strong as any movie could hope to. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>The Butler's </i>heavy sentiment and impressive Box Office make it another strong contender for that Best Picture slot reserved for the movie that made everyone cry, just a little, even if they didn't want to, even if its not really actually all that good (for recent examples, see: <i>War Horse, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Blind Side, The Help), </i>as well as Screenplay and even Director (box office talks)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The great Chiwetel Ejiofor goes head-to-head with Robert Redford for Best Actor, in <i>12 Years </i>and <i>All Is Lost</i>, respectively, while former </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">winner Forest Whitaker is a strong nominee contender for his complex, decade-spanning role as the nominal Butler in, well, <i>The Butler. </i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>The Butler's </i>Oprah Winfrey and <i>12 Years a Slave's </i>Lupita Nyong'o battle it out to win Best Supporting Actress (at this point, there is no-one who can touch either of them), with </span><i style="font-size: 11pt;">Fruitvale Station's </i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Octavia Spencer in the wings with another strong performance (wildly different from her Oscar-winning role in <i>The Help).</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Both <span style="font-size: 11pt;"><div style="display: inline !important;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Barkhad Abdi </span><i style="font-size: 11pt;">(Captain Phillips) </i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">and <span style="font-size: 11pt;">David Oyelowo </span></span></div>
</span></span><i style="font-size: 11pt;">(</i><i style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>The Butler)</i> </i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">are at the very least on the Supporting Actor radar, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">as a freedom-fighting son and complex maritime terrorist, respectively.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">And don't count out <i>Fruitvale Station </i>which remains a contender, in the "respectable indie" slots, for Best Picture and Original Screenplay (though deserved, Best Director and Best Actor seem like extremely long shots in already-crowded fields).</span></li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii48Ax7ykQieXWQkJNFAI5E2dEv-mpqPiyyf5nx_e-e9PZmoj-pL473WYYHsj-TF3Kcg3Hy-SHSgISX-CLb_wjBpYEyRoccsM6YtJT3Of1ba_jI1GtCVAADCqOQHdPDyunKM3IzJeC8tI/s1600/Director.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii48Ax7ykQieXWQkJNFAI5E2dEv-mpqPiyyf5nx_e-e9PZmoj-pL473WYYHsj-TF3Kcg3Hy-SHSgISX-CLb_wjBpYEyRoccsM6YtJT3Of1ba_jI1GtCVAADCqOQHdPDyunKM3IzJeC8tI/s400/Director.jpg" width="266" /></a><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>But why does this matter?</b> Who cares about Oscars anyway? They annoy everyone with their middle-of-the-road play-it-safeness and overlong, outdated, self-important ceremonies. But they can make or break both careers and profit margins. There is a reason so much energy goes into marketing movies and performances as Oscar contenders - there is a prestige to being singled out that highlights films and performances, for better or worse, and shapes the annual, and ultimately historic, cinematic narrative. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Like it or not, the Oscars are still influential. The large majority of the population live in the middle-of-the-road and are interested in being told which films are worth stepping off the beaten box office path for, without straying too far from their comfort zone. The prestige of awards attention, warranted or not, can drastically shape the opportunities available to filmmakers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">As a case in point, Octavia Spencer took some flack for her Oscar-winning role as sassy 1960s maid Minny Jackson in <i>The Help; </i>some seemed to find it demeaning that she had to lower herself to play a maid - and remind America of its way-too-recent sins - to get awards attention, while other, more legitimately, lamented Minny's more stereotypical traits as a loud, sassy, chicken-eating, church-going African American woman (although Supporting Actress is built on sassy caricatures of all racial persuasions). But the truth is that her Oscar in a very real way put her in a position to produce a film like <i>Fruitvale Station </i>and promote it to Sundance glory. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">That's how it goes. Sometimes you have to window dress to change the narrative or the perception of what is possible, what is plausible. As long as the window-dressed subjects are in any way deserving, who's complaining? And this year sees many very deserving performers getting some significant spotlight. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">So having, potentially, four to seven worthy black performances nominated in one year, with two or three "black" films by black directors filling up the Best Picture line-up, and a black man heading up the Best Director race, is, regrettably, very significant.</span><br />
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Let's hope 2013 marks a shift in two ways:<br />
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1) A serious evaluation of America's cruel racially divided past, and the lingering racial tensions that make fatal racial profiling seem like acceptable behaviour.<br />
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2) The first step towards a world where <span style="font-size: 11pt;">having multiple black nominees in any awards category is no longer newsworthy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">It is very likely that the race will shift towards "easier", less controversial films like <i>Gravity </i>or <i>Nebraska, </i>and that is fine. However it plays out, the tide has started to shift.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>UPDATE: In case you needed any proof that racism is alive & well, here's <a href="http://www.newslo.com/sean-hannity-calls-12-years-a-slave-black-propaganda/" target="_blank">Sean Hannity calling </a></i><a href="http://www.newslo.com/sean-hannity-calls-12-years-a-slave-black-propaganda/" target="_blank">12 Years a Slave</a><i><a href="http://www.newslo.com/sean-hannity-calls-12-years-a-slave-black-propaganda/" target="_blank"> 'black propaganda' </a>and warning us that it will enable black youth to be lazy. He complains that white guilt is being exploited with </i>yet another <i>slavery movie. I'd diss the guy but really what could make him look worse than his his own words? If white guilt is still alive and well, it's because white privilege</i><i> is still around. Those who prefer to pretend it doesn't exist are clearly on the winning side of it. I don't remember</i> Schindler's List <i>being called Jewish propaganda (although now that I say that I'm sure it was, and please don't tell me about it). </i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-58290849560138302702013-03-18T12:59:00.000-07:002013-03-21T08:32:22.960-07:00The SAFTA Feature Film Nominees in Trailers<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Material (winner)</b></div>
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<b>Otelo Burning:</b></div>
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<b>Semi-Soet (Semi Sweet):</b></div>
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<b>Die Wonderwerker (The Miracle Worker):</b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-45701414784134380612013-03-18T12:40:00.004-07:002013-03-18T13:00:01.712-07:00South African Film and Television Awards 2013<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The SAFTAs have announced their latest winners and, I'm sorry to say, I find them somewhat underwhelming. Kudos to the entertaining and skillfully made films that were honoured, but I must contest a few of the winners. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">No director other than Katinka Heyns has any real right to the award this year. She's a national treasure and every one of her films is a landmark in South African cinema. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At least her husband, Chris Barnard, took home a well-deserved statuette for </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">his elegant, enigmatic </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">screenplay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Die Wonderwerker </i>seemed an obvious pick for Best Feature Film, as it is simply one of the most impressive South African films in years, but if the Eugene Marais Africana biopic seems too stuffy a choice, and too Afrikaans, there's solid drama in <i>Otelo Burning</i>, or good genre filmmaking in <i>Semi-Soet</i>. <i>Material </i>straddles the difficult line between drama and comedy and, though it has some great moments, it never really takes off as either.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At the end of the day, I'm presuming <i>Material's </i>win has much to do with it's decent box office and cross-cultural appeal (far too much South African cinema seems aimed at a racial demographic). While <i>Material</i> is an enjoyable enough film - and Vincent Ebrahim's performance as Cassim's proud, traditional father is clearly a deserving winner - it has too many parts that fall flat (most of the non-stand up comedy, the Zoo Lake hi jinx in particular) or under perform (Cassim's romance lacks some serious sizzle) to be hailed the best South African film of the year. Nonetheless, it's not a bad film.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">More bizarre is Riaad Moosa's win as Best Actor. Not merely because Dawid Minnaar is exceptional as Eugene Marais in <i>Die Wonderwerker</i>, but because Moosa's performance is easily the weakest thing about <i>Material. </i>While clearly a talented stand up comedian and a very easy guy to like, he lacks the charisma and gravitas to carry the film - through its funny or serious bits - and the film struggles because of it. Odd choice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For Supporting Actress, Denise Newman must have been a formidable contender, and a twin statue for the <i>Material </i>parents - collectively the best thing about the film by far - would have been awesome. But congratulations to Matshepo Maleme for <i>A Million Colours </i>regardless.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I also happen to find Elize Cawood's performance as Maria one of the best of the year, locally or internationally, but I have no reason to contest Lindiwe Ndlovu's Best Actress victory for <i>Little One.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Beyond that, it's easy to see how slickly produced <i>Semi-Soet </i>and period Afrikaans musical <i>Pretville </i>cleared out most of the remaining technical awards.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here are the Film nominees and winners:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Best Feature Film:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Die Wonderwerker (The Miracle Worker) - Sonneblom Ateljees (Pty) Ltd</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>*Material - Zukrafin Pty Ltd</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Otelo Burning - Cinga Productions</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Semi-Soet - Scramble Productions</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b>
<b>Best Director of a Feature Film:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Katinka Heyns - Die Wonderwerker (The Miracle Worker)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>*Craig Freimond - Material</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wayne Thornley - Adventures in Zambezia</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Darrell James Roodt - Little One</span><br />
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<b>Best Actor in a Feature Film:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thomas Gumede as Year One in <i>Otelo Burning</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nico Panagio as JP in <i>Semi-Soet</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jack Devnarain as Ronnie in <i>31 Million Reasons</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dawid Minnaar as Eugene in <i>Die Wonderwerker</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>*Riaad MOosa as Cassim in Material</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i>
<b>Best Actress in a Feature Film:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>*Lindiwe Ndlovu as Pauline in Little One</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nolwazi Shange as Dezi in <i>Otelo Burning</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Javashree Basava as Padme in<i> Lucky</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Eliza Cawood as Maria in <i>Die Wonderwerker</i></span><br />
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<b>Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mpho Osei-Tutu as Dezi in <i>Otelo Burning</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>*Vincent Ebrahim as Ebrahim in Material</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Louw Venter as Hertjie in<i> Semi-Soet</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Marius Weyers as Gys in <i>Die Wonderwerker</i></span><br />
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<b>Best Supporting Actress in a Feature Film:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Denise Newman as Fatima in <i>Material</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>*Matshepo Maleme as Busi in A Million Colours</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anneke Weidemann as Jane in <i>Die Wonderwerker </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Best Writing Team of a Feature Film</b><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;"><i>*Chris Barnard - Die Wonderwerker</i></span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Craig Freimond - <i>Material</i></span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">James Whyle and the cast workshop - <i>Otelo
Burning</i></span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Darrell James Roodt - <i>Little One</i></span><br />
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<b>Best Cinematographer of a Feature Film</b><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Koos Roets - <i>Die Wonderwerker</i> </span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;"><i>*Trevor Brown - A Million Colours</i></span><i><br /></i>
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;">Trevor Calverley - <i>Material</i></span><br />
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<b>Best Editor of a Feature Film</b><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;"><i>*Ronelle Loots - Die Wonderwerker</i></span><i><br /></i>
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;">Aryan Kaganof - <i>Man on Ground</i></span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Megan Gill - <i>Material</i></span><br />
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<b>Best Production Designer of a Feature Film</b><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Francois Coetzee - <i>Semi-Soet</i></span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Jackie Lotz - <i>Zama Zama</i></span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Anita van Hermet, Chantal Carter - <i>Otelo Burning</i></span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;"><i>*Bathoni Robinson - Pretville</i></span><i><br /></i>
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<b>Best Music Composition</b><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;"><i>*Orangotang Music and Michael Bester - Semi-Soet</i></span><i><br /></i>
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Zethu Mashika - <i>Zama Zama</i></span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Tiago Correia Paulo, Alan Lazar - <i>Otelo Burning</i></span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Bruce Retief - <i>Adventures in Zambezia</i></span><br />
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<b>Best Costume Designer</b><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;"><i>*Nerine Pienaar - Semi-Soet</i></span><i><br /></i>
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Mia Zwiegers - <i>Zama Zama</i></span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Ruy Filipe - <i>Otelo Burning</i></span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Nerine Pienaar - <i>Pretville</i></span><br />
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<b>Best Make up/Hair Stylist</b><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Theola Booyens -<i> Semi-Soet</i></span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Elzette Winterbach - <i>To the Power of Anne</i></span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;"><i>Charlie Runge, Lee-Anne Nourse - Pretville</i></span><i><br /></i>
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<b>Best Sound Designer of a Feature Film</b><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Barry Donnelly - <i>Die Wonderwerker</i> </span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Jim Petrak - <i>Semi-Soet</i></span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;"><i>*Charlotte Buys - Material</i></span><i><br /></i>
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<b>Best Student Film</b><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><i>E-lectricity</i> - AFDA: Etienne Fourie, Robyn Oetle</span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><i>LYFSTRAF</i> - AFDA: Rudi Steyn, Martina Della
Togna, Gianfranco Human, Sarah Muhoho</span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;"><i>*Die Windpomp - AFDA: Miklas Manneke, Jade Galbraith</i></span><br />
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<b>Best Short Film</b><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;"><i>*Umkhungo - Matthew Jankes</i></span><i><br /></i>
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><i>Loot</i> - Greg Rom</span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><i>There are no Heroes</i> - Kyle Stevenson</span><br />
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<b>Best Animation</b><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><i>I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts</i> - Jungle
Beat Sunrise Productions</span><br />
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;"><i>*Adventures In Zambezia - Triggerfish Animation
Studios</i></span><i><br /></i>
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt;"><i>ZA NEWS</i> - Both Worlds</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-632023080157713002013-03-05T13:49:00.000-08:002013-03-06T03:44:20.631-08:00Best Movie Music of 2012<h2>
1. Jonny Greenwood - The Master</h2>
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Jonny Greenwood's second collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson may be a less piercingly intense experience than its predecessor, but it's no less broody or brilliant. Feeling like a free jazz exploration of the loose-limbed but tightly coiled tensions that hold Joaquin Phoenix's Freddie Quell together, Greenwood's score is a restrained, integral part of Anderson's enigmatic film. <br />
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2. Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild</h2>
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The perfect score for a film of incredible creativity and poetry. Writer / director / composer Benh Zeitlin's creative ambition alone is hard to resist, but this is one of the year's very best scores in its own right. There are probably more interesting tracks to post than this - which any avid watcher of the trailer will recognise - but try to resist <i>Once There was a Hushpuppy</i>. Try. You can't. <br />
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3. Alexandre Desplat - Zero Dark Thirty</h2>
Alexandre Desplat scored no less than nine films, including two Best Picture nominees, in 2012 and it's massively to his credit that he managed two distinct scores for middle eastern CIA thrillers in the same year. He was nominated for the more upbeat, at times sentimental, <i>Argo</i> which is effective, but not nearly as mesmerising as his sparse, eerie score for <i>Zero Dark Thirty;</i> a key element to the measured pacing of Kathryn Bigelow's slow, tense procedural thriller. <i>Maya on Plane </i>is the emotional climax of the score, beautifully bringing together its themes.<br />
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4. Alexandre Desplat - Moonrise Kingdom</h2>
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Desplat's <i>other </i>best work of the year lies in his second collaboration with cult indie aesthetist Wes Anderson. Miles from his playful work on <i>Fantastic Mr Fox</i>, his full-bodied orchestral score provides the climatic catharsis that sets <i>Moonrise Kingdom'</i>s emotional impact<i> </i>apart from previous, subtler Anderson outings. </div>
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5. Thomas Newman - Skyfall</h2>
Thomas Newman is an eternal innovator; always digging up new textures, new angles and new instruments with which to deliver his unique, layered scores. With legendary scores for <i>Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty, </i><i>American Beauty, </i><i>American Beauty, WallE & </i><i>American Beauty </i>to his name, it's a shame he's the most nominated composer at the Academy Awards never to take home the prize (the spiritual cousin of Cinematographer Roger Deakins, also Oscarless for <i>Shawshank Redemption </i>& <i>Skyfall). Skyfall </i>charts fresh electronic ground for Newman and is, obviously, already one of the classiest action scores around.<br />
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Runner ups:</h2>
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6. John Williams - Lincoln</h2>
I'm frankly surprised just how much I liked John Williams' <i>Lincoln </i>score<i>. </i>Alternating restrained, simple dignity that makes me feel like President Bartlett is about to something awesome on <i>The West Wing </i>with bouncy banjo & violin ditties that bring to mind old-timey hayrides and line dancing.<i> </i>It's authentic-feeling stuff that just makes you want to hug Daniel Day-Lewis.<br />
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7. Dario Marianelli - Anna Karenina</h2>
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I love everything Marianelli has done with Joe Wright, and his sumptuous, inventive work here is no exception. With the first half of <i>Anna Karenina </i>playing like a casual ballet of sorts, Marianelli's score does much of the heavy lifting to create the momentum that draws us into <i>Anna Karenina</i>'s eccentric stylings. </div>
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8. Mychael Danna - Life of Pi</h2>
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Something inside me just rebels against recognising the Oscar winner (which is just ridiculously contrary of me), but Mychael Danna's <i>Life of Pi </i>is in all fairness a lovely score of Parisian Indian whimsy & epic, soul searching magic.</div>
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9. Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek & Tom Twykwer - Cloud Atlas</h2>
The <i>Cloud Atlas Sextet </i>is written into the script and is a key piece of the puzzle that connects "everything"; plenty of pressure on the composers, then, to deliver a suitably striking piece of music that could believably haunt the minds of the film's characters. The film itself covers a vast, ambitious array of landscapes and emotions, which the score gamely and effectively follows. <br />
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<h2>
10. Ryan Miller - Safety not Guaranteed</h2>
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This sweet indie charmer has a solid indie rock score from Ryan Miller, but this song, which is an original composition for the film, just kills me. Both the version Mark Duplass performs in the film and the fully produced version over the credits. Mild spoiler alert. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-47406361521231211672013-02-23T16:17:00.002-08:002013-02-23T16:17:20.556-08:00Oscar - Best PictureWhat a weird year for Best Picture. So many good films, yet such a strange turnout. Let's recap:<br>
<br>
<h2>
<b>Argo</b></h2>
<b>Metacritic</b>: 86<br>
<b>US Box Office</b>: $128 Million<br>
<b>7 Nominations</b>: Picture, Supporting Actor, Editing, Adapted Screenplay, Music - Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing<br>
<b>Awards</b>: Everything (Critics Choice, Golden Globe, BAFTA, Producers Guild, Directors Guild, Screen Actors Guild Ensemble, Writers Guild, Editors Guild, Scripter Award, 9 Critics Groups' Best Picture)<br>
<br>
For:<br>
<ul>
<li>Admired since its release to date</li>
<li>No one hates it, everyone can agree on it</li>
<li>A (mostly) true story with suspense, comedy & a weight of political importance</li>
<li><b>NB</b> - Hollywood & the CIA working together to make a happy ending</li>
<li>When critics scared off Zero Dark Thirty, they nearly unanimously flocked towards Argo, making Ben Affleck seem like a lock for a Best Director nomination</li>
<li>When the Oscars felt otherwise and excluded Affleck from the Best Director race (marking it as less significant than <i>Amour </i>and <i>Beasts of the Southern Wild</i>), Affleck and <i>Argo </i>became overnight underdogs. And everyone loves an underdog.</li>
<li>Immediately after Affleck's Oscar "snub" as Director, <i>Argo</i> wins Picture and Director from the Critics Choice and Golden Globe awards</li>
<li><i>Argo </i>becomes the little Iranian comedy / thriller that could and goes on to win the Directors Guild Award, the Producers Guild Award, the Screen Actors Guild ensemble award and everything else (significantly, its adapted screenplay beats logical frontrunner <i>Lincoln </i>to both the Scripter and Writers Guild award).</li>
<li>When even the British Academy Awards name it Best Picture and Affleck Best Director, it's clear we have an unstoppable juggernaut on our hands, barring the Oscars resisting groupthink enough to stick by their guns. </li>
<li><b>NB</b> - Ben Affleck's charm offensive, backed by Producer George Clooney's legendary smile, continue to win hearts as their film wins all the awards.</li>
<li>All in all, Argo remains the film everyone likes and no-one hates. That does tend to win Oscars these days. It's not the 1970s anymore.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Against:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><i>Argo</i> still has no Best Director nomination. No film has won Best Picture without it's Director being in the race since Driving Miss Daisy in 1990.</li>
<li>Even <i>Lincoln - </i>a period film about a law being passed -<i> </i>has better Box Office</li>
<li><i>Lincoln, Life of Pi, Silver Linings Playbook</i> & <i>Les Miserables</i> all have more Oscar nominations than Argo. Box Office and Nominations aren't everything, but they are something. They show to what extent the public and the Oscar voters responded to the film.</li>
<li>The Academy may resist the peer pressure from the Guilds and stick to their guns - they presumably excluded Ben Affleck for a reason and may decide to back the films they did initially respond to.</li>
<li>There may even be Argo backlash at this point, considering it's a very good film being held up as a great one. Don't count on it, though. It didn't work for <i>The King's Speech</i>. </li>
</ul>
</div>
<h2>
<b>Amour</b></h2>
<br>
<b>Metacritic</b>: 94<br>
<b>US Box Office</b>: $4 Million (lowest)<br>
<b>5 Nominations: </b>Picture, Director, Actress, Original Screenplay, Foreign Language Film<br>
<b>Awards</b>: Cannes Palme D'Or, European Film Awards, Cesars, National Society of Film Critics Best Picture of the Year<br>
<br>
For:<br>
<ul>
<li>Started off with a bang, winning the Palme D'Or (or <i>Parmz Dorz</i>, as <a href="https://twitter.com/Michael_Haneke">Twitter Michael Haneke</a> would say) at Cannes and went on to win every Foreign Language Film Award (excepting the Golden Satellites who went with <i>Intouchables</i>)<i> </i>and clean out the European Film Awards and the French Cesar Awards</li>
<li>The frontrunner by a mile to win the Best Foreign Language Oscar</li>
<li>A dark horse to upset Best Actress </li>
<li>With the Oscars announcing their nominees early, they couldn't copy and paste the Producers Guild and Directors Guild. Thinking for themselves, they lavished love on <i>Amour, </i>nominating it for five big ones.</li>
<li>Michael Haneke previously contended for Best Foreign Language Film for <i>The White Ribbon </i>in 2010 but lost, unexpectedly, to <i>The Secret in their Eyes. </i>That gives Haneke a bit of an Oscar IOU.<i> </i> </li>
</ul>
Against:<br>
<ul>
<li>Subtitles scare the average Cinema goer, and a film that requires them has never prevailed as Best Picture</li>
<li><i>Amour </i>is an unsentimental film about the decay of old age, and death. Not a feel good situation. </li>
<li>The lowest Box Office of all the nominees suggests that the arty <i>Amour </i>has a select audience only </li>
</ul>
<h2>
<b>Beasts of the Southern Wild</b></h2>
<b>Metacritic</b>: 86<br>
<b>US Box Office</b>: $12 Million<br>
<b>4 Nominations: </b>Picture, Director, Actress, Adapted Screenplay<br>
<b>Awards</b>: Sundance Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic)<br>
<br>
For:<br>
<ul>
<li>Micro-budget Sundance Jury Prize winner</li>
<li>An Indie Spirit favourite, with four nominations</li>
<li>A very early, dark horse Best Picture and Best Actress contender that somehow survived the hype & release of <i>Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, Les Miserables </i>and <i>Django Unchained </i>to be embraced by the Academy </li>
<li>A wildly unique cinematic experience with a bold perspective and execution, it marks the arrival of a distinct new talent in producer / director / writer / composer Benh Zeitlin </li>
</ul>
Against:<br>
<ul>
<li>Shoestring indies about poor, 8-year-old black girls' metaphorical, emotionally cathartic journeys, flooded with poetic impressionist imagery and ambiguous magic realism don't tend to win Oscars.</li>
<li>If the Academy loved it enough to give it Best Picture, they wouldn't have overlooked its exceptional cinematography and score.</li>
</ul>
<h2>
<b>Django Unchained</b></h2>
<b>Metacritic</b>: 81<br>
<b>US Box Office</b>: $158 Million<br>
<b>5 Nominations: </b>Picture, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Sound Editing<b> </b><br>
<b>Awards</b>: None<br>
<br>
For:<br>
<ul>
<li>Tarantino is a true original with only one Oscar to his name - for writing <i>Pulp Fiction</i></li>
<li><i>Django </i>joins <i>Lincoln </i>in bringing America's slave history back into the zeitgeist. It's a topic worth talking about </li>
</ul>
<div>
Against:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><i>Django</i> is a morally challenging, abrasive film. It is also indulgent and unfocused and, though significant and daring, certainly not Tarantino's best. The only equality at play here is the equal right to an unhealthy gun culture. That is my opinion, but I raise it because I am sure <i>Django</i> is not everyone's cup of tea. It's highly unlikely to be backed by enough Academy members.</li>
<li>The film's strong black performances - by Jamie Fox, Samuel L Jackson & Kerry Washington - were overlooked</li>
<li>Leonardo DiCaprio's much buzzed villain was similarly overlooked, indicating a lack of support from Academy voters.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h2>
<b>Life of Pi</b></h2>
<br>
<b>Metacritic</b>: 79<br>
<b>US Box Office</b>: $112 Million<br>
<b>11 Nominations</b>: Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, Production Design, Music - Score, Music - Song, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects<b> </b><br>
<b>Awards</b>: None (other than every Visual Effects Award, almost every Cinematography Award, a Golden Globe for Score and two surprise Sound Mixing Awards)<br>
<br>
For:<br>
<ul>
<li>Eleven nominations suggest the Academy loved <i>Life of Pi</i>, and certainly it's an easy film to like and a hard one to hate.</li>
<li>With <i>Life of Pi</i>, Ang Lee filmed an "unfilmable" book (can we please stop using that clearly irrelevant term?) which previous directors (Jean Jeunet for one) had attempted and walked away from. He stretches himself technically and has to balance the spectacle of the film with its nuanced spiritual undertones. He pulls it off beautifully and clearly the Academy noticed. It's a distinctive visual film with enough heft and gentle emotion to feel like a significant Oscar contender.</li>
<li>It's the clear frontrunner to win Score, Cinematography and Visual Effects, and a strong contender for Sound and Sound Mixing as well. Wins beget wins and these could translate to bigger categories like Best Director and, at a stretch, Best Picture.</li>
<li>Ang Lee appreciation has really taken off in the weeks leading up to Oscar night</li>
</ul>
Against:<br>
<ul>
<li>It may be too lightweight or family friendly for a Best Picture winner.</li>
<li>No wins so far other than the technical categories.</li>
</ul>
<h2>
<b>Lincoln</b></h2>
<br>
<b>Metacritic</b>: 86<br>
<b>US Box Office</b>: $177 Million (highest)<br>
<b>12 Nominations: </b>Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, Music - Score, Production Design, Costumes, Sound Mixing<br>
<b>Awards</b>: None (other than every Best Actor Award, a Screen Actors Guild award for Supporting Actor and some Critics Awards for Supporting Actress)<br>
<br>
For:<br>
<ul>
<li>Spielberg's biopic is such a lovingly detailed, layered, respectful, immersive work. It's a pity it has so many people actively campaigning against it - wait, that's against. I'll get there.</li>
<li>Pre-release, it was already considered a strong Best Picture contender, just based on calibre</li>
<li>Post-release (to critics), it had lived up to expectation, even exceeded it, and was cemented as a Best Picture contender</li>
<li>Post-release (to the public), the public loved it, earning it the highest box office of all the Best Picture contenders, the president loved it, screening it at the White House, Bill Clinton loved it, endorsing it at the Golden Globes</li>
<li>With 12 nominations, the most of all this year's contenders, the Academy clearly loved it.</li>
<li>If any director was to join ???, a??? and ??? in the distinction of having three Best Director Oscars, wouldn't you want it to be Spielberg?</li>
<li>A huge cast led by the brilliant and universally acclaimed Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.</li>
</ul>
Against:<br>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://eriklundegaard.com/item/the-evolution-of-jeffrey-wells--thinkin--on--lincoln-">Jeff Wells</a>, & a whole bunch of critics / bloggers actively campaigning against <i>Lincoln,</i> mainly on grounds of it being boring (regardless of its great box office)</li>
<li><a href="http://m.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/taking_liberties_with_lincoln_CZksZY0AO38KAlxR8Hh37I">The NY Times</a>, at least for more ostensibly moral / historical reasons </li>
<li>Spielberg already has two Oscars</li>
<li>Despite consistent nominations across the board, <i>Lincoln</i> has yet to win a major award outside of the acting races.</li>
<li>There's no way Tony Kushner should have lost the Scripter and Writer's Guild awards for his adapted screenplay. But he did. </li>
<li>Although each of its 12 nominations are richly deserved, it is the frontrunner in only one - Best Actor. It's even only a strong threat in two - Best Supporting Actor and Best Director.</li>
</ul>
<h2>
<b>Les Miserables</b></h2>
<br>
<b>Metacritic</b>: 63 (Lowest)<br>
<b>US Box Office</b>: $146 Million<br>
<b>8 Nominations</b>: Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress, Music - Song, Production Design, Costumes, Make Up & Hair, Sound Mixing<br>
<b>Awards</b>: Golden Globe Best Picture (Comedy / Musical) (Also every Best Supporting Actress award and Best Actor (Comedy / Musical) Golden Globe)<br>
<br>
For:<br>
<ul>
<li>Pre-release expectations for <i>Les Miserables</i> were epic</li>
<li>Although divisive on release, those who loved it were giving tear-soaked standing ovations and declaring it the obvious, hands-down Best Picture winner.</li>
<li>Anne Hathaway's live, single-close-up-take rendition of I Dreamed a Dream is zeitgeist dynamite</li>
<li>Wolverine sings in a tenor and weeps, and wins a Golden Globe</li>
<li><i>Les Mis </i>beat <i>Silver Linings Playbook</i>, which is understandable as the Globes are such suckers for Musicals they even nominated <i>Mama Mia, </i>but still significant, considering <i>Playbook</i>'s general momentum</li>
</ul>
Against:<br>
<ul>
<li>Wall to wall singing isn't everyone's cup of tea</li>
<li>Hooper's creative choices - mostly his preference for extended close-ups - have been criticised</li>
<li>The live singing trick has been as much criticised as celebrated; mostly it is celebrated in reference to Anne Hathaway & criticised in reference to Russell Crowe.</li>
<li>Hooper's snub in Best Director implies appreciation, but not passion, from the Academy</li>
</ul>
<h2>
<b>Silver Linings Playbook</b></h2>
<b>Metacritic</b>: 81<br>
<b>US Box Office</b>: $103 Million<br>
<b>8 Nominations</b>: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Editing<br>
<b>Awards</b>: Golden Satellites Best Picture (and sweep)<br>
<br>
For:<br>
<ul>
<li>It's this year's quirky little indie that could. Who can resist a quirky, crowd pleasing romantic comedy? Well, many, actually, but far many more ate it up hook line and sinker and those who really support it, <i>really </i>support it</li>
<li>No one really cares about the Golden Satellites, but when an indie comedy wins pretty much <i>every</i>thing, people do notice, and wonder if the movie can repeat the trick elsewhere</li>
<li>Bradley Cooper - he of <i>The Hangover - </i>gives a career-changing performance, and instantly ups Oscar telecast ratings</li>
<li>Jennifer Lawrence's brilliant, sudden rise to the very top of the A-List with this & <i>Hunger Games</i>' $408 Million box office</li>
<li>David O'Russell's comeback - he fell badly out of favour when he screeched insane insults at Lily Tomlin on the set of <i>I Heart Huckabees </i>- yes, you can relive it <a href="http://youtu.be/E4Qls1rAfYs">here</a> - and <a href="http://youtu.be/Eev9S8PyWgc">pissed off George Clooney</a> by allegedly assaulting extras, but made a big comeback with 2010's <i>The Fighter</i>, earning universal praise, his first Best Director nomination and Oscars for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo. That appreciation clearly remains, as he is the very unlikely recipient of a Best Director nomination over presumed frontrunners Kathryn Bigelow & Ben Affleck.</li>
<li>More than that, O'Russell has a great PR story, making no secret of the fact that he adapted Matthew Quick's book to make his son, who suffers from unspecified mental illness, feel he has a place in the world. Even I can't resist <i>that </i>story, and I only<i> mostly</i> like the film.</li>
<li>The film was nominated in every category it reasonable could have been - including each of the four acting categories: an honour it share with <i>Sunset Blvd, A Streetcar Named Desire, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Network </i>and, most recently, <i>Reds</i> (amongst others). The Academy clearly like this movie. A lot.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.gossipcentral.com/gossip_central/2012/12/dr-oz-prescribes-silver-linings-playbook-at-le-cirque.html">Dr Oz</a>, who has helped lend the film a heft of seriousness as an important film about the stigmas around mental illness. The jury's out on that one, but the speculation can't hurt it's Oscar campaign.</li>
</ul>
Against:<br>
<ul>
<li>Don't tell anyone, but ultimately this is just a romantic comedy, which drops in quality somewhat in the second half. It's still a really good rom com, but as a film about mental illness it feels underdeveloped, and it may not hold up well as a Best Picture winner. </li>
<li>Bradley Cooper gives a good performance, yes, but his portrayal of bi-polar highs and lows doesn't stand up against 10 minutes of Claire Danes in Homeland. Sorry bro.</li>
</ul>
<h2>
<b>Zero Dark Thirty</b></h2>
<b>Metacritic</b>: 95 (highest)<br>
<b>US Box Office</b>: $90 Million<br>
<b>5 Nominations</b>: Picture, Actress, Original Screenplay, Editing, Sound Editing<br>
<b>Awards</b>: National Board of Review Best Picture, 10 Critics Groups' Best Picture<br>
<br>
For:<br>
<ul>
<li>Still the best reviewed film of the year</li>
<li>Jessica Chastain's Maya remains one of the definitive screen characters of 2012 (okay that's just my opinion, but it will endure to be true. Just watch!)</li>
<li>Pre-release, <i>Zero Dark Thirty</i> was one of the most hotly anticipated films of the year and, post-critics-release, it didn't disappoint, being hailed almost universally as a masterpiece</li>
<li>Before the torture debate started, it was winning every single Critics Choice Award available, paving a seemingly unstoppable path to an Oscar clean sweep.</li>
</ul>
Against:<br>
<ul>
<li>Even before the torture debacle really took off, the possibility of Bigelow joining the distinguished company of Frank Capra, Fred Zinneman, Robert Wise, William Wyler, Billy Wilder, Elia Kazan, David Lean, Milos Forman & Clint Eastwood as history's two-time Best Picture / Best Director winners - in the span of only three years no less - freaked people out. Some felt her career filmography simply doesn't warrant this kind of distinction, which is probably a fair point. Personally, I feel if she made the best movie of the year twice in a row, power to her. As for being distinguished by Oscars, Kevin Costner had one before Scorsese. Sandra Bullock has one, but Julianne Moore doesn't. Mira Sorvino has one, but Annette Bening doesn't. The list goes on. Career filmographies and Oscar wins are clearly separate things.</li>
<li>Then the torture debate began and things got really ugly. Bigelow & writer Mark Boal were accused of being pro-torture, the CIA was accused of sharing classified information and actors like <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/martin-sheen-ed-asner-join-411733">Ed Asner & Martin Sheen</a> (although he later <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/zero-dark-thirty-martin-sheen-417097">clarified his position</a>) actively campaigned against <i>Zero Dark Thirty. </i>It stopped winning awards and ended up nominated only in the most unavoidable fields.</li>
<li>Critics needing something new to vote for quickly bandied behind <i>Argo</i>, a lighter, happier, non-controversial middle eastern alternative to <i>Zero Dark Thirty.</i></li>
<li>Its lack of nominations for Directing, Sound Mixing, Score and Cinematography are telling.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
<h3>
What will win: <i>Argo</i><br>What should win: <i>Zero Dark Thirty</i><br>What might win: <i>Lincoln</i></h3>
</div>
<div>
<br>
After the cut, the Best Picture contenders ranked by Metacritic scores & Box Office:<br>
<br>
<br>
</div><a href="http://sumupfilm.blogspot.com/2013/02/oscar-best-picture.html#more">Read more »</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-6094617825364303742013-02-23T13:08:00.001-08:002013-02-23T13:08:04.603-08:00Oscar - Main Categories<b>Best Picture:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This is an epic discussion. For once, it really will be a nail biter on Oscar night. Okay, it will probably be <i>Argo</i>, but I can't help hoping.<br />
<br />
My full best picture breakdown will follow soon.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Best Director:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Michael Haneke - <i>Amour</i><br />
Ang Lee - <i>Life of Pi</i><br />
David O'Russell - <i>Silver Linings Playbook</i><br />
Steven Spielberg - <i>Lincoln</i><br />
Benh Zeitlin - <i>Beasts of the Southern Wild</i><br />
<b><br /></b>
Anyone's guess. Had Ben Affleck nominated, he'd be your man, scooping up gold with <i>Argo</i>'s unstoppable winning streak. Then again, had Ben Affleck nominated, he'd be the frontrunner, not the underdog, and his film arguably wouldn't be enjoying such an unstoppable winning streak. But then again, who knows? Even the British and the French awarded Argo over the other brilliant American films of 2012. Affleck being outside the race as he is, Best Director is wide open.<br />
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Let's presume Benh Zeitlin is the contender that's just happy to be there for his micro budget, breathtaking <i>Beasts of the Southern Wild. </i>That's one down.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSp6QeDIF-2PFlcJ1QmZuxR_7y6tsWfGZPq4PgEh_8LEpXsfBHWvCxN-eRwfX67Me422yQPfqDNuiZ2vrC6q_r88ScF01HYAqnfUCjVTr_JRCl4tZkzfcJVou030Z73LLig7b2bWC_7kg/s1600/David+O'Russell+SLP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSp6QeDIF-2PFlcJ1QmZuxR_7y6tsWfGZPq4PgEh_8LEpXsfBHWvCxN-eRwfX67Me422yQPfqDNuiZ2vrC6q_r88ScF01HYAqnfUCjVTr_JRCl4tZkzfcJVou030Z73LLig7b2bWC_7kg/s320/David+O'Russell+SLP.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
David O'Russell seems the most lightweight contender, but his film has a fanatic support base that takes his quirky mental illness rom com <i>very </i>seriously indeed. It was fairly rapturously received by the Academy with not just nominations in the big four - Picture, Director, Editing and Screenplay - but every one of the four acting categories as well. His film is a strong contender for Best Actress and Supporting Actor and remains an outside threat for Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture - so a Best Director win is not out of the question. What he has going for him, other than an extremely popular film, is that, unlike Spielberg and Ang Lee, he has never won an Oscar and, unlike Haneke and Zeitlin, everybody knows and, surprisingly (given his notorious fallouts with Lily Tomlin and George Clooney), likes him. There could be a perception that he is due after not winning for <i>The Fighter. </i>What he has working against him is that every other director<b> </b>deserves it more. I just can't see Kathryn Bigelow being snubbed and David O'Russell winning. But stranger things have happened.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtbLEyCAhuKlnQGeVnEv26dIqoK1JBfworsRW8WR5QE0wIVT-8fxn8khlVJvn0HZEhaLh8BtPZMWHtK7PguyoaPYO_uHxywCr-D7lY5AtmD0qvkShazQpnCn_tJV7jmLEq0SdtIY4dKAM/s1600/Michael+Haneke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtbLEyCAhuKlnQGeVnEv26dIqoK1JBfworsRW8WR5QE0wIVT-8fxn8khlVJvn0HZEhaLh8BtPZMWHtK7PguyoaPYO_uHxywCr-D7lY5AtmD0qvkShazQpnCn_tJV7jmLEq0SdtIY4dKAM/s320/Michael+Haneke.jpg" width="320" /></a>That leaves three distinguished directors at the top of their game: Spielberg, Ang Lee and Michael Haneke. Haneke would be the art house pick. He is a first-time contender with a respectable, distinct filmography whose film was a surprise hit with the Academy. His leading lady is a big threat to win Best Actress and he is all but guaranteed to win Best Foreign Language Film. There is no Oscar precedent for a Foreign Language Film actually <i>winning </i>Best Director (although they were fond of nominating Federico Fellini in the 60s and 70s), presumably cause it's hard to really notice the directing when you have to read all those damn words at the bottom of the screen. Technically <i>The Artist </i>was a french film, but not a <i>language </i>one, so it doesn't count. Haneke's films are also known to be cold and, while <i>Amour </i>isn't, it is uber sad, in a very detached, realistic way. <br />
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Which leaves the more likely Steven Spielberg and Ang Lee. The Academy adored their films, adorning them with 12 and 11 nominations respectively. Both directors are previous winners who have lost Best Picture in legendary upsets. Both are also respected enough to warrant additional directing Oscars on their mantelpiece. With Argo the <i>de facto </i>Best Picture winner, however, both men would be winning detached Directing Oscars for the second time in their careers (Spielberg won Best Director for <i>Saving Private Ryan </i>when <i>Shakespeare in Love </i>took Best Picture, and Lee won Best Director for <i>Brokeback Mountain </i>while - shudder - <i>Crash </i>took Best Picture), which would be a curious distinction.<br />
<br />
I favour Ang Lee for two reasons:<br />
<ol>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhByO6bVJOQcp6Un1nh8tWGCXXrsK78xhGSsSOgHct_qqteQqMtLFl_DcKtw1dcXJr6qNe8rUmiLV5Hgm6P-oREkxYKCcrKNgcGoI_6RqbzZdwbueL0uaMUrtx9SPEF4_mKQrwL859vvC8/s1600/Ang+Lee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhByO6bVJOQcp6Un1nh8tWGCXXrsK78xhGSsSOgHct_qqteQqMtLFl_DcKtw1dcXJr6qNe8rUmiLV5Hgm6P-oREkxYKCcrKNgcGoI_6RqbzZdwbueL0uaMUrtx9SPEF4_mKQrwL859vvC8/s400/Ang+Lee.jpg" width="400" /></a>
<li>Spielberg has two previous wins - for <i>Schindler's List</i> and <i>Saving Private Ryan. </i>If the Academy is going to give him a third Director gong, it will be because they love <i>Lincoln. </i>And if they love <i>Lincoln</i> that much, it would win Best Picture as well. But given the <i>Argo</i> situation, that won't be happening, so I just don't see Lincoln winning an isolated Director Oscar. That is weird logic, I know, but there it is.</li>
<li>Ang Lee has only one previous win, and it makes more sense for <i>Life of Pi </i>to win an isolated directing Oscar. Though it feels just a slight touch too lightweight to win Best Picture, it is an undeniable director's accomplishment - Lee balances epic spectacle with nuanced spiritual metaphors and gentle emotions and pulls off both with aplomb. His film is already likely to win 3 to 5 technical Oscars; adding Best Director to the list seems as plausible as anything, to me anyway.</li>
</ol>
<ol>
</ol>
<div>
Will win: Ang Lee</div>
<div>
Should win: In this list? Probably Spielberg.</div>
<div>
Could win: Michael Haneke</div>
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Best Actor:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Bradley Cooper - <i>Silver Linings Playbook</i><br />
Daniel Day-Lewis - <i>Lincoln</i><br />
Hugh Jackman - <i>Les Miserables</i><br />
Joaquin Phoenix - <i>The Master</i><br />
Denzel Washington - <i>Flight</i><br />
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Hugh Jackman and Bradley Cooper are Box Office stars making good as legit Oscar Contenders, and are sure to secure good ratings for the Oscars Telecast. But neither hold a candle to Daniel Day-Lewis' landmark performance. That doesn't mean Bradley Cooper can't win. But I don't want to think about that. So let's move on.<br />
<br />
Denzel Washington is a hugely accomplished actor turning in a great character study as a brilliant but reckless pilot struggling to face up to his alcoholism. In another year, he would be a strong contender to win. But even Denzel boozer redemption can't beat Daniel-Day Lewis channeling Abraham Lincoln<i>.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Joaquin Phoenix is a sadly unpopular actor turning in a blazingly brilliant performance in a sadly unpopular film. His against-the-odds nomination (which should have been a slam dunk Day-Lewis threatener) is a testimony to the power of his performance, but sadly he's not currently likeable enough to give ol' Dan a run for his money.<br />
<br />
Daniel Day-Lewis loses himself in his nuanced, gentle, funny, inspiring, unsentimental, intimate performance as probably America's greatest president since Josiah 'Jed' Bartlet. Even though this will be the THIRD Golden man Day-Lewis takes home (and remember how nearly he won for <i>Gangs of New York)</i>, it seems nothing but logical to give him the prize. And although he has enjoyed a practically unbeaten winning streak so far, his win will still feel like a triumph rather than a bore. There is more than enough unpredictability elsewhere.<br />
<br />
Will win: Daniel Day-Lewis<br />
Should win: Daniel Day-Lewis<br />
Could win: <strike>Bradley Cooper</strike> Daniel Day-Lewis<br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Best Actress:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Jessica Chastain - <i>Zero Dark Thirty</i><br />
Jennifer Lawrence - <i>Silver Linings Playbook</i><br />
Emmanuelle Riva - <i>Amour</i><br />
Quvenzhane Wallis - <i>Beasts of the Southern Wild</i><br />
Naomi Watts - <i>The Impossible</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
An 85-year-old french woman, an indomitable 9-year-old, a bizarrely underappreciated Australian thesp and two rapidly rising stars battle it out for Best Actress. <br />
<br />
Both Naomi Watts - as a real life Tsunami survivor and mother hanging on to life by a thread - and Jessica Chastain - transforming from a delicate, driven CIA operative to a fierce, relentless terrorist catcher over the span of ten years - <i>should</i> be strong contenders for the prize: Watts has been overlooked for years and Chastain has made herself impossible to ignore in the space of just 48 months.<br />
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Let's face it, though - Best Actress is now a two-horse race between the irresistible Jennifer Lawrence and the brilliant Emmanuelle Riva. With dozens of Critics awards to her name, a Golden Globe and the influential endorsement of the Screen Actors Guild, Lawrence has the clear edge to win for breathing new, unpredictable life and captivating energy into Tiffany, a typical tramp with a heart of gold. She's extremely funny, she's constantly surprising, and her emotional beats are genuinely touching. To add to that, Lawrence is young, hot, hard working and almost bizarrely level-headed (she took her parents to the SAG awards). She also owned the Box Office this year, headlining the <i>Hunger Games </i>franchise with another strong performance. Being likeable and owning the Box Office is a trick that worked wonders for Sandra Bullock just three ominous years ago, and Lawrence gives a better performance, although she has less industry cred. It also doesn't hurt having Harvey Weinstein backing your campaign.<br />
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But Emmanuelle Riva has an ace up her sleeve - simply the most breathtaking female performance of the year. She's been surprisingly overlooked in the awards race - sidelined by the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild in favour of hotter Frenchy Marion Cotillard - but those that have had the good sense to nominate her have also been smart enougn to let her win (with the exception of the Critics Choice Awards, who went with Jessica Chastain). The BAFTAs signalled her first victory directly against Lawrence and, sadly, she wasn't there to make an acceptance speech (a good speech does wonders for a campaign, and Lawrence gives great speeches). But BAFTA upsets are known for creating Oscar prescendents (see Marion Cotillard finally getting the edge over the great Julie Christie in 2008 or <i>The Pianist </i>suddenly<i> </i>becoming a real contender after winning big at the BAFTAs in 2003). The Oscars were one of the few awards bodies outside Europe to generously appreciate <i>Amour</i> with five nominations, so presumably enough Academy members actually saw <i>Amour</i> to know that no-one deserves it more than Riva. If they need more convincing, someone should mention that, if she wins, it will be on her 86th birthday and she will be handed the award by hugely charming frenchman Jean Dujardin. That's a better morning after story than Lawrence peaking at 22.<br />
<br />
Will win: Emmanuelle Riva (I know I am voting against the odds, but what's the use of predicting the obvious?)<br />
Should win: Emmanuelle Riva<br />
Could win: Jennifer Lawrence<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Best Supporting Actor:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Alan Arkin <i>- Argo</i><br />
Robert De Niro - <i>Silver Linings Playbook</i><br />
Phillip Seymour Hoffman - <i>The Master</i><br />
Tommy Lee Jones - <i>Lincoln</i><br />
Christoph Waltz - <i>Django Unchained</i><br />
<b><br /></b>Not since 1995 has this category been so hard to predict. That year, Brad Pitt had won the Golden Globe (<i>12 Monkeys), </i>Ed Harris the Screen Actors Guild (<i>Apollo 13</i>), Tim Roth the BAFTA (<i>Rob Roy</i>) and they all contended for the Oscar, which Kevin Spacey won (for his legendary performance in <i>The Usual Suspects</i>). The Academy made the right call and, to be fair, it was a plausible call after Spacey's good run with the Critics Awards.<br />
<br />
This year, Christoph Waltz has the Golden Globe and the BAFTA, Tommy Lee Jones has the Screen Actors Guild, Phillip Seymour Hoffman won the Critics Choice, but nothing else, and is the only contender whose film isn't in the Best Picture race. Alan Arkin and Robert De Niro have no big wins (De Niro even lost the Golden Satellite, where <i>Silver Linings Playbook </i>cleaned out), but Arkin is the only acting nominee from the <i>De Facto </i>Best Picture frontrunner (and Screen Actors Guild ensemble winner) and De Niro is an Oscar veteren in a hugely popular film with more acting nominations than anything else.<br />
<br />
For the first time in Oscar history, there is not a single first-time Oscar nominee among the Supporting Actor contenders, and - to up the stakes - each of these men have an Oscar on their mantelpiece already. Which makes for an interesting race.<br />
<br />
Alan Arkin & Christoph Waltz are the most recent winners and, arguably, don't stray far from their previous winning roles. Waltz bested the strongly buzzed Leonardo DiCaprio to a supporting nod for <i>Django</i>, and it's easy to see why - he is the only sustainably likeable character in the film and has all the best dialogue (and he sure knows how to deliver Tarantino dialogue). He's brilliant, but his work is more subtle than in <i>Inglorious Basterds </i>and giving him another award for another Tarantino film so soon may feel like overkill. Arkin, on the other hand, has a tiny part in <i>Argo</i>, but all the best lines. He is reliably cranky and funny as a jaded Hollywood Producer and aces all his scenes, but he won just six years ago as the cranky, funny grandpa in <i>Little Miss Sunshine</i>, and he lacks the tender moments in <i>Argo</i> that he had in <i>Little Miss Sunshine. </i>The only reason to think he could win is that <i>Argo</i> is winning everything<i>.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTuYxwHoC_0l3q5GStsIKLDUuhEjc0QCjiLDoUsNnTg7VWu5I6U4-KK4Z2b4l63zt7go7CJHwvkrR0ps-gCsaWddMEkwAnIUZCehkKnFNzln6pPU-NYdBdEKG2hrstpvlyvTiMW2exW4/s1600/Philip+Seymour+Hoffman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTuYxwHoC_0l3q5GStsIKLDUuhEjc0QCjiLDoUsNnTg7VWu5I6U4-KK4Z2b4l63zt7go7CJHwvkrR0ps-gCsaWddMEkwAnIUZCehkKnFNzln6pPU-NYdBdEKG2hrstpvlyvTiMW2exW4/s200/Philip+Seymour+Hoffman.jpg" width="200" /></a>Hoffman is the only one in the bunch never to have won Supporting Actor, which seems an odd distinction to make since he <i>did</i> win Best Actor for <i>Capote</i> but, given that he is one of the most reliably brilliant and brilliantly reliable supporting actors in Hollywood, it seems only fair that he should have a Supporting Actor gong to go with his <i>Capote</i> gong. And there's no doubt he is deserving - his complex performance as a charismatic cult leader struggling to conceal - and deny - his own flaws and insecurities is easily the best in the category (although to be fair it is actually a lead performance). Sadly his film wasn't particularly embraced by the Academy and he feels destined to be an also-ran.<br />
<br />
Tommy Lee Jones and Robert De Niro are probably the easiest to imagine as winners. The case for each of them:<br />
<ul>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRDoQg4ooxFM0BFPwmeqfs1e-wZ0UnSMoHpL4l9Mx_4l8cakhnrcZ7_galmd0HwYZ3hdZj8w16m3O8wAY9l63T6eWMO7uOBaPHaw_9ysAl2N8PWCRdpnUo5_eJlUQYHBzWZJEUDddBRM/s1600/Robert+De+Niro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRDoQg4ooxFM0BFPwmeqfs1e-wZ0UnSMoHpL4l9Mx_4l8cakhnrcZ7_galmd0HwYZ3hdZj8w16m3O8wAY9l63T6eWMO7uOBaPHaw_9ysAl2N8PWCRdpnUo5_eJlUQYHBzWZJEUDddBRM/s320/Robert+De+Niro.jpg" width="320" /></a></ul>
Robert De Niro has been absent from the Oscar race for a good 21 years. And with good reason. The legendary actor has been making the worst movies of his career, one after the other. That he redeems himself in <i>Playbook </i>is significant, and welcome, but he hardly stretches himself far from the cantankerous father he played in the <i>Meet the Parents </i>movies. That being said, this is a strong supporting part, even if it doesn't live up to De Niro's best work (little could). He plays a difficult, superstitious OCD gambler, husband and father. His mental illness, unlike the cute, quirky variety afflicting Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, is genuinely unpleasant at times, and affords De Niro some good screen rants. More significantly, he also has tender moments with Bradley Cooper, even shedding a few tears, which are probably the bits that will earn him the win. He has won no prizes for this part, but <i>Silver Linings Playbook </i>is a hugely popular film, and De Niro is an Oscar legend who has been doing some solid campaigning. He hasn't won since 1981. A third Oscar seems plausible.<br /><br /><div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw9KgbnA-nUY4qr4dXqOUYKImA6599KNJxoMvjb8CMW0ZoEVFHAwUEdwcDKF1vtMZdMHUfW99Qo2lPRdSHTj1_JtCjWM9h1ndK61MV5w-BP19Ghlj29BHmN9ZSxIM3G3VCrBg_Mcav-p4/s1600/Tommy+Lee+Jones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw9KgbnA-nUY4qr4dXqOUYKImA6599KNJxoMvjb8CMW0ZoEVFHAwUEdwcDKF1vtMZdMHUfW99Qo2lPRdSHTj1_JtCjWM9h1ndK61MV5w-BP19Ghlj29BHmN9ZSxIM3G3VCrBg_Mcav-p4/s320/Tommy+Lee+Jones.jpg" width="320" /></a>Tommy Lee Jones is great fun as the grumpy (seems to be a bit of a trend this year), acerbic Thaddeus Stevens, forced to publicly compromise his strong ideals to see his cause succeed. It's a meaty performance with some great lines, plenty of good laughs and a significant chunk of the film's climax. His sourpuss demeanour at the Golden Globes earned him momentary grumpy cat meme status, and he didn't show up to collect his award from the Screen Actors Guild. He doesn't seem too interested in campaigning for the award, which shouldn't make a difference but does. So who knows how this will turn out for him. If <i>Lincoln </i>does well, he'd be unstoppable, but that seems unlikely. He also turned in a strong performance opposite Meryl Streep in <i>Hope Springs, </i>which could count in his favour. He won supporting actor for <i>The Fugitive </i>in 1994 and was nominated once, for Lead Actor for <i>In the Valley of Elah</i>, since.<br /><ul>
</ul>
<div>
Will win: Robert De Niro</div>
<div>
Should win: Phillip Seymour Hoffman</div>
<div>
Could win: Tommy Lee Jones</div>
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Best Supporting Actress:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Amy Adams - The Master<br />
Sally Field - Lincoln<br />
Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables<br />
Helen Hunt - The Sessions<br />
Jacki Weaver - Silver Linings Playbook<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_QgII1rzfi_zPp9qkZY_aNKgqGJCpBXS3pR5oaGhBwlSReO9nfv2ongsnNJoohfZ3PFKGn0xC6hPsftTuk4cXFde2N5AWDgBan65HilbBlZp9wiHXXAP-CTzYegE7CIv4YmhofuWQCA/s1600/Anne+Hathaway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_QgII1rzfi_zPp9qkZY_aNKgqGJCpBXS3pR5oaGhBwlSReO9nfv2ongsnNJoohfZ3PFKGn0xC6hPsftTuk4cXFde2N5AWDgBan65HilbBlZp9wiHXXAP-CTzYegE7CIv4YmhofuWQCA/s640/Anne+Hathaway.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Amy Adams is unsettlingly creepy as the devoted wife and disciple of Seymour Hoffman's cult leader - who may or may not be aware of the extraordinary power she wields over him<i>; </i>Sally Field redeems Mary Todd Lincoln from the footnotes of history, playing her in multiple shades of intelligence, social awareness, vigor, intelligence, obsession, barely suppressed hysteria and madness; Helen Hunt is brave, warm, honest and mostly nude as a compassionate sex surrogate (note, <i>not </i>a prostitute)<i> </i>and Jacki Weaver is the most lovable mother of the year, making crabby snacks and home mades as she quietly keeps her family of crazies together.<br />
<i><br /></i>
But Anne Hathaway has owned this Oscar from the moment the first <i>Les Mis </i>trailer showed her singing I Dreamed a Dream, with a shaved head, waning hope and plentiful supply of bitter tears. Her live singing, single take, close up performance of the song has almost become a cliché, but that shouldn't detract from the sheer power and force of her performance. It's a tricky thing to pull off and Hathaway is intensely mesmerising as she gives herself completely to the part she saw her mother perform on stage as a little girl. Tragic prostitute with a heart of gold who sings? No competition.<br />
<br />
Will win: Anne Hathaway<br />
Should win: Arguably, Sally Field<br />
Could win: Highly unlikely, Sally Field<br />
<br />
<b>Best Original Screenplay:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppolla - <i>Moonrise Kingdom</i><br />
Mark Boal - <i>Zero Dark Thirty</i><br />
John Gatins - <i>Flight</i><br />
Michael Haneke - <i>Amour</i><br />
Quentin Tarantino -<i> Django Unchained</i><br />
<b><br /></b>
Mark Boal may have won in 2010 for <i>The Hurt Locker</i>, but there's no one who deserves it more this year. His painstakingly, and controversially, researched procedural of the hunt for Bin Laden is nothing short of masterful. But sadly his film has suffered badly from the controversy surrounding it's depiction of torture. His recent win from the Writer's Guild may or may not have redeemed in but, sadly, Boal is not currently the frontrunner he should be.<br />
<br />
John Gatins, an open former alcoholic, presumably poured much of his heart and soul into the story of a heroic pilot struggling to come to terms with his alcoholism. It's a strong character piece but likely not enough to wipe out the competition - where he goes up against three Best Picture nominees.<br />
<br />
Wes Anderson is back in the Original Screenplay race, this time with Roman Coppolla, and his tale of troubled pre-teen lovers fleeing their small town angst is as tender as it is unpredictable. It's got all the usual Anderson trademarks - precocious children, emotionally stunted grown ups, random activities for Bill Murray - but touches on something enigmatically poignant.<br />
<br />
Michael Haneke wrote and directed a spare, ferociously unsentimental portrait of a loving, complex elderly couple facing the realities of physical decay and death. It's a downer, but a touching one, and it has a lovely circular structure that echoes the way we tend to end life the same way we started. <br />
<br />
Which just leaves Tarantino's anarchic, post-modern take on American slavery. It's a conversation-starter, I'll give it that, and its red hot anger at America's sordid, lingering, past is seductive, but it's not the best Tarantino effort - it's overlong, indulgent and morally unsettling. From the film's opening scene it is clear that there is no moral higher ground here; in Tarantino'd bloodthirsty world the oppressed, given the chance, gleefully turn as sadistic and inhuman as their oppressors. That belies the phenomenal, unwarranted restraint with which Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela demanded rights for black citizens in America and South Africa respectively. But, you know, it's bold and it's funny and Tarantino lost to Mark Boal in 2010. Though this is a far less sophisticated script than <i>Inglorious Basterds</i>, conventional wisdom says the Oscar is Tarantino's to lose. I'm not convinced he won't, though. I just don't know who they're likely to prefer.<br />
<br />
Will win: Mark Boal (again, I am voting against logic here)<br />
Should win: Mark Boal<br />
Could win: Michael Haneke<br />
<br />
<b>Best Adapted Screenplay:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Tony Kushner - <i>Lincoln</i><br />
David Magee - <i>Life of Pi</i><br />
David O'Russell - <i>Silver Linings Playbook</i><br />
Chris Terrio - <i>Argo</i><br />
Benh Zeitlin & Lucy Alibar - <i>Beasts of the Southern Wild</i><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
This one should be Tony Kushner's to lose - his detailed, thoughtful account of Lincoln's struggle to get slavery abolished in a country that didn't want to let it go is both a fascinating window on an amazing man and a time and place. Based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's definitive biography on Lincoln, Kushner's gorgeous dialogue illuminates ideas and dilemmas we should would do well to keep discussing today. It's a detailed labour of love that should easily win, but sadly there is the matter of:<br />
<br />
<i>Argo </i>keeps winning everything. The Academy might resist the trend and vote otherwise, but groupthink is a powerful thing - if everyone else thinks something is that good, there must be something to it. There's nothing wrong with Chris Terrio's script. It's a near-perfect thriller blended with an unlikely Hollywood farce and it all happens to be true. Personally, the resolution was a bit too tidy for my liking, but it's good writing nonetheless. Doesn't mean it's the best, though.<br />
<br />
David O'Russell is a big potential upset here, as he's made no secret of why he adapted Matthew Quick's novel - to make his son, who himself suffers from mental illness, feel like he has a place in the world. And it's a beguiling backstory that's hard to resist. It even makes you forget that this is basically an upgraded romantic comedy. But I guess there's nothing wrong with a good romantic comedy. Especially if it gives people hope.<br />
<br />
David Magee beautifully distilled Yann Mantell's sleeper hit literary novel, and Benh Zeitlin crafted the most poetic script of the year from Lucy Alibar's play. But this is a three-way race:<br />
<br />
Will win: Chris Terrio<br />
Should win: Tony Kushner<br />
Could win: David O'Russell<br />
<br />
<b>Best Editing:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>William Goldenberg - <i>Argo</i><br />
Michael Kahn - <i>Lincoln</i><br />
Tim Squyres - <i>Life of Pi</i><br />
Jay Cassidy & Crispin Struthers - <i>Silver Linings Playook</i><br />
William Goldenberg & Dylan Tichenor - <i>Zero Dark Thirty</i><br />
<br />
I include Editing as a Main Category, rather than a technical one, as it so often has a direct bearing on the directing, and therefore the Best Picture, race.<br />
<br />
William Goldenberg is a double nominee. <i>Zero Dark Thirty </i>is the film he should win for, <i>Argo </i>is the film he will win for. Simple as that. (Barring <i>Lincoln, Life of Pi </i>or<i> Silver Linings Playbook </i>taking over the Best Picture race).<br />
<i><br /></i>
Will win: William Goldernberg (<i>Argo)</i><br />
Should win: William Goldenberg & Dylan Tichenor (<i>Zero Dark Thirty)</i><i> </i><br />
Could win: Jay Cassidy & Crispin Struthers (<i>Silver Linings Playook)</i><br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-75890448474799443482013-02-20T08:52:00.003-08:002013-02-20T08:52:38.829-08:00Oscar Technical Categories<b>Cinematography:</b><br />
<br />
Roger Deakins - Skyfall<br />
Janusz Kaminski - Lincoln<br />
Seamus McGarvey - Anna Karenina<br />
Claudio Miranda - Life of Pi<br />
Robert Richardson - Django Unchained<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM737VXyJqCy5jwhzuz9a7tBhG4q-zc2KP9nY4yaDx3kP3EcVzW_ToiGGu4bL1BMgRGDxQR5FKK6BHOiMa4CURb94FzW6P6Xz6hm74wk5gsKWo2MFZC7YA9MlQQsqkuJZNj1T5nESP7c8/s1600/Life-of-Pi-Bioluminescent-Water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM737VXyJqCy5jwhzuz9a7tBhG4q-zc2KP9nY4yaDx3kP3EcVzW_ToiGGu4bL1BMgRGDxQR5FKK6BHOiMa4CURb94FzW6P6Xz6hm74wk5gsKWo2MFZC7YA9MlQQsqkuJZNj1T5nESP7c8/s400/Life-of-Pi-Bioluminescent-Water.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Claudio Miranda seems to have this category all but sewn up, with landmark work in a popular film, but surprises do happen - last year there was no film more jaw-droppingly visual than <i>Tree of Life</i>, but lenser Emmanuel Lubezki went home empty handed, losing his Oscar to two-time previous champ Robert Richardson for the lovingly rendered <i>Hugo </i>(hard not to be glad about that one). <i>Life of Pi </i>need not worry about any such upsets, though. Unlike divisive outsider <i>Tree of Life</i>, <i>Pi </i>is the second most nominated film at the Oscars, with no cause for backlash.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-bDvSTvpCSWRfkz6KqgV2Oucwr9K8j7HnotQRhXDGGuf7ojoyLLj0Smo173sJGxzc9r6HT8Fl2KMVUukkCovWwKpuvV0LCZtdlKTqvzne0wHUphP4T_7bAAcrbaEx3hXNpTlDbH7XgRk/s1600/2012+Fixies+Best+Cinematography+Winner+Skyfall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-bDvSTvpCSWRfkz6KqgV2Oucwr9K8j7HnotQRhXDGGuf7ojoyLLj0Smo173sJGxzc9r6HT8Fl2KMVUukkCovWwKpuvV0LCZtdlKTqvzne0wHUphP4T_7bAAcrbaEx3hXNpTlDbH7XgRk/s400/2012+Fixies+Best+Cinematography+Winner+Skyfall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Miranda's only real competition is <i>Skyfall</i>'s Roger Deakins, who has nine unsuccessful previous Oscar nominations to his legendary name. Deakins claimed the top prize from the American Society of Cinematographers, who would logically want to endorse traditional lensing, as opposed to <i>Life of Pi</i>'s digitally enhanced approach.<i> </i>But the Academy has had no trouble embracing Virtual Cinematography with <i>Avatar </i>and even, to an extent, <i>Hugo.</i> Statistically, the odds in this category are always in favour of the Best Picture nominee, which also gives Miranda the edge over Deakins.<br />
<br />
The other nominees are last year's winner Robert Richardson, for <i>Django Unchained</i>, frequent Spielberg collaborator (and two-time winner, for <i>Schindler's List </i>and <i>Saving Private Ryan</i>) Janusz Kaminski and Seamus McGarvey, who probably made a strong bid for the prize for 2008's <i>Atonement</i>, but is unlikely to have enough momentum to pull off a surprise win for this year's divisive <i>Anna Karenina. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Conclusion: <i>Roger Deakins </i>is a living legend and<i> </i>turned in probably the most beautiful action film ever, but <i>Life of Pi </i>remains the most talked about visual achievement of the year.<br />
<br />
Will win: <i>Life of Pi</i><br />
Should win: <i>Skyfall</i><br />
Could win: <i>Skyfall</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Original Score</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
Mychael Danna <i>- Life of Pi</i><br />
<br />
Alexandre Desplat - <i>Argo</i><br />
Dario Marianelli - <i>Anna Karenina</i><br />
Thomas Newman<i> - Skyfall</i><br />
John Williams<i> - Lincoln</i><br />
<br />
<br />
Though a respectable list, some of the year's best scores (<i>The Master, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Moonrise Kingdom, Zero Dark Thirty</i>) have been sadly left off, but I will surely rant and rave about that elsewhere. For now, who among the safe five will claim the prize?<br />
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijGOK6_vo4c_rFL34lPnMkFOZqE0q5F827zNONJCj1YbbtRnnKfFIBBwqt-mycHl66v9tabeNsCH_GhvOn5aKsxq8B0PVLuqcehSorkjaCOtA7L2orFAoQguKTCn4tAa82zArzkc_d3B0/s1600/Thomas+Newman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijGOK6_vo4c_rFL34lPnMkFOZqE0q5F827zNONJCj1YbbtRnnKfFIBBwqt-mycHl66v9tabeNsCH_GhvOn5aKsxq8B0PVLuqcehSorkjaCOtA7L2orFAoQguKTCn4tAa82zArzkc_d3B0/s200/Thomas+Newman.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="text-align: center;">Like </span><i style="text-align: center;">Skyfall </i><span style="text-align: center;">cinematographer</span><i style="text-align: center;"> </i><span style="text-align: center;">Roger Deakins, Thomas Newman has ten nominations to his name (think </span><i style="text-align: center;">Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty </i><span style="text-align: center;">and</span><i style="text-align: center;"> WallE), </i><span style="text-align: center;">with no wins</span><i style="text-align: center;">. </i><span style="text-align: center;">Newman's </span><i style="text-align: center;">Skyfall </i><span style="text-align: center;">score is probably the most urban and inventive of the five, but his layered, </span><span style="text-align: center;">urban</span><span style="text-align: center;"> action score</span><i style="text-align: center;"> </i><span style="text-align: center;">is unlikely to bag him the big prize, although BAFTA thought otherwise, so he remains a threat.</span><br />
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span>
Alexandre Desplat has five unsuccessful prior nominations and scored no less than nine films in 2012, including <i>Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Moonrise Kingdom, Ruse and Bone </i>and <i>Rise of the Guardians. </i>Two of these went on to be Best Picture nominees and he is nominated for the <i>de facto </i>Best Picture winner, <i>Argo. </i>Seems like a logical winner, but his vibey, suspenseful, sometimes sentimental middle eastern score simply isn't his most distinctive work.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOGfom-EurFvFHtKN_i1ujoPORLZubyLPkjg5fV_hFSUkDVt6fb-AV_0lfgKQsSexDshC0aiDinEDBe5XU9tBQhfYFieY271QHNiA_mojCfiDelxKMmm9mDYJEvPCUiAinnkdcPgsrSK8/s1600/Mychael+Danna+and+Ang+Lee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOGfom-EurFvFHtKN_i1ujoPORLZubyLPkjg5fV_hFSUkDVt6fb-AV_0lfgKQsSexDshC0aiDinEDBe5XU9tBQhfYFieY271QHNiA_mojCfiDelxKMmm9mDYJEvPCUiAinnkdcPgsrSK8/s320/Mychael+Danna+and+Ang+Lee.jpg" width="320" /></a>Dario Marianelli is a recent winner for <i>Atonement </i>(swoon), while Spielberg staple - and five-time winner (from 48 nominations) John Williams delivered a spare, dignified score with playful Southern hayseed interludes which is surprisingly fun, but only stands any chance of winning if <i>Lincoln</i> sweeps. And let's not get our hopes up.<br />
<br />
<br />
Which leaves Mychael Danna, channeling whimsical wonder, danger and Parisian / Indian vibes for Ang Lee's <i>Life of Pi. </i>The Oscar is his to lose.<br />
<br />
Will win: Mychael Danna - <i>Life of Pi</i><br />
Should win: Thomas Newman - <i>Skyfall</i><br />
Could win: Alexandre Desplat<i> - Argo</i><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Production Design & Set Decoration:</b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<i>Anna Karenina</i><br />
<i>The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey</i><br />
<i>Les Miserables</i><br />
<i>Life of Pi</i><br />
<i>Lincoln</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii8WYbdK0J00D1IZTl7MVm-gVy7CbOt6LxZgOM_8B5vTo52QVS5hI-SOcqI22_wZ1nh58HXd4a9SkwDVkWqilwnGc-JnMVMNQY2sd4i5AmlgezoCIeKJkQQG2fgH8sx_oTNjfzZD9-WMg/s1600/anna-karenina-picture02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii8WYbdK0J00D1IZTl7MVm-gVy7CbOt6LxZgOM_8B5vTo52QVS5hI-SOcqI22_wZ1nh58HXd4a9SkwDVkWqilwnGc-JnMVMNQY2sd4i5AmlgezoCIeKJkQQG2fgH8sx_oTNjfzZD9-WMg/s640/anna-karenina-picture02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><br /></i>A bunch of good eggs. <i>Anna Karenina </i>takes literal the Shakespeare adage that all the world is a stage and lets the great Russian melodrama play off entirely in sets constructed inside an old theater.<br />
<br />
There is similar innovation in <i>Les Miserables</i>, which strikes a careful balance between realism and stylised theatrical sets to evoke 19th century France.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The Hobbit </i>initially covers the same Shire ground as the <i>Lord of the Rings </i>trilogies, but soon explores brand new forests, Goblin caves and VIP sections of Rivendell in gorgeous detail, not to mention the awesome art-deco-ish designs of the lost Dwarf mountain kingdom. While much of <i>The Hobbit</i>'s<i> </i>execution is CGI, the design remains breathtaking.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Life of Pi </i>may seem an odd pick, considering it's mostly the story of a dude and a tiger in a boat, but the production design is a significant layer to the visual experience that is <i>Life of Pi. </i>Those ocean scenes were filmed in a giant water tank with bluescreen backdrops before the digital awesomeness was added; the meerkat island scenes were first filmed in a Taiwanese Banyan tree reserve before CGI rounded it out and the gorgeous scenes in Parisian India themselves leave plenty to ogle.<i> </i><br />
<br />
Finally, <i>Lincoln</i> plays off in beautiful, fanatically detailed historical sets filled with significant character and period detail that helps transport us back to a critical moment in history.<br />
<br />
So who wins? Hard to say. The Art Directors Guild divide their awards into Contemporary, Period and Sci Fi / Fantasy categories and awarded <i>Skyfall, </i><i>Anna Karenina </i>and <i>Life of Pi </i>respectively<i>.</i> The BAFTAs went with <i>Les Miserables, </i>the Golden Satellites went with <i>Lincoln </i>and the Critics Choice chose <i>Anna Karenina. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Karenina </i>would appear to be the logical frontrunner (and could tie in nicely with its expected Costume Design win), but that could all change if <i>Life of Pi, </i>or <i>Les Miserables, </i>sweep the technical awards. Or <i>Lincoln </i>sweeps in general. But let's not get out hopes up.<br />
<br />
Will win: <i>Anna Karenina</i><br />
Should win: <i>Anna Karenina </i><br />
Could win: <i>Life of Pi </i><br />
<br />
<b>Costumes:</b><br />
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
Jacqueline Durran - <i>Anna Karenina</i></div>
<div>
Paco Delgado - <i>Les Miserables</i></div>
<div>
Joanna Johnston - <i>Lincoln</i></div>
<div>
Eiko Ishioka - <i>Mirror Mirror</i><br />
Colleen Attwood - <i>Snow White and the Huntsman</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The inclusion of both Snow White movies is refreshing and a welcome departure from the Best Picture race. <i>Snow White and the Huntsman</i>'s Colleen Attwood is the veteran of the category, with nine previous nominations and three wins to her name. Charlize Theron spent not a moment of the film looking less than awesome but, suffice it to say, <i>Huntsman </i>as a whole isn't exactly the pinnacle of Attwood's career.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz_y7Q_RK7a0GSUyUxunqRfLeZeXC0T5InSkLWMc2CTdoEfGyPEwJM-L4-ZHKpjSm-6lLhpbZGCFRBqowbm5X-mBUY-bGI6alrlnOiH7fKyvCcrMUJMPZMTskypOc77qmM44xk6sQJ_88/s1600/Mirror+MIrror.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz_y7Q_RK7a0GSUyUxunqRfLeZeXC0T5InSkLWMc2CTdoEfGyPEwJM-L4-ZHKpjSm-6lLhpbZGCFRBqowbm5X-mBUY-bGI6alrlnOiH7fKyvCcrMUJMPZMTskypOc77qmM44xk6sQJ_88/s400/Mirror+MIrror.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<i>Mirror Mirror</i>'s Eiko Ishioka has won previous nomination - and win - a full twenty years ago for <i>Bram Stoker's</i> <i>Dracula. Mirror Mirror </i>seems like the featherweight in the race, but its costumes are the most inventive of the bunch and Ishioka is a distinctive talent (with notable work for Tarsem Singh and Bjork) who passed away in January 2012. If anyone could pull off a surprise win, it's Ishioka. You never count out the film with the Queen.<br />
<i><br /></i>
Joanna Johnston is a first time nominee for her detailed period costumes for <i>Lincoln. </i>Other than Sally Field's suitably flashy get ups,<i> </i>her costuming is mostly on the understated side and, while they are gorgeously effective, flashy tends to win in this category. Flashy Queens.<br />
<i><br /></i>
Paco Delgado is another first-time nominee, producing stylised costumes for a huge cast that evoke the stage without pushing the point. While his <i>Les Mis </i>costumes certainly don't lack flash and colour, they're more on the gaudy squalor side of things, as the story demands, which is why <i>Anna Karenina </i>has the edge.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2yOTrgOcbBQY8HfT0EqxncmWk4UJtvjofgsj7tbz5fUqjaE1VNmpPVl4aqRFLFpUP510le3IXI2ZDaAD-cPrXxf9MXH24eymj2k2F7exAtp9rN9K4AG8gG1mpaBuvqNEmgNSGAWME9c4/s1600/Anna_Karenina-cinematography.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2yOTrgOcbBQY8HfT0EqxncmWk4UJtvjofgsj7tbz5fUqjaE1VNmpPVl4aqRFLFpUP510le3IXI2ZDaAD-cPrXxf9MXH24eymj2k2F7exAtp9rN9K4AG8gG1mpaBuvqNEmgNSGAWME9c4/s400/Anna_Karenina-cinematography.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
This is Jacqueline Durran's third nomination for her outstanding work on Joe Wright's period films (<i>Pride and Prejudice, Atonement)</i>.<i> Anna Karenina </i>is gorgeous eye candy, with the costumes easily holding their own alongside the Oscar-nominated sets and lensing. With the most lavish, opulent period costumes for a large cast, <i>Anna</i> <i>Karenina</i> seems easily the frontrunner, challenged only by the inventive <i>Mirror Mirror.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Anna Karenina </i>and <i>Mirror Mirror </i>were each honoured by the Costume Designers Guild (in the Period and Fantasy fields, respectively), but <i>Mirror Mirror </i>failed to be nominated at the BAFTAs or the Critics Choice Awards, both of which <i>Anna Karenina </i>won. <i>Mirror Mirror </i>did, however, prevail over <i>Karenina </i>at the Golden Satellites. But who cares about the Satellites? The strongest case for <i>Mirror Mirror </i>is that the movie with the Queen in it is usually the winner.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Will win: <i>Anna Karenina</i></div>
<div>
Should win: <i>Anna Karenina</i></div>
<div>
Could win: <i>Mirror Mirror</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<b>Make Up & Hairstyling</b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<i>Les Miserables</i></div>
<div>
<i>The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey</i></div>
<div>
<i>Hitchcock</i></div>
<div>
<br />
Squalid 19th Century Parisian suffering, Middle Earth and 1950s Hollywood. Singing squalor wins.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWIN7HOOs-4KjynToIYy3CjpFrgWUB9lHuu7BYZrr5EBFKh8ftwFByTacmFyiCO_2hUeBMweEAdGK8p3Ds3_QBfyB2cANJpO1Gp7C4rFNDkYU-ig0cdJgIyf2mLz3cmrsTyLkMOfUM4Ko/s1600/Les+Mis+Make+Up.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWIN7HOOs-4KjynToIYy3CjpFrgWUB9lHuu7BYZrr5EBFKh8ftwFByTacmFyiCO_2hUeBMweEAdGK8p3Ds3_QBfyB2cANJpO1Gp7C4rFNDkYU-ig0cdJgIyf2mLz3cmrsTyLkMOfUM4Ko/s400/Les+Mis+Make+Up.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Will win: <i>Les Miserables</i></div>
<div>
Should win: <i>Les Miserables </i></div>
<div>
Could win: <i>The Hobbit</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<b>Visual Effects:</b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<i>Life of Pi</i></div>
<div>
<i>Prometheus</i></div>
<div>
<i>The Avengers</i></div>
<div>
<i>The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey</i></div>
<div>
<i>Snow White and the Huntsman</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Who are we kidding? <i>Life of Pi </i>has already made it into the Visual Effects annuls. On top of that, it's the only Best Picture nominee in the list. It has had a virtually perfect winning streak so far (barring the odd Golden Satellites award for <i>Flight</i>, not nominated here). Think leaping whales, epic boat sinkings and Richard Parker. It's in the bag.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Will win: <i>Life of Pi</i></div>
<div>
Should win: <i>Life of Pi</i></div>
<div>
Could win: <i>Avengers</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<b>Sound Editing:</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Life of Pi</i></div>
<div>
<i>Skyfall</i></div>
<div>
<i>Argo</i></div>
<div>
<i>Django Unchained</i></div>
<div>
<i>Zero Dark Thirty</i></div>
<div>
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The Sound Editing award is for the sourcing and recording of original sounds for a film. War and action films tend to dominate. Expect the prize to go to one of the Motion Picture Sound Editors winners - <i>Skyfall</i> or <i>Life of Pi. </i></div>
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Will win: <i>Life of Pi</i></div>
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Should win: <i>Zero Dark Thirty</i></div>
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Could win: <i>Skyfall</i></div>
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<b>Sound Mixing:</b></div>
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<i>Life of Pi</i></div>
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<i>Skyfall</i></div>
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<i>Les Miserables</i></div>
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<i>Argo</i></div>
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<i>Lincoln</i></div>
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Sound Mixing, on the other hand, is the art of taking available sounds (including those created by the sound mixing team) and blending them together into the film's scenes for optimum effect. Musicals almost always dominate this category when they are in the running, and <i>Les Miserables</i> is particularly worthy as it blends live singing with separately recorded orchestral arrangements for wall-to-wall singing. It also has the Cinema Audio Society's Award, and the BAFTA to its name. In the bag.</div>
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Will win: <i>Les Miserables</i></div>
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Should win: <i>Les Miserables</i></div>
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Could win: <i>Life of Pi</i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-55650083738735281282013-02-19T06:38:00.002-08:002013-02-19T06:38:42.061-08:00On Life of Pi and the matter of Virtual Cinematography<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With <i>Life of Pi </i>all but sweeping the year's cinematography awards, and expected to take the Oscar on 24 February as well, I'm struggling to make peace with the odd idea of virtual cinematography being honoured over traditional lensing. I appreciate the need for virtual cinematography and certainly admire its results - the visual awesomeness of <i>Avatar, Tron Legacy </i>and <i>Life of Pi </i>is undeniable - but where is the line between Cinematography and Visual Effects?<br>
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There's no doubt that <i>Life of Pi</i> is the visual movie event of the year, but to see the prize for best lensing go to a digitally manufactured product is odd. In the past few years, it has been the Academy's preference: <i>Avatar </i>winning<i> </i>for an almost entirely virtual world in 2010, <i>Hugo </i>(with its virtually filled in cityscapes) beating the jaw dropping photography of <i>Tree of Life </i>in 2011. It could be that both those films were simply more popular than their contenders, but it's interesting how easily the Academy has embraced the reliance on CGI in this most essentially cinematic craft.<br>
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The acting fields are notoriously resistant to motion-capture performance (Andy Serkis, in particular, has been repeatedly snubbed for his groundbreaking work as Gollum, King Kong and Caesar in <i>The Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit, King Kong </i>and <i>Rise of the Planet of the Apes</i>, respectively), even though the primary work is done by an actor and only digitally adapted in post-production (much like the seascapes of <i>Life of Pi</i>). Somehow they still see Gollum and Caesar as a Visual Effects achievement, rather than an acting one. Any arguments about unfair disadvantages from digitally "enhanced" acting count just as strongly against virtual cinematography.<br>
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Of course, digitally enhanced cinematography isn't a new phenomenon. Back in 2001, Bruno Delbonnel was one of the first to use computers to enhance the hues and tones of his footage in post-production for <i>Amélie. </i>But is it cheating, or at least an unfair advantage? Perhaps it doesn't matter. Perhaps it's just how the industry is changing. When it comes to complex, effects-driven 3D films like<i> Avatar</i> or <i>Life of Pi</i>, digital enhancement is a fairly logical extension of the filming process, but when it comes to handing out little gold men for the year's best representation of the Cinematographer's trade, what are Cinematographers awarded for? Lighting? Composition? Movement? Visual metaphor? Mood? Technical dexterity or innovation? Getting the right angle on a gorgeous landscape? Of course it depends from film to film. So when a film and story like <i>Life of Pi</i> is so reliant on the poetry of its visuals, a cinematographer who rises to the occasion, with or without the help of computers, to deliver what his director envisions is one worth awarding (although I'd argue we'd be falling over ourselves in a whole different way if he did it <i>without </i>the computers).<br>
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So if the visual design and execution and effect is what we're awarding, regardless of how the cinematographer got there, why not recognise some of the incredible landscapes created by Pixar in recent years? The great (Oscarless) Roger Deakins, for example, consulted on the "cinematography" of <i>Wall-E, </i>advising the technical team on effective lighting and realistic camera movement (to create a more immersive cinematic experience with all the authentic bumps and shakes of a real camera). There's no denying the visual beauty of a film like <i>WallE</i>, or the technical brilliance of the underwaterscapes in <i>Finding Nemo </i>(which go to great pains to capture the light and shade of an ocean backdrop). So what sets <i>WallE </i>apart from <i>Life of Pi</i>, or even <i>Avatar</i>, where a large chunk of the film is digitally animated?<br>
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While we're at it, Tim Burton's<i> Alice in Wonderland </i>won an Oscar for its Production Design, even though much of the execution was digital. Burton Produced <i>Nightmare Before Christmas</i>, on the other hand, features iconic, influential sets as tangible as the chair you're presumably sitting on, only miniature. But what did it contend for at the Oscars? Visual Effects. Once again, <i>WallE </i>features impeccably designed sets, but you'd barely see it contend for them. And while inserting a photo-real (for back then) Gollum into an actual real life background will win you a Visual Effects Oscar, placing animated fish into a photo-real (if mildly stylised) ocean backdrop will not even get you nominated. But perhaps I am splitting hairs.<br>
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So what's the distinction? Does it only count as cinematography or production design if it features at least some real actors? Perhaps the distinction is the real collaboration between two worlds - it's okay that <i>Avatar </i>or <i>Life of Pi </i>were largely finished on computers, because they started on real sets, with real cameras, even if just for the bones of the eventual visuals. For Pixar, it's all computer. Perhaps that is a fair distinction.<br>
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On Oscar night, both Claudia Miranda and the Visual Effects team will pick up Oscars for their respective contributions to the film's astounding visuals. And power to them. Digital enhancement is here to stay and, if it ups our movie going & movie making experience, let's embrace it (even if it means Roger Deakins goes home empty handed, again).<br>
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While we're at it, let's take a look at some of the good old-fashioned camera work that was overlooked by the Academy this year, after the cut:<br>
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<a href="http://sumupfilm.blogspot.com/2013/02/on-life-of-pi-and-matter-of-virtual.html#more">Read more »</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-58644253448160182832013-02-11T12:31:00.001-08:002013-02-11T12:31:58.119-08:00Help bring Roots, Rhythm & Revolution to Grahamstown Arts Festival Support the Arts on Indiegogo:<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569244531355949564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640042016270836230.post-21737829049999237192013-01-16T08:55:00.005-08:002013-01-16T08:56:02.925-08:00Benh Zeitling's Glory at SeaNow that the Academy has bestowed its love and approval upon <i>Beasts of the Southern Wild</i>, it's only fair to stand back and look at what director Benh Zeitlin has achieved: <i>Beasts </i>is his first feature, which he adapted from Lucy Alibar's play, directed (obviously) and composed the brilliant score for. With a tiny (estimated) budget of $1 800 000 and a cast of first-time actors, Zeitlin has created an instant classic - poetic, wild, emotionally powerful with a distinctively voice woven into every element, and a brave, provocative point of view showing us a world and perspective we've likely never even considered.<br />
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It bodes us well, then, to have a look at Zeitlin's 2008 short film, <i>Glory at Sea</i>. Plenty of <i>Beasts</i> vibes. In fact, it seems to contain all the seeds that would eventually become <i>Beasts</i>. I await his next move with fascination. Thanks to <a href="http://www.awardsdaily.com/">Awardsdaily</a> for the link.<br />
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