Category Archives: Oscars

Awards, Classic Film, Narrative, Oscars, Poster

2012: The Year of the “Best Picture”

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After completing the eight-year odyssey that was my 170 list, I’ve turned my sights to a new list: the Oscar Best Picture winners. To date, I’ve seen 65 of the 83 winners (and I’ve seen all Best Picture nominees since 1998).

As the 84th Academy Award nominations are to be announced later today (8:30am EST/5:30am PST), I’m turning my focus to these immortalized films and I’m giving myself until the 2013 Oscars to complete the list. That said, I’m declaring 2012 “The Year of the ‘Best Picture’.”

Here are the remaining 18 Best Picture winners I have left to watch:

     

     

     

Comedy, Filmmakers, Foreign Film, In Theatres, Independent Film, Narrative, Oscars, Review

Review: The Artist

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NOTE: This review contains spoilers.

Some time last year, I thought to myself, “Why doesn’t anyone make a silent film today? It would be interesting to see a contemporary filmmaker’s take on early cinema.” And then The Artist came along …

I had been looking forward to seeing The Artist since it screened at Cannes mid-last year. The film follows 1927 silent screen superstar George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) as he holds firmly onto his principles at the expense of his career in the wake of the emergence of “talkies.” Following a chance encounter with one of his fans, Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), who bumps into him (literally), she is immediately bitten by the Hollywood bug. As her acting career takes off in the talking pictures, Valentin’s begins to flounder. It’s the stuff A Star Is Born is made of.

Typically, I’m a sucker for movies about movies, and being a classic film buff, I was excited about the prospects of watching a modern-day silent film set in the ’20s, a pivotal period in early cinema. Having just watched it, I can say that it’s a terrific film. As is the case with any great film, all elements come together to make one great picture—a reminder that the sum should always be greater than its parts. The film, much like its leading man Dujardin, is debonair, classy, and charming. The beautiful black-and-white cinematography by Guillaume Schiffman merges with some dazzling performances by Dujardin, Bejo, and John Goodman (who plays a Cecil B. DeMille-type studio executive).

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Awards, Classic Film, Oscars, Poster

Official Oscar Poster Unveiled

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(Re-posted from The Hollywood Reporter)

by Michael O’Connell
December 28, 2011

For the 84th annual awards, the one-sheet pairs the Oscar statuette with images of eight winning films from eight decades.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the poster for the 2012 Academy Awards on Wednesday morning. And it promises the 84th annual Oscars will celebrate — as one might expect — movies.

Under the banner “Life. Camera. Action,” the poster features eight Oscar-winning films from eight decades of the show. Gone with the Wind (1939), Casablanca (1943), Giant (1956), The Sound of Music (1965), The Godfather (1972), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Forrest Gump (1994) and Gladiator (2000) make up the films highlighted. Only one of them, however, did not win best picture. That distinction goes to Giant, which won George Stevens an Oscar for directing.

Academy President Tom Sherak addressed the chosen tagline, “Celebrate the movies in all of us,” in an accompanying release. “Whether it’s a first date or a holiday gathering with friends or family, movies are a big part of our memory,” said Sherak. “The Academy Awards not only honor the excellence of these movies, but also celebrate what they mean to us as a culture and to each of us individually.”

The poster is available for public download on the Oscar website.

Animation, Coming Soon, Narrative, New Release, Oscars, Preview

Coming Soon: The Adventures of Tintin

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Belgian artist Georges Remi—under the pen name Hergé—introduced Tintin to the world in 1929. The beloved character who is a Belgian reporter sets out on a series of adventures with his dog Snowy and best pal Captain Haddock. Though the characters originally lived in a comic strip, throughout the years they were reproduced in a variety of media, including books, movies, TV, and theatre, and were translated into more than 50 languages. It seems the popular series is well known and loved in almost every part of the world—except America. But that’s soon to change.

As is by now widely known, legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg (director) and fellow Oscar-winner Peter Jackson (producer) will bring The Adventures of Tintin to US audiences starting this Wednesday, following the film’s initial bow in oversees markets, where the characters and stories first found success and praise. In this first of at least two films by the filmmaking duo, Tintin (Jamie Bell) and Haddock (Andy Serkis) set off on a quest to find a sunken ship that was commanded by Haddock’s ancestor. (Though Spielberg directs this first installment, it’s been reported that Jackson will sit in the director’s chair for the film’s follow-up effort.)

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Actors, Awards, Oscars

My “Official” Oscar Nomination Predictions

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Awards season is upon us and several critics circles, SAG, and the Hollywood Foreign Press (Golden Globes) have listed their best films lists, awards, and nominations in a variety of categories. There’s no reason for me to sit back silently and not get my two cents in. Overall, there haven’t been many surprises, though a few notable snubs immediately come to mind upon reading some of these lists and nominations.

Based on my years of following such lists and awards shows, I’ve put together my “official” Oscar nomination predictions for the four acting categories and Best Picture. I follow each prediction with a “preliminary” winner. These are not my “official” winner predictions, as those will come closer to the Oscars.

The nominations for the 84th annual Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 24.

Best Actor

Demián Bichir – A Better Life

George Clooney – The Descendants

Leonardo DiCaprio – J. Edgar

Jean Dujardin – The Artist

Brad Pitt – Moneyball

Alternates:

Michael Fassbender – Shame

Ryan Gosling – The Ides of March

Preliminary Winner:

Jean Dujardin

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Awards, Coming Soon, Narrative, Oscars

This Fall’s Awards Contenders

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Being originally from New England, fall has always been my favorite season. You’ve got the cool, crisp air and the bright-colored leaves. Then there’s the holidays and my birthday. But chief among it all … the movies! We’re ramping up for awards season, so now’s the time for the studios—big and small—to put out some of the best cinematic fare of the year. I spend all year keeping my eye on awards contenders, but the fall is when the best films are released. It’s a simple principle: the last thing you see is the first thing you remember. And that’s why studios wait until the end of the year to put out their big guns. These are the films that voters are most likely to remember (and consider) for the year’s top awards. Here are just some of the remaining films to be released this year that are primed for awards consideration, as well as some of the categories for which they stand to potentially receive nominations. (Note: This is not an exhaustive list, as several earlier releases are worthy of consideration in various categories.)

If you’re anything like me and you determine which movies to watch based, at least partly, on awards viability, then set your calendars for these upcoming releases (release dates listed below).

Best Picture

       

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Animation, Foreign Film, Narrative, Oscars, Short Film

Short Film: “Oktapodi”

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This 2008 Oscar-nominated animated French short film was directed by Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand, Julien Bocabeille, François-Xavier Chanioux, Olivier Delabarre, and Quentin Marmier. It’s a quick watch, at just 2:26.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=badHUNl2HXU]

Awards, Drama, In Theatres, Narrative, New Release, Oscars, Preview

In Theatres: Moneyball

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Based on the Michael Lewis-penned book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, the film version with the abbreviated title is backed by a slew of awards favorites, including screenwriters Steven Zaillian (Oscar winner for Schindler’s List, 1993) and Aaron Sorkin (Oscar winner for The Social Network, 2010); director Bennett Miller (Oscar nominee for Capote, 2006); and producers Michael De Luca (Oscar nominee for The Social Network), Rachael Horovitz (Emmy winner for HBO’s Grey Gardens, 2009), and Scott Rudin (Oscar winner for No Country for Old Men, 2007). And then, of course, there’s the acting talent, lead by Brad Pitt (Oscar nominee for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 2008) with a supporting performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman (Oscar winner for Capote).

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, “Oscar voters, pay attention.”

There are several things I love about the fall, my favorite season. Chief among them is that it’s the start of awards season—all of the year’s best movies are reserved until this time of year with the thought being that Academy Award voters are most likely to remember the last movies they see. (It’s not a surprise that films that open earlier in the year are largely ignored come February’s ceremony.) It’s all about strategy. And it works. Just ask Billy Beane (portrayed by Pitt in Moneyball), who leveraged an unconventional strategy to build a successful baseball team in 2002. (Excuse me while I pat myself on the back for this pretty awesome segue.)

Summary:

Billy Beane was once a would-be baseball superstar who, stung by the failure to live up to expectations on the field, turned his fiercely competitive nature to management. Heading into the 2002 season, Billy faces a dismal situation: his small-market Oakland A’s has lost its star players (again) to big-market clubs (and their enormous salaries) and is left to rebuild his team and compete with a third of its payroll. Driven to win, Billy takes on the system by challenging the fundamental tenants of the game. He looks outside of baseball, to the dismissed theories of Bill James, and hires Peter Brand, a brainy, number-crunching, Yale-educated economist. Together, they take on conventional wisdom with a willingness to re-examine everything and armed with computer-driven statistical analysis long ignored by the baseball establishment. They reach imagination-defying conclusions and go after players overlooked and dismissed by the rest of baseball for being too odd, too old, too injured, or too much trouble, but who all have key skills that are universally undervalued. As Billy and Peter forge forward, their new methods and roster of misfits rile the old guard, the media, the fans, and their own field manager, who refuses to cooperate. Ultimately, this experiment will lead not only to a change in the way the game is played, but to an outcome that would leave Billy with a new understanding that transcends the game and delivers him to a new place. (courtesy of Yahoo! Movies)

Director: Bennett Miller

Screenwriters: Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin

Producers: Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Scott Rudin

Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt

Genre: Drama, Sport

Distributor: Sony Pictures

Official Site: moneyball-movie.com

Runtime: 133 min.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiAHlZVgXjk]
Awards, Documentary, Independent Film, On My DVR, Oscars

On My DVR: GasLand (2010)

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Currently on my DVR is the 2010 Sundance award-winning documentary GasLand. This HBO film was nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar this past year and is currently nominated for four Primetime Emmys in nonfiction programming categories, including directing, writing, and cinematography. I’m not sure how a film that has both theatrical and television distribution can be eligible for the top prizes in both media, but I’m sure it’s got to be great. Here’s the synopsis from the film’s IMDb page:

It is happening all across America—rural landowners wake up one day to find a lucrative offer from an energy company wanting to lease their property. Reason? The company hopes to tap into a reservoir dubbed the “Saudi Arabia of natural gas.” Halliburton developed a way to get the gas out of the ground—a hydraulic drilling process called “fracking”—and suddenly America finds itself on the precipice of becoming an energy superpower. (Written by Sundance Film Festival)

Director: Josh Fox
Screenwriter: Josh Fox
Producers: Trish Adlesic, Josh Fox, Molly Gandour
Cast: Josh Fox
Genre: Documentary
Distributor: HBO Documentary Films
Runtime: 107 min.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZe1AeH0Qz8]
Actors, Awards, Coming Soon, Drama, Independent Film, Narrative, Oscars, Preview

Meryl Streep Is Made of Iron

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The most nominated actress in Oscar history is working hard for her 17th nomination next year. Meryl Streep has been consistently nominated at least every few years since her first Academy recognition in 1978’s The Deer Hunter. Despite her two wins, you can call Streep the new Susan Lucci. Her last win came nearly 30 years ago for Sophie’s Choice (1982). Thirty years! For some reason, the Academy can’t bear to honor who is arguably the greatest actress of all time just once more. Perhaps it feels “she’s won twice, so let’s honor someone new—all the while, we can’t not recognize her talent, so a nomination will be enough for her.” Enough for her? Maybe. Enough for her fans? Hardly. All these years later, Streep still turns out some truly inspired performances. (I still get goosebumps thinking about what she did for her character in 2008’s Doubt.)

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