It Was The Oscars!

In case no-one knows, two weeks ago were the 86th Academy Awards, marking the end of Awards Season (my favorite holiday), making this the last post i will be writing about the Oscars, even i realize that it has gotten out of hand, and i must quit, some addictions need to be tackled cold turkey. The 86th Academy Awards were held at the Dolby Theater on Sunday night, hosted by Ellen Degeneres for the second time. This was only the second time that the awards have been publicly referred to as The Oscars, and not as The Academy Awards, as part of the Academy's continued attempt to market themselves to younger viewers. The gamble paid off to an extent, with the telecast being the highest rated in many years, and being the highest rated American entertainment broadcast since the 2004 Friends finale. The Academy have claimed for many years that a billion people watch the telecast, and this year it was almost accurate.

The broadcast was hosted by Ellen Degeneres, who previously hosted in 2007. She brought her typically breezy, likeable persona to the ceremony, and was generally relaxed and friendly. The ceremony took a sharp detour from last years formula of carefully orchestrated gags and sketches, to a more relaxed format, with Ellen liberally wandering the aisles of the Dolby Theater chatting with members of the audience. The success of Ellen's hosting gig relies on her ability  to make fun of members of the audience without offending them à la Seth McFarlane. One of the fantastic things about Ellen Degeneres is that she is just inherently likeable, and that was apparent on Sunday, i am a huge fan of Ellen, particularly of her standup work, and the ceremony used her skills as a standup comedian well.

The telecast felt slick and well orchestrated, and went off with very few hitches. Yes, it was incredibly long, clocking in at over three hours, and yes there were a couple of dead moments, particularly during the presentation of the technical and short categories, but the producers made sure to stagger the more important categories to retain viewers interest all throughout the ceremony. As far as recipients go, there were almost no unexpected wins, and most of the frontrunners won their categories, perhaps the only surprising omission was Get A Horse!, a short film by The Walt Disney Studios. The live musical performances were generally appropriate and interesting, and it was nice to see all of the nominees for Best Original Song performed. Standout performances came from Idina Menzel (AKA Adele Dazeem), P!nk, who performed Over The Rainbow in a tribute to The Wizard of Oz, and Bette Midler, who performed Wind Beneath My Wings as part of the In Memorium segment.

Unlike at the Golden Globes, no-one was cut off by the awkward playing off music, and although the speeches were often long, noone cried and no-one thanked god, so that was a relief, in fact all four of the acting winners gave suitably rousing speeches. Last year, the music from Jaws was used to play people off, and the Academy even managed to incur the sympathy of Nicole Kidman. As with last year, the Oscars had a theme, celebrating Heroes in Hollywood. The Academy celebrated heroes using multiple video montages featuring animated heroes, everyday heroes and superheroes. The montages generally felt well placed. The only negative blemish on the whole ceremony was that in some cases, the scripted speeches before each category felt rather stilted and a little unrehearsed, these need to either be rewritten or better rehearsed. This years Oscar ceremony was the best for many years, and this was possibly the only year in which the Oscars were actually a little cooler than the Globes, boosted by a well produced, slick ceremony, and a great host in Ellen Degeneres.

Predictions for the 86th Academy Awards

Well now we come to a post that i have been meaning to write for quite a while, my predictions for the Academy Awards, due to be held on the second of march this sunday. It pains me to say that i won't be watching the ceremony live, as i need my beauty sleep, so i will have to wait for the following evening to binge out on the telecast! I will not be predicting all the categories, as there are many that either interest me little or of which i don't have enough knowledge of the nominees. So in reverse order of importance here we go.

Best Visual Effects:  This one seems easy to predict, Gravity was the kind of groundbreaking film that revolutionized the use of visual effects and the use of CGI on film, and deserves to be recognized partially for this film and partly for the technology created that will become broadly used in the years to come.

Best Costume Design:  Whilst i undersztand that i am more than a little biased here, Catherine Martin's costumes for The Great Gatsby were stunning, and her win at the BAFTA's almost guarantees her a statuette.

Best Cinematography: Normally i wouldn't comment on this category, but Emmanuel Lubezki's work on Gravity was hugely praised, he won the BAFTA, and he surely deserves a statuette.

Best Original Song: Well my choice may seem a little bizarre, as this song has yet to win any major awards, but Let It Go from Frozen is an incredible song, and it's the emotional tour de force that the Academy seems to love.

Best Animated Feature Film: I really can't see any film other than Frozen taking this category, my second favorite film of last year is an emotional roller coaster featuring spectacular animation, and i am sure that it will give Disney their first win in this category.

Best Foreign Language Feature Film: Well, this award seems to be taken as well, whilst i am very proud that Belgium has a horse in this race, it seems to me that La Grande Bellezza which has won most foreign language awards this season is poised for the win.

Best Writing - Original Screenplay: Well as much as i though Blue Jasmine was a fantastically written film and that Woody Allen deserves another win in this category, it seems to me that Spike Jonze's  Her is one of this season's most original films.

Best Writing - Adapted Screenplay: This is a tough one and it seems like a tight race between Philomena and 12 Years A Slave, and as much as i would like beloved brit Steve Coogan to win, 12 Years A Slave written by John Ridley is the historically charged racially driven script that the Academy seems to adore.

Best Supporting Actress: This is the easiest and most difficult category to predict, right now it is an absolute dead heat between Lupita Nyong'o and Jennifer Lawrence. While Nyong'o did win the SAG award and the Critic's Choice, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA have always been better barometers of Oscar success, and thus i predict that Jennifer Lawrence is perhaps the most likely to win on Sunday night.

Best Supporting Actor: Well i know I'd be an idiot to predict otherwise, but Jared Leto is perhaps the only person on this list who could conceivably be called to the stage on sunday night, anything else would be unthinkable.

Best Actress: Again this is easy to predict, and i can't see anyone other than Cate Blanchett taking home the statuette, her performance in Blue Jasmine was incredible and she rightly deserves her first win in this category (after having the award stolen by Gwyneth last time!)

Best Actor: Again here we have a dead heat between Chiwetel Ejiofor and Matthew McConaughey, and it is tough to predict this one, however i believe that Matthew McConaughey will take home the gold on Sunday.

Best Director: This one is easy, and i believe that Alfonso Cuaron will win for his work on groundbreaking epic Gravity. This film is a cinematic and technological breakthrough for which Cuaron has won the Golden Globe and the BAFTA, and a win at the Oscar's seems now inevitable.

Best Picture: This is the big one, and it seems to me that we would need a Crash-like upset in order for 12 Years A Slave not to take home the win on Oscar night.

So there we have it, my predictions for this sunday, what saddens me, is that award season is coming to a close, and thus i will have to wait a full year for it to start again, but all good things must come to an end i suppose.

The Oscar Wildcard

It seems to me that at the Oscars, in every category there is always a fifth nominee that is always slightly unexpected and surprising, last year for example, Naomi Watts was nominated for best actress and Denzel Washington for best actor, both of these were slightly unexpected and rather surprising, I'm attempting to see out of this years nominees which nominees were surprises, and which slightly missed the mark, i will only be talking about major categories here, and i will be skipping best picture entirely, because this category is too open to discuss properly, seeing as we now have nine nominees.

BEST ACTOR: Well, the fabled fifth nominee here seems to be Bruce Dern, nominated for his performance in Nebraska, it is nice for an older actor to be recognized, particularly after such a fine career, however i will say that Bruce Dern does seem to be a fitting nominee, and is not too much a surprise.

BEST ACTRESS: The fifth nominee here is Meryl Streep, this is really the only nominee that annoys me, Streep, whilst perhaps being one of the greatest actors of her generation, her performance in August Osage County wasn't without its detractors, and it would have been nice for someone more surprising or younger to be nominated, Greta Gerwig was fantastic in Frances Ha and Julia Louis Dreyfus was also great in Enough Said, both of these films are comedies not directed by Woody Allen, and thus can't expect to have much success at the Oscars, however it would have been nice to see them nominated. Also a possible nominee was Julie Delpy in Before Midnight who was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: I couldn't be more happy about this categories wildcard, Jonah Hill, now a two time academy award nominee received a nomination for his work on The Wolf Of Wall Street, he was undeniably fantastic in this film, and despite him being a mostly comic actor, he is a fine one at that, and in this film Hill walks a high wire act between comedy and drama, seemingly never faltering.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Again, here i am thrilled by this categories fifth nominee, Sally Hawkins was nominated for her work in Blue Jasmine. Her performance risks being overshadowed by Cate Blanchett's powerhouse performance, but Hawkins manages to leave her mark on this film nonetheless, and Ginger's chemistry with Blanchett's Jasmine is magical.

BEST DIRECTOR: Here there are some fantastic nominees, however the most unexpected is Martin Scorsese, who, in my humble opinion, is a legend and an icon, and that's really all there is to say.

The Lost Child of Philomena Lee

Philomena Lee was a woman who became pregnant during the 1950's, who was sent to a nunnery in Ireland to have her baby, and whose baby was subsequently given up for adoption, in 2004 she met a journalist who helped her uncover the story, who subsequently wrote a book about their travels, and in 2013, the book was adapted to film by Stephen Frears and Steve Coogan as Philomena, a films starring Coogan and Dame Judi Dench, as Martin Sixsmith and Philomena Lee.

From the 1920's up until the 1970's nunneries all across europe ran what were known as Magdalene Laundries, where pregnant girls, known as 'fallen women' were taken in, made to sign documents relinquishing rights to their unborn children and forced to work like slaves in laundries for many years until they had paid off their debts to the convent. Philomena was taken to one of these institutions as a young girl, and after she had her baby, it was sold to an American couple. She subsequently became haunted by thoughts of the child, and this film documents her 50 year search for her son. Their search takes them from England to Ireland,all the way to the United States and back.

The film can be classed as a serio-comedy, although the film is fairly dark in tone and serious in atmosphere, the dialogue is light, and the film has some funny moments, and the comedic chemistry between Dench and Coogan is fantastic. Overall the film has a great script, the characters feel real and developed, and the dialogue is real and honest, without becoming hammy and melodramatic. One thing i really liked about this film is the fact that it was essentially a series of short linked together scene, there is a real trend for long, takes and long scenes, and it is refreshing to see a film which manages to contain just as much development and depth using shorter scenes and takes.

The performances in this film are also great, Dench was nominated for best actress at both the Golden Globes and The Oscars, and her performance in this film is deft and strong as we have come to expect from her, Dench manages to successfully master the irish accent whilst managing to act through it, and manages to portray a deeply complex woman struggling with a secret that has haunted for 50 years, whilst also trying to maintain a grip on her faith. Dench lights up the screen with her radiance and presence, bravo!

This film is a strong indictment on the catholic church and the practice of Magdalene Laundries and how they ruined lives, the film criticizes the practices of secrecy and hiding away problems rather than resolving them. The film also critiques the catholic faith, and it's foul reliance on penance, guilt and punishment, and the idea that having sex is something that should automatically be punished. Philomena is a powerful indictment of a cruel and powerfully corrupt organization.

I was highly impressed by Philomena, this film is an important story, well written about an important story and one that needs to be seen. Philomena is a well acted, powerful drama which lifts the lid on a truly foul practice. Rating: B+

"Philomena Lee: I did not abandon my child, he was taken away from me."

Analyzing the 86th Academy Award Nominations at the Laundrette

Well, i know that it may seem like i am putting rather a lot of emphasis on awards season at the moment, as i recently said to some mocking members of my family (you know who you are) it’s like my superbowl, and is now my favorite holiday of the year (yes, it’s even better than Christmas). Yesterday, the Oscar nominations were released, and for the first time ever, I watched them being unveiled live, yes, it was pretty exciting. This year the Oscars will be celebrating heroes, superheroes, action heroes and film heroes, and the ceremony will be hosted by Ellen DeGeneres for the second time. Just to be clear in this post I will not be giving my predictions for the results themselves, just commenting on various snubs and surprises, it seems like an appropriate time.

It seems like a good idea to start with the supporting acting categories, the only real surprise in the Best Supporting Actor category was the inclusion of Jonah Hill for The Wolf of Wall Street, his performance in the film is not typical academy fare, and it’s nice for the academy to be finally recognizing comedy. His performance in the film is fantastic, and in some ways is instrumental to DiCaprio’s performance. His inclusion comes of course at the cost of Danel Bruhl’s performance in Rush, in a sense it is a shame that the academy still refuses to properly represent foreign actors, and this year Barkhad Abdi is the only vaguely foreign nominee in any of the acting categories (he was born in Somalia but was raised in Yemen).

There are no surprises this year in the Best Supporting Actress category, and the nominees are the same as they were for the globes, the only snub is the omission of Oprah Winfrey for The Butler, her performance was visceral, painful and touching, and it is a shame that neither the HFPA nor the Academy saw fit to recognize her work. 

In the Best Actor category there were rather a few surprises, as with last year, this is an incredibly stuffed category, and there were many fantastic performances by men this year, the caliber of the actors who were snubbed is testament to this. Christian Bale’s performance is American Hustle was nominated, he truly is a fantastic actor and it was great to see his work on this film nominated. Bruce Dern’s performance in Nebraska also got a nomination, and it’s always nice to se an older actor get recognition, especially after so fine a career.

Now for the snubs, and I’m afraid there were many, perhaps the most obvious omission is Tom Hanks, who was lauded for his work on Captain Philips, and who was nominated for a globe for his performance. I feel that although Hanks didn’t get a nomination, his castmate did, and it is nice to see the academy supporting new and exciting talent. Also snubbed was Robert Redford, whose performance in All is Lost failed to get a nod, this is a shame, particularly as Redford has yet to win an Oscar, but, this category was awfully full this year. Also snubbed were Oscar Isaac and Idris Elba, I was particularly upset by Isaac’s lack of a nomination, as his performance in Inside LLewyn Davis is truly a powerhouse, and his performance is emotional and at times heartbreaking. The only other real snub was Joaquin Phoenix, for Her, this is even more surprising given that he has nominated multiple times for the Oscars and has never won, and that he is clearly not on the Academy’s ‘Hit List’.

In the Best Actress category there were only a few surprises, Meryl Streep’s nomination for August Osage County, although a surprise, is not really a shock, the academy has favored Meryl for years, and although she is a superb actress, her performance in this film is far from special. Of the snubs the most surprising is the omission of Emma Thompson for her work on Saving Mr Banks, her performance in this film was acclaimed by critics, and Hollywood has long favored self-referential films about the making of movies (think ‘The Artist’). Among other snubs was the omission of either of the stars of Blue Is The Warmest Color, although I didn’t really expect this film to get a nomination, I feel that it is essentially a continuum of the Academy’s refusal to grant nominations for worthy foreign language performances.

In the Best Director category, I was delighted for Martin Scorsese to get a nomination for The Wolf of Wall Street, otherwise there were very few snubs, perhaps the only surprisingly omission is Paul Greengrass, director of Captain Phillips. This category, although surprisingly in cases is not the momental flop it was last year, and the nominations seem at least fairly logical.

The Best Screenplay categories also seem fairly logical, the only startling omissions are the snubs of Inside LLewyn Davis and Saving Mr Banks. Perhaps Meryl Streeps smear campaign against Walt Disney worked better than anyone expected. The addition of The Broken Circle Breakdown in the Best Foreign Language Film category is a bit of a surprise,  and it certainly makes me a little proud to be from Belgium! I would describe Blue Is the Warmest Color as a snub, despite the fact that it wasn’t selected as France’s official selection for this category, it is disappointing that this film wasn’t given more recognition.

There were no real snubs in the Best Animated Feature category, the omission of Monsters University will perhaps come as a surprise to some, but overall this film simply didn’t match up to the quality of the other films in competition this year. The surprises are the additions of The Wind Rises and Ernest and Celestine. It is nice to see Hayao Miyazaki nominated seeing as this is it’s last feature film, and it’s great for a couple of foreign animated movies to be nominated this year.

The Best Documentary Feature featured some of the biggest snubs this year, Blackfish failed to receive a nomination despite being acclaimed at Sundance and being a powerful portrayal of a complex subject. Also missing from this category was Stories We Tell, the autobiographical film by Sarah Polley that was largely seen as being a favorite for this category, and of all the categories this year, this category seems to be the most disappointing and illogical.

Now we come to Best Picture, again this was a hugely competitive year, and there were many fantastic films that weren’t nominated here or at the golden globes, the biggest surprises are the Coen Brothers’ Inside LLewyn Davis, Saving Mr Banks, Capitan Phillips and Blue Is the Warmest Color, and it would have been nice to see the latter receive some recognition, in lieu of it being this years’ recipient of the Palme D’Or at Cannes, this again perhaps proves Cannes ineffectiveness at providing a barometer for what will happen during awards season (runner up was Inside LLewyn Davis which also failed to receive a nomination). Also snubbed was Lee Daniels’ The Butler, which although attempting to be Oscar bait, failed to pick up a single major nomination this awards season, (retrospectively this can perhaps be seen as a sign of the Academy’s integrity, I must explore this sometime).

Overall this years’ list seems to be a fairly logical (if a little safe) series of nominees, there are no categories which the academy really screwed up (unlike last year), and the academy even tentatively branched out, nominating more unexperienced actors, and supporting a lot of young talent including the feature film debuts of Lupita Nyong’o and Barkhad Abdi. It is also worth noting that Jennifer Lawrence’s third nomination makes her the youngest person ever to receive three nominations. Overall the biggest snubs are of course Inside LLewyn Davis which failed to pick up a single major nomination despite being a fantastic film, and Saving Mr Banks, which was long thought to be a favorite to win best picture. Lee Daniels’ The Bulter was also snubbed and failed to pick up a single nomination. Finally rounding out this group therapy session is Blue Is The Warmest Color, which wasn’t nominated for a single Oscar. The fact that Jackass was nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling will surely amuse some, but American Hustle’s snub from this category is a mystery (perhaps explosion at the wig factory would have been a better title).

Overall this is a fine list of categories, and the Acadely showed their artistic integrity somewhat by picking some unexpected nominees, and not rising to the bait of some films, I look forward to the Oscars telecast on the second of march, and I am sure that Ellen DeGeneres will make just as fantastic a host as she did last time, and will certainly do a better job than Seth McFarlane.