THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG - 3 nominations

THE HOBBIT

Sound Editing - Brent Burge
Sound Mixing - Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson
Visual Effects - Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is the second installment in The Hobbit trilogy.  We pick up mostly where we left off with the band of characters journeying across amazing places to recapture their homeland of Erebor.  Of course they are still being chased by the violent Orcs as well as a myriad of other creatures and encounter plenty of mystical problems.  We see all the old favorite characters, Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, Legolas the Elf - and of course, Bilbo still has the one true ring, which allows him to become invisible when he wears it.  Bilbo agrees to find the Arkenstone for the Dwarves, and in doing so awakens Smaug, the fierce dragon guarding it.  A battle ensues, and the movie ends mid-journey once again, readying us for the final installment, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, coming in 2014.

This second film was far superior to the first - it had better story, better action, and somehow better character development.  The Hobbit is not a very long book, and many including myself have questioned the need for the Peter Jackson machine to make three of these films.  I especially felt that way after seeing the first.  But this one was equally stunning visually, and this middle chapter felt like more of a full movie.

All three of the categories for which it is nominated are appropriate.  Don't forget how sound editing and mixing work together to achieve the full audio feel of the film, and that primarily action films and musicals get these nominations.  There is plenty of action to support these nominations, and the sound mixing is particularly outstanding.  The visual effects are a no brainer - and when you combine incredible sound editing and mixing with visual effects, you get a pretty kick ass dragon experience.

The Hobbit is a film for a particular kind of movie goer.  It almost goes without saying that if you're a Lord of the Rings fan, or a fan of the first Hobbit film, you'll like this one too.  It isn't totally necessary to see the first installment in order to get what's happening in this one as there is a little "catch you up" segment at the beginning which I was glad for even as someone who saw the first film.  It was fun, and the visuals are enough to justify seeing it in a theatre, but the story stands up on its own enough that DVD would do just fine (just try for a larger screen because that dragon is cool).

Haven't seen the film?
Watch The Hobbit Movie Trailer

HER - 5 nominations

HER

Best Picture - Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze, and Vincent Landay, Producers
Music (Original Score) - William Butler and Owen Pallett
Music (Original Song) - "The Moon Song," Music by Karen O, Lyrics by Karen O and Spike Jonze
Production Design - K.K. Barrett (Production Design), Gene Serdena (Set Decoration)
Writing (Original Screenplay) - Spike Jonze

Her is the sweet and innovative story of a separated, almost divorced man, Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), who writes letters for hire at a company called, BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com.  He buys a computer operating system voiced by Scarlett Johansson ("Samantha") which not only serves as a virtual assistant, but can simulate a person so well that she becomes more like a companion. Eventually, the two "fall in love."  The film is set in the future - not so far in the future for flying cars and jetpacks, but far enough in the future where there are clearly advances beyond where we are now.  Also far enough in the future where falling in love with one's operating system is not jarring to the majority of the people who learn of his relationship.

What makes a person a person is explored deeply, as well as the difficulty of pursuing human relationships where one of the partners is limited by humanity and the other has no limitations at all, save the lack of a body.  In many ways, the film is a drama, as Phoenix's character experiences loss through his divorce and struggles to understand authentic relationships.  In others, it is a comedy both because there are funny moments and even when you feel something about the relationship as a viewer, it's hard not to stop and think, "this is happening with a computer."  To share more of the plot would spoil so many pieces of the film that I will leave it at that for the description of the story.

Both of the lead characters were so wonderful and sympathetic in their own ways.  Observing the maturation process from just being born to "adult" for the Operating System/Johansson is mind boggling. In many ways, Twombly's emotional maturation parallels that of the OS. But his development examines his ability to connect and not just what it means to develop autonomy.

The production design is quite brilliant because it meets the challenge of setting the film in the future, but not far enough in the future to justify crazy changes in the scenery and settings.  So the advancements appear significant, but subtle.  I predicted this nomination from the moment I saw the film.

The film is innovative, and is arriving at just about the time when it's due, when interaction with technology is on the precipice of outmoding personal relationships.  It's not that the idea is so radical for where we stand with technology and social media in our society, but that it's explored so emotionally and rationally at the same time is what makes Her truly impressive.

The score is beautiful and is a standout, as the composers created music that an Operating System would make, were it/she attempting to understand and simulate what imagination and art produce.  For the record, this is the second year in a row where a nominated Best Song is sung by Scarlett Johansson (last year's Chasing Ice documentary received its only nomination in the Best Song category).  "The Moon Song" is perfectly blended into this movie, and I was very touched when it was sung.

Her was absolutely one of my favorites this year, and I can't wait to see it again.

Haven't seen the film?

Watch the Her Movie Trailer

BREAKING NEWS - OSCAR NOM REVOKED!

I can't believe that I'm having the opportunity to "report" on something so crazy, but for the first time in recent memory, a nomination has been revoked for rules violations.

The song from Alone Yet Not Alone, a movie that had very very limited release in April in only 11 theaters in the country (but meeting the rules of two major markets) was nominated for the Original Song category.  However, everyone was shocked to see this song receive a nomination since it represents kind of a niche market (Christian historical genre) with a tiny release, and no one could quite figure out how it got nominated.

Well, it turns out that a former member of the Board of Governors (and current music branch executive committee member) was involved in making the film, and he sent out emails letting people know that and asking them to consider his submission.  This type of direct campaigning during the voting period for nominations is strictly forbidden.

Mostly the revocation is likely more to deal with the problem of perception of unfair advantage, and no one has explicitly said that the campaigning actually got the movie one of the coveted 5 spots… but no one has said that it didn't!

I got the information for this blog post from an article in the Los Angeles Times, which I'm attaching here.  I'm quite relieved as it looked near impossible for me to find an opportunity to see this movie, since it's not having a large release until June, thereby making my chances of seeing every film before the broadcast better.  By the way, I did hear the song, and it's cheesy as all get out, but also pretty, if you like Christian gospel.  It was hard to sit through for me as a non-Christian, I can't imagine the movie would be much better.

I am not aware of a nomination being revoked ever in the history of the awards (at least in the 30+ years that I have been following closely and reading books and histories of the Oscars), but I'm sure there will be much more news on this shortly, and if it has ever happened before, I'll update you!

Meanwhile, here is the song, if you'd like to hear it.  There is a little prayer from the singer before the song begins.

THE GREAT GATSBY - 2 nominations

 THE GREAT GATSBY
Costume Design - Catherine Martin
Production Design - Catherine Martin (Production Design), Gene Serdena (Set Decoration)

Drag queens and period pieces are God's gift to costume and production designers.  Add that to the opulent themes in Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby, and you have a recipe for true success.  While I watched this film, I remember thinking, that's it for the costumes and production Oscar races, these guys have it all locked up.  Not only that, but in general, even when a competing film is sweeping the categories for which it is nominated, costume design tends to be a category which wins on merit and not simply on buzz, and the same can be said for production design awards.

We all know the story of The Great Gatsby - Nick Carraway (Tobey McGuire) is pulled into the opulent lifestyle of his neighbor Jay Gatsby.  Gatsby is secretly in love with Carraway's cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan) who is married to a dastardly man who cheats on and abuses her.  Can Gatsby's and Daisy's pre-war love be recaptured?  Will Carraway turn away from his mid-Western sensibilities and be sucked into the bad behaviors associated with extreme wealth and debauchery?  Baz Luhrmann attempts the story with the addition of a modern soundtrack and big production dance numbers.

While Gatsby was truly a sight to behold, the movie was just terrible.  The performances were all mediocre - some overplayed, some underplayed.  Off hand, I can't think of many movies which had me considering whether I should sit through all the way to the end, but this was one of them.  Bottom line review, don't bother.  If you want to see the costuming and production design, google them and you'll get all you need to know about the film.  Somehow, Luhrmann took a great book and turned it into a bad movie even though the story is the same.  That's talent, but the wrong kind.

Haven't seen the movie?
Watch The Great Gatsby Movie Trailer

GRAVITY - 10 nominations

GRAVITY

Actress in a Leading Role - Sandra Bullock
Best Picture - Alfonso Cuaron and David Heyman, Producers
Cinematography - Emmanuel Lubezki
Directing - Alfonso Cuaron
Film Editing - Alfonso Cuaron and Mark Sanger
Music (Original Score) - Steven Price
Production Design - Andy Nicholson (Production Design) and Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woolard (Set Decoration)
Sound Editing - Glenn Freemantle
Sound Mixing - Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peer F. Kurland
Visual Effects - Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk and Neil Corbould

There is so much to say about Gravity, that I hardly know where to begin.  Its impressive list of nominations reflect the power of the story and what it means to persevere.  Ironically the film is "All is Lost" in space, where the lead character finds herself faced by challenge after challenge, trying losing strategy after losing strategy, and being left with only her wits and some space stuff to devise a way back to earth, even though she is not a pilot.  And the stakes are a little higher than All is Lost, given that the reality of space travel requires air, reentry on the right path and a myriad other scientific technicalities that I couldn't begin to describe or imagine.

There is a reason that there is no nomination for Screenplay - as good as the movie is, and as tense as we feel watching it, the dialogue is actually not that good and there are scenes where Sandra Bullock's lines are so cliche that I had to restrain myself from giggling, even though she is as good as she can be (and that's good).  Also, let's not forget that Neil DeGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist extraordinaire took to Twitter to debunk much of the film's science (not the least of which is why Bullock's character, a medical doctor, would be repairing the Hubble telescope), though he has since clarified to say that he loved the movie and thought that the scenario of flying debris hurling through space to knock out all the other hardware in space was very realistic.  Here's a good article summarizing Tyson's tweets, my favorite being, "should be called Zero Gravity."  He's a scholar and a jokester.

In general, I'm not a fan of 3-D and consider it to be a waste of money.  Prior to this, I'd seen two films where the added 4 bucks were actually worth it - Avatar and Life of Pi.  This film is so visually stunning that seeing Gravity without the 3-D is to have missed a good portion of the film's worth, and the music is the perfect score to complement the moments of quiet.  I can only imagine yoga teachers across the land are now using these pieces of music for their classes.

Now we reach the Cinematography discussion.  In short, the art of cinematography is the combined work of camera and lighting supervised by the Director of Photography (DP), which means that the work must turn out impressive visually to be successful.  It's one of the areas of movie making that requires both artistic vision and technical skill.  The question is, does Gravity yield its beauty through camera and lighting work, or more through visual and digital effects?  The last four Oscar winners in this category honored "hybrid" movies, so Gravity's chances are good.  But is it right?  I'll leave that to you to decide.  For some help, I've included two articles - one clearly pro and one clearly against.  You choose!  For the record, I say no - if you can "move the sun" to achieve your shot, you're doing something incredible and innovative, but it's not exactly cinematography.

Gravity is absolutely worthy of the Best Picture nomination; all of its nominations are well deserved.  All of its elements combine into a stunning film that hopefully is making our scientists prepare for the worst (if I can't get on Facebook because of flying debris knocking down all of our satellites, there will be hell to pay, and oh yeah, all of our computer systems, utilities, and government secrets, etc.).  I'm a fan.

Haven't see the film?
Watch the Gravity Movie Trailer

FROZEN - 2 nominations

Animated Feature Film - Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and Peter Del Vecho
Music (Original Song) - "Let It Go" - Music and Lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

Sisters Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell) begin their lives in a happy family with loving parents, who are sadly killed while the sisters are still children.  As a young child, Elsa discovers that she has the magical ability to create ice and snow with her hands, but after a random accident in which her sister almost dies, she isolates herself to prevent any further damage.  Anna's memory is wiped clean, so she never understands why her beloved sibling has locked herself away.  Over time, the pressure of maintaining the secret from the village grows to be too powerful on the day of Elsa's coronation, she brings perpetual winter to their town, and runs away.

Meanwhile, Anna's perpetual smile and thirst for adventure meets her up with Hans, a handsome prince who, as in all Disney films, falls immediately in love with Anna and proposes (though we come to discover his motives are not entirely pure).  For the first time in Disney history, Elsa tells Anna that she is too young to get married and that you don't marry someone after knowing them for one day.  Here's where Frozen had me at hello.  Yes, the girls are still drawn with eyes that are 1/3 the size of their heads, and yes, you could fit their waists into thimbles, but have we ever come a long way baby.  This is a film where an act of true love comes from the most unexpected of places.

There is much more to the story, and there is an obligatory talking snowman played by my favorite Mormon elder (from the Book of Mormon), Josh Gad.  With all the quips and quotes coming from this snowman's mouth, you can't help but love him.  After all, "some people are worth melting for - just maybe not right this second."

Finally, it would be unfair to leave out Kristoff, the boy who joins Anna in her quest to find Elsa and set the town right again.  But this time, Anna and Kristoff are equals and benefit from each other, without an immediate march down the aisle.

The music is spectacular, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried at the Oscar nominated song "Let it Go."  It's hard not to make comparison's to Idina Menzels's heart stopping high notes in Defying Gravity (Wicked), which also gave me chills.  But to hear Kristen Bell singing is also a true pleasure and gift to the film.  This song is an anthem to strong women struggling to be who people expect them to be and finally understanding that they must be fearlessly who they are.

To call Frozen a children's movie puts it into the most ill-fitting box.  My brother (39) and dad (76) went to see it together and they loved it.  I have yet to hear of anyone disliking Frozen, and with good reason.  It has so many Disney-busting elements that even those of us who struggle with the love of musical animated films and feminist ideology will find a mostly comfortable home in Frozen.   See it, you'll love it!

Haven't seen the film?
Watch the Frozen Movie Trailer

DESPICABLE ME 2 - 2 nominations

DESPICABLE ME 2

Animated Feature Film - Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin, Chris Meledandri
Music (Original Song) "Happy" - Music and Lyrics by Pharrell Williams

Hello, adorable!  Despicable Me 2 is the sequel to the original in which a super villain has adopted three little girls and is now settling into family life.  The Anti Villain League finds itself facing a brewing evil as a secret lab is quietly stolen, and they enlist Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) aided by badass sidekick and love interest Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig).  He believes that presumed dead super villain El Macho is to blame, while El Macho's eldest son is wooing Gru's oldest daughter.  Gru adjusts to life with a teenage daughter now interested in boys.  Meanwhile, the adorable minions are being kidnapped en masse, which we sense is part of the larger, as yet unidentified plan.

While I'm generally nervous about animated sequels being able to pull off their original charm (or any sequels for that matter), Despicable Me 2 does it, and is equally satisfying for kids and adults alike, though much like the Muppet Show, we are laughing in different places and at different jokes.  Alongside the main storyline, is a subplot of children wanting a mother, and a lovely stepmother coming along to love the children (which hits home for me, as my kids came as a package when I married their father, so I was very touched).   There are plenty of perfectly delivered zingers, and the cast of comedians helps add to the appeal, even for those who don't have kids.

The song nominated for Best Song is a toe tapper, and delivers on its name.  It's a memorable song not just because it's fun and upbeat, but because who doesn't love dancing cartoon characters? 

Overall, I really loved this little movie, and I think anyone would.

Haven't seen the movie?
Watch the Despicable Me 2 movie trailer

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DALLAS BUYERS CLUB - 6 nominations

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

Actor in a Leading Role - Matthew McConaghey
Actor in a Supporting Role - Jared Leto
Best Picture - Robbie Brenner, Rachel Winter, Producers
Film Editing - Jon Mac Murphy, Martin Pensa
Makeup and Hairstyling (used to be two categories) - Adruitha Lee, Robin Matthews
Writing (Original Screenplay) - Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack

Dallas Buyers Club is the powerful story of Ron Woodruff (Matthew McConaghey), a rough-talking, drug-taking, womanizing roughneck who finds himself diagnosed with AIDS in the early 80s while AZT trials are the only game in town for managing the disease.  He meets and verbally abuses a transsexual woman, Rayon, who is played exquisitely by Jared Leto.  Woodruff discovers a clinic in Mexico which is having much better success with their treatment of AIDS patients, and thus begins the Dallas Buyers Club, a loophole to get around selling drugs.  As Woodruff puts it, "I'm not selling drugs, I'm selling memberships" which in turn gives the members "free" drugs.  

At first, McConaghey's character is everything we would expect him to be.  Misogynist, homophobic, insensitive, the most off putting kind of person you'll ever see.  The, "let's put them all on an island" kind of person.  But naturally, as he begins to work with Rayon and his clients emerge as human beings, he softens and even develops love for his business partner cum friend.  McConaghey is at his best in this film.  He is not the first to be nominated for great acting partnered with dramatic weight change (Tom Hanks, Philadelphia, Robert DeNiro, Raging Bull), and let's not forget that Hanks and DeNiro both won when they did it.  We see Woodruff fight for the right to give dying patients the option to choose their courses of treatment, given that the consequences are dire, either way.  (For an interesting point of view on the entire life of this movement, last year's nominated documentary, "How to Survive a Plague," which both supports and cautions against this practice.)  I will admit that I'm supporting Chiwetel Ejoifor in the Best Actor race, but McConaghey is truly superb.

On the other hand, there is no match for Jared Leto in the Supporting Actor category.  He is transformed.  Remember the hottie mchotterson from My Crazy So Called Life?  Yeah, you won't recognize him in this film.  If you never knew him then, you might not even realize at first that Rayon is indeed played by a man.  And it's more than the changed voice, which Leto ably maintained throughout the film.  It's the mannerisms, the small, gentle movements of the wrists, he had me at every movement of his pinky toe.  The most striking moment of his performance comes when he removes all of the makeup and goes to see his father as a man - his masculinity so well suppressed throughout the execution of the role, that it is as a man that we don't recognize him, enough to make us as uncomfortable as Rayon clearly is.  I understand that this character stuck with Leto so much, that he hasn't been able to watch the film yet, and that he walked the red carpet for the premier, but had to leave before it played.  It's easy to see how hard it would be to put this role down.

The film editing nomination is interesting because it continues the Academy's tradition of only nominating films in this category which have also been nominated for Best Picture (since 1981, in fact).  I once heard Edward James Olmos say that if a scene in a movie doesn't move the story forward in some way, then it shouldn't be in the film.  These editors clearly went to this school of movie making - every scene in the film is important, necessary for the movement of the story and the characters, and is brilliantly pieced together.  A well-deserved nomination that partners well with the Writing category.  You have to give these writers their due - they clearly understood the power of this story in historical context, and brought the characters to life in their storytelling.  They didn't shy away from making this lead character difficult to love, an anti-hero who evolves over time, but who is intentionally unsympathetic from the beginning.

Finally, I have to refer to the Makeup and Hairstyling category.  I'm sorry, so far, I can't get behind any of the nominees in this category in a passionate way (though I still have one left to see, so I'll reserve judgment).  Even the makeup and hair in the Hunger Games series is more triumphant than what is done here.  It's well done and serves the story and the characters just fine, I'm just not sure that what it accomplishes is deserving of the nomination.

All in all, an outstanding film that deserves the recognition it is getting.  Prepare yourself, it's a hard film to watch, but not a hard film to love.

Haven't seen the movie?

Watch the Dallas Buyers Club Movie Trailer

THE CROODS - 1 nomination

THE CROODS

Animated Feature Film - Chris Sanders, Krik DeMicco, and Kristine Belson

The Croods is an adorable film about family, risk, coming of age, and love all in one story.

Nicolas Cage voices the father who is desperately afraid of anything new - granted, the setting in which he lives is not one that rewards trying new things with a saber-toothed tiger around every corner.  But Emma Stone plays his daughter at the start of her teenage years, and much like any other teenager, she wants desperately to go out and experience the world.  She meets a handsome, young, evolved boy (and in this case, that isn't just psychologically, he doesn't have a supraorbital ridge like she and her family do), who is warning of the end of the world and is running to safety with his sassy monkey friend - of course, animated films always need a sassy monkey friend.  (he is played by Ryan Reynolds, real life hottie in his own right)  The family is threatened by molten lava destroying their cave, and they are forced into a world where everything is new, potentially dangerous, and absolutely gorgeous.  Hijinks ensue, but we see that the love that the family has for one another is unstoppable (cue cheesy music).

The animation in the film is absolutely beautiful and even though the entire movie is in color, there is a Wizard of Oz feel as the new world is unveiled.  The colors are rich and visually appealing, and the film takes advantage of the animated medium to juxtapose a life of boring safety versus a life of risky adventure.

Put simply, the movie is adorable; I watched it without my kids and still really enjoyed it.  It's funny, it's endearing and even Nicolas Cage who sometimes plays flat when it's just his voice is, without irony, animated.  In addition, the score is adorable, and though there are no nominations for music, I was quite captivated by it, so there's that special addition.

In general, I think The Croods is more of a kids' movie than a film for adults, and I would guess that I'm rare in my love for animated films that are intended for children.  If you're without kids, I would say you're more likely to skip it or watch it on cable.  But I think that if you do end up watching it, it's delightful enough that you will enjoy.  If you're seeing only one animated film this year, this isn't the one to choose (spoiler alert - there is at least one nominee in this category that you should NOT miss, but I won't reveal it until I get to that review, so you just have to keep following the blog!).

Haven't seen The Croods?
Watch The Croods Movie Trailer

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS - 6 nominations

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

Actor in a Supporting Role - Barkhad Abdi
Best Picture - Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, and Michael De Luca, Producers
Film Editing - Christopher Rouse
Sound Editing - Oliver Tarney
Sound Mixing - Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, and Chris Munro
Writing (Adapted Screenplay) - Billy Ray

Let's begin with an explanation of the award for Best Sound, aka, Best Sound Mixing.  Remembering that the award for sound editing is about sound design and how the pre-recorded elements come together in a film, and how it adds to the tone of the production.  Best Sound Mixing is slightly different in that the challenge for the sound mixer is to take all of the sound elements - recorded sound effects, dialogue, music, ambient noise, etc. and put them together, and maybe adding additional effects or manipulations to each thing that is being mixed together.  Don't forget that when a movie is being made, there are several takes of a single scene - think about cutting a portion of one take where a seagull is cawing, and a portion of another take where it's quiet, and having to make sure that the whole sound is heard, all the while mixing the dialogue, music layers, etc. - this is a very meticulous job which is not an easy one.  Here, too, musicals and action films tend to be the winners of this category, because there is just so much to mix.  (For a comparison to the Sound Editing explanation, refer back to my review of All is Lost.)

On to Captain Phillips.

The movie is a powerhouse.  A la Apollo 13, it's an edge of your seat film where Tom Hanks plays the captain of an American cargo ship taken hostage by Somali pirates.  We see the pirates who are poor, desperate, and seemingly terrorized themselves by armed "bosses" in Somalia and understand that the situation is not so simple as we would hope.  We never root for the bad guys (something you already know I hate), but we at least, in our humanity, understand them.

Barkhad Abdi, who is nominated for Actor in a Supporting role, is in his first role in Captain Phillips.  No, I don't mean his first role on screen, on film, on TV, I mean this is a guy who had absolutely no aspirations to be an actor while living in Minnesota, and his first time out, he has been nominated for everything.  His performance is raw and inexpert, but it works perfectly for the role.  Incidentally, he is from Somalia and his family fled to escape the civil war when he was quite young.  He brings the humanity to the pirates, and one can see his struggle between being tough, being a leader, and being scared out of his gourd.

The editing and sound nominations are all well deserved.  As to the challenge of sound mixing in particular, think about all the sounds that waves make, that screaming and loudspeakers and effects and guns, all of this put together in a hodgepodge that has to make sense to the listeners.  Same with the film editing, the action sequences require precision and they get it done.

Referring back to my first post for this blog, though, Captain Phillips in an excellent film who has no business in the Best Picture category.  Don't get me wrong, it's well done, it's heart wrenching, it's exciting, and it explores complex themes.  But if we were getting back to my preference of 5 nominees, Captain Phillips would be an easy one to cut.  It's nothing we haven't seen before - Tom Hanks in a life threatening situation in space (Apollo 13), or Tom Hanks in a life threatening situation at sea (Captain Phillips).  The real Captain Phillips deserves for this story to be told and to be seen by audiences across the country; especially since we love a story with this kind of heroism.  But Best Picture?  I think not.  Still, I loved it and hope you'll enjoy it too!

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Watch the Captain Phillips movie trailer

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THE BOOK THIEF - 1 nomination

THE BOOK THIEF

Music (Original Score) - John Williams (I don't often share this bit of trivia, but this is John Williams' 49th Oscar nomination, 49 nominations, holy moly!  The link that I will provide below to the movie trailer also includes his list of films for which he was nominated.  It's worth it to peruse the list for a minute.  It's practically the history of cinema.  Walt Disney holds the record for most Oscar noms ever with 59.  Will John Williams beat his record?  I bet he will. Ok, I will now stop gushing, but the guy is a genius.)

The Book Thief is an adapted screenplay from the superb book of the same name, which I read a couple of years ago and loved.  Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson play the adoptive parents of a little girl whose brother has just died and whose mother is running from the Nazis.  Emily Watson's character is tough-minded and mildly verbally abusive, but her love for her family is evident and we see her good side, as well.  Geoffrey Rush is the softer of the two, and takes to fatherhood easily.  He takes the girl, Liesel, under his wing and helps her not only learn to read, but to love reading and learning all at once.  They are two outstanding actors who are both wonderful in their roles.

Eventually, they take in a Jew, Max, who they hide in the basement, and we see the struggle of average Germans who themselves are afraid of every move they make, attending book burnings and speeches supporting Hitler, even when it is clear that they know what's happening is wrong.  To his own detriment, Geoffrey Rush's character refuses to join the Nazi party, so it is left to the mother to earn a living by doing laundry for the wealthy couple in their town, where Liesel is granted access to the vast library in their home.  When Max grows gravely ill, she "borrows" books from the library to read to him in his ailing stupor.

Death is the narrator of the story in both the book and the movie.  However, in the movie, it isn't done as well, and if you didn't read the book, I think it will be confusing until the end of the film who is talking and why.  The device worked much better and was much more clear in the book. The characters are appealing, the story is moving, and it's a very good film.  There are parts that are difficult to watch - man's inhumanity to man is always gut-wrenching, but thankfully, we see much more uplifting parts of the human spirit.  It's also refreshing to see a Holocaust-era film that is focused on the lives of ordinary Germans, and not just on its victims.  

The music is beautiful but not very noticeable.  The score is haunting where it should be, and compliments all aspects of the story.  I can see the rationale for the nomination, but even watching the film knowing that the music was the nominee, I couldn't find specific parts where the music was as much of the experience as the story, as it has been in prior nominees like Life of Pi and The Artist, or even reaching further back to Titanic or Schindler's List (that's a John Williams winner).  

Am I right?  We'll see on March 2nd!

Haven't seen the film?
Watch The Book Thief movie trailer

BLUE JASMINE - 3 nominations

BLUE JASMINE

Actress in a Leading Role - Cate Blanchett
Actress in a Supporting Role - Sally Hawkins
Writing (Original Screenplay) - Woody Allen

Blue Jasmine follows Cate Blanchett as her life has just fallen apart.  Her husband (Alec Baldwin) is discovered to be a lying, cheating, thieving schemer, and the government has seized all of their assets leaving her broke.  She moves to San Francisco to be taken in by her sister played by Sally Hawkins, who herself was duped by Baldwin's character, causing the ultimate failure of her marriage, played by none other than Andrew Dice Clay.  (ADC, by the way, is GREAT and funny and charming, but basically plays himself.)

Jasmine is losing it, as the persona that she created and adorned herself with is coming apart like a cheap Chanel knockoff.  There is nothing real about her character and when the money is gone, this persona becomes out of place in her new circumstances.  She's living on Xanax and going not-so-quietly mad.  She is narcissistic to the point of having the character feel less than real.

Meanwhile, her sister is also creating her own pitiful reality as she moves from loser husband to loser boyfriend to sweet, but married boyfriend, and back to loser boyfriend.  Her internal monologue tells her she is not what her sister is - the pretty one, the winner - and she creates a reality filled with men who reflect back her own insecurities to her.   I'm a huge fan of Sally Hawkins who appeared in two great films - Happy Go Lucky and Made in Dagenham, though it's hard to see the world through her character's eyes in this film.  We all know people who don't feel good enough to find partners who will lift them up, and I know I wanted this for her in the film; but it was clear that she wouldn't allow herself to ever wait for this kind of opportunity.

While Cate Blanchett was excellent in the role and I can see why she is winning all of these awards, I was happy when this movie was over.  I felt nothing for her as her life continued to unravel, her narcissism was too much to take.  I'm not sure if we are meant to feel sorry for her or to judge her, but by the end, I just didn't care enough to do either.  If I was her therapist, I think I would tell her to snap out of it and get a damn job.

Woody Allen is getting so much acclaim for writing strong parts for women, but all he is creating here is extremely unlikelable, unsympathetic women caricatures.  These are women who are wholly dependent on men for their self definition and self worth, who have no sense of values, and have become cartoons of women with great histrionic scenes that get them nominations, and in Blanchett's case, awards.  I do not join the groundswell of support for this screenplay, and don't believe that Allen deserves accolades for its writing.

I've heard lots of praise for this movie and these characters, so I accept that maybe I missed the boat on this one, but I just couldn't get behind a movie who regards women with such disdain.  Likewise,  there are much more important performances in the landscape of this year's films who have female leads with something more important to say.

Haven't seen the film?
Watch the Blue Jasmine Trailer

BEFORE MIDNIGHT - 1 nomination

BEFORE MIDNIGHT - 1 nomination

Writing - Adapted Screenplay - Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke

Before Midnight is the third installment in the love story of Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke).  In the first, Before Sunrise (1995) we see them meet on a train and they talk all night on that best first date you ever have, but in this case, knowing that they will likely never meet again when that dates concludes, and at the time they make a point to leave the memory intact and not exchange contact information.  Before Sunset (2004) has them reuniting in Paris where Jesse is on the last stop of his book tour, his book lovingly telling the story of that romantic night a decade before.

In this installment, they have finally married and had adorable twin daughters.  The movie begins with Jesse saying goodbye to his son (from a previous marriage) who is returning home to the United States from Greece where they are all vacationing, now that Celine and Jesse permanently live in Paris.  His divorce is clearly not amicable, but his relationship with his son is good.

While everything appears to have "all worked out in the end," we come to see a couple struggling with the challenges of every day marriage, keeping a relationship intact, and dealing with the difficulty of being away from a child from a previous marriage who lives on a different continent, not to mention the tricky nature of handling an embittered and difficult ex-spouse.  

Like the other two films in the trilogy, the film relies heavily on very tight dialogue.  It's real, we know these people.  Some of us are these people.  It's frustrating because they clearly love each other, clearly want to be together, but feel under-appreciated, taken for granted, and have begun the tally of who-does-what-for-whom and who-does-more-around-here portion of the relationship.  It's uncomfortable when Celine casually observes that Jesse's sadness and frustration not being near his son marks the beginning of the end of the relationship; the place where she predicts his inevitable resentment of her which will erode the fabric of their marriage.  At this point I thought, wow, this woman is just a shit-starter, even though I know her character to be better than that from the prior films.

Here's the good news and the bad news of Before Midnight.  It's a little bit like sitting next to a couple who is arguing, but you're not a part of the conversation.  You take sides, you evaluate who's right, and sometimes all you want to do is turn to them and say, "Shut up and quit your damn whining."  On the other hand, the conversation is so real and so well written that you can't help but be engaged by it, to sit all the way through and see what the consequences of a long, real conversation are when taken as a break from the day to day management of a marriage that can be boiled down to companionship and child rearing.

It's worth seeing, especially since you can watch it on DVD and take a break when you're ready to slap them and come back when you're ready to see what happens.  The screenplay nomination is deserved because this movie doesn't rely on anything but the dialogue to make its point.  There are no tricks, no effects, no gimmicks.  It's My Dinner with Andre with people who are not as annoying with the gorgeous backdrop of Greece behind it.  My favorite quote from the film also summarizes its point, "If you want love, then this is it.  This is real life.  It's not perfect, but it's real."

Haven't seen the film?
Watch the Before Midnight Movie Trailer

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY - 2 nominations

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY

Actress in a Leading Role - Meryl Streep
Actress in a Supporting Role - Julia Roberts

Yikes.  Where to begin on this adaptation of acclaimed playwright Tracy Letts' Tony nominated play, August: Osage County?  Fully disclosure, I saw the play and I thought it was superb.  This tale of a highly dysfunctional family with an alcoholic father and a pill-popping mother brings together the entire family in a star-studded melange of crazy, both in hidden family secrets and in plain as day problems. The family comes together when the father goes missing, and is ultimately discovered dead, presumably by suicide.

The cast list is ridiculously good, jam packed with past Oscar nominees and winners, not to mention that when it appeared on Broadway, they needed a cart to carry out all of the Tony awards it won, including Best Play.  Needless to say, when I saw the preview for the film, I couldn't wait to see it.

And then I saw it.  I'll raise my yikes to an oy.

We see a harsh "truth-telling" mother (Meryl Streep), an aunt (Margo Martindale) too hard on her son (Benedict Cumberbatch), and three daughters played by Julia Roberts whose husband (Ewan McGregor) is leaving her for a younger woman and whose daughter (Abigail Breslin) has normal but annoying teenage angst, Juliette Lewis whose boyfriend (Dermot Mulroney) is behaving inappropriately with the 14 year old girl by giving her pot and making overly sexualized overtures, and Julianne Nicholson who plays the dutiful daughter having a secret affair with the man she presumes to be her cousin (spoiler alert: it's more creepy than that).

All that would be ok, could be darkly funny even, except that it just doesn't work on screen.  

My idol Meryl Streep who can do no wrong went so unbelievably wrong.  I can't tell if she's trying to act "to the back wall," (as they say in the theater world) and forgetting that a movie doesn't have a back wall, or if she just had trouble finding the right tempo for her performance.  She plays drug-induced angry as well as anyone, if not better, but somehow it just didn't work for me.  Maybe because the character is written with so little humanity or that in the parts that do reflect her humanity, Streep doesn't soften enough to get to me.  This might just be a case of "Meryl did a movie so it's time for a nomination," which appears to be the rule in Hollywood.  (Really, a nom for Devil Wears Prada?  Is someone messing with me?)

On the other hand, Julia Roberts was excellent in the film and she does manage to be the stabilizing influence that allows for some of the funnier moments to emerge.  We can see the challenges of the sandwich generation, and we relate to her because she seems to be striving for equilibrium both as a character and as an actress.  She was very good - not Oscar good - but good nonetheless.

August: Osage County is a hard movie to sit through.  It's more of a labor than entertainment, and I don't recommend it highly.  I can't see any Oscar wins on March 2nd for this one.

Haven't seen the film?
August: Osage County Movie Trailer

AMERICAN HUSTLE - 10 nominations

AMERICAN HUSTLE 

Actor in a Leading Role - Christian Bale
Actor in a Supporting Role - Bradley Cooper
Actress in a Leading Role - Amy Adams
Actress in a Supporting Role - Jennifer Lawrence
Best Picture - Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, and Jonathan Gordon, Producers 
Costume Design - Michael Wilkinson
Directing - David O. Russell
Film Editing - Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers, and Alan Baumgarten 
Production Design (formerly known as Art Direction, but changed to reflect the collaboration between set decorator and art director) - Judy Becker (Production Design), Heather Loeffler (Set Decoration) 
Writing (Original Screenplay) - Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell

American Hustle is another film in which we find ourselves rooting for the bad guys, a genre that tends to bug me in general because I can't help put myself into the shoes of the people who are being scammed.  Yes, the people being scammed are looking to make a quick buck, or get access to something they shouldn't have access to, but for the most part, it's hard to face our own true human nature and remind ourselves that we all would like to do well, to trust people who seem trustworthy, and to make investments that are sound that will yield something good for ourselves and our families.  

This is the story of a small time scammer (Christian Bale in a seriously awesome comb over) who meets up with a driven hustler (Amy Adams, who they have done their best to take from the most adorable little actress on earth to sexy mama - a transformation that I didn't really buy but my brother did, so what do I know!) who find themselves the victims of an FBI agent sting (Bradley Cooper) who himself is an ambitious professional.  The FBI agent convinces them that in exchange for their freedom, they must participate in a major sting of politicians in New Jersey, including the ernest and well-meaning Mayor of Camden, New Jersey who wants to revitalize Atlantic City but who has been struggling to raise the money (Jeremy Renner).  I felt truly sorry for Renner's character who genuinely seemed to want to do good, and was stuck in an ends justifies the means situation.  He was not self-motivated, and even Bale's character realizes this somewhere along the line.

All of the actors are superb in the film, and I was particularly excited by Louis C.K. who plays Bradley Cooper's boss and somehow, even when he is attempting to impede his employee's actions is angry and funny at the same time.  I'm a sucker for good cameos (think Jack Nicholson in Broadcast News) and Robert DeNiro is short on screen time and long on awesome as the mob boss.  Jennifer Lawrence almost steals the whole film with her brand of spitfire crazy that makes you wish she had more scenes.

The film is basically a period piece and boy did the Costume Designers earn their nomination.  I can't tell you how many times in the movie I said, "that dress is gorgeous," "that suit is ridiculous," and with the appearance of the wrap dress that Diane Von Furstenberg invented in 1974, you are immediately transported back in time.  (And Amy Adams is PULLING. IT. OFF.)  When you combine their work with the art of the production designers who manage to insert every 1970's gaudy lamp in history, you have a visual masterpiece.

Two of my favorite parts of the film are small, but worth noting.  First, when Jeremy Renner's character makes a gift of a newly invented microwave to Christian Bale, Bale brings it home to his wife and explains it to her as an oven that uses science, a science oven.  She then refers to it during it's short lived appearance in the film as the science oven, until she quickly learns that metal in the science oven is a big no no.  Naturally, we have put a small label on our own microwave which reads "science oven," and that is how we refer to it now.  Hilarious, plus, I loves me some Jennifer Lawrence in everything she does, and every line she speaks, in every movie she's made (ok, I hated Winter's Bone, but I still loved her.)

Second, there is no escaping how well Amy Adams portrays confident and vulnerable at the same time.  Her best quote in the film is "You're nothing to me until you're everything." to Christan Bale, the boyfriend who won't leave his wife for her.  I'd love to see single women across the globe take up this philosophy with their men who don't treat them well.  It's solid gold genius.

Overall, I really enjoyed American Hustle.  It was well done and well acted and well directed and well written.  Do I think it deserves Best Picture?  No, I do not.  Do I think that any of American Hustle's nominees deserve the gold?  Well, I am still seeing some of its competitors, but honestly, no, I don't.  It was good and I highly recommend seeing it, but I don't believe it will be a standout in the end (for quality, if not popularity.)  The film has so much buzz and so much press that it will likely take home at least one statue, but so far, I see other, more deserving nominees.  We shall see!

Haven't seen the movie yet?  Here's the trailer:
Watch the American Hustle movie trailer

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ALL IS LOST - 1 nomination

ALL IS LOST

This film has one nomination for Best Sound Editing.

At this point, where I would normally just review the film, I think I'll take a moment to explain what this nomination is for, and when I get to the first film with a Best Sound nomination, I'll contrast what makes these awards different.

Sound Editing is a category that recognizes sound design of a film.  It's about how the sound lends to the feel and mood of the film.  Sound designers may use anything in their skill set to create and merge all of the (usually pre)recorded elements of the film so that the sound is almost a supporting actor of the film.  Sound effects and dialogue are the two biggies that a sound editor is generally responsible for.

Because sound effects play a large role in this category, often the films nominated in this category have a ton of special effects.  Movies with lots of shooting (Zero Dark Thirty, The Hurt Locker) tend to be nominated, and most of the time, win.  (As I review the other films in this category, you'll see what I mean - lots of fight scenes, for the most part.)

All Is Lost is a movie with almost no dialogue and is totally reliant on Robert Redford and everything he must do to stay alive on his damaged yacht after having been crashed into by a larger shipping cargo container.  It's a hard movie to watch because it's so methodical and uses only action to communicate what is happening.  But if you can stick with it, it is poignant and engaging.

The entire movie is watching this character encounter challenges (storms, sharks, a sinking yacht, a burning raft) and then in an effort to stay alive, he uses skill and his wits to keep going.  We watch him lose one thing after another, and with each new loss, he has to creatively find ways to keep going.  As time passes, he is left only with his body in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and must decide whether to continue or to give in.  At one point in the film, he sees a potential rescuer and fires his flares, and when we realize that no one on the boat has seen him and that they aren't coming to rescue him, our heart breaks a little as we slowly see the desperation cross Robert Redford's face.

I once heard a screenwriter say that dialogue is only necessary when emotion can't be delivered by the actors faces on screen.  Robert Redford is able to convey all that he's feeling and thinking without any words, and is so engaging and his character is so clever, you can't help but root for him.  The ending is redemptive and a relief, but it doesn't come cheaply.  (My husband says I can't give any spoilers, so I won't tell you if he lives.)

Bottom line, you really have to want to make it through this movie in order to do so because it is extremely labor intensive for the watcher.  There isn't so much a plot as a series of happenings and what Redford does to deal with them.  But if you do stick with it, the journey is satisfying enough to make it worth the time.  If I had to sum up the whole movie in one phrase, it would be "just keep swimming."  Or, I guess, "all is not lost."

Finally, in reference to the category, I can see how this got a Sound Editing nomination.  The whole movie is reliant on sound editing, one actor, and a terrific score to bring the movie to life.  So good job Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns, and good luck!

Here's a trailer for the film, if you haven't seen it yet:
All Is Lost Movie Trailer

The nominations are out!

Well, here goes the fun.  For a complete list of nominees, go to http://oscar.go.com/nominees.

Here are just some general comments in reviewing the list.

First, I really don't like more than 5 nominees for Best Picture.  At first, I thought maybe I was just getting used to it and that I was really too rooted in the past.  But each year, I can easily identify at least a few nominees who really don't belong in the Best Picture category.  My feeling is that if a film is on the list, then a majority of people wouldn't say "what the what??" if it won.  (Sure, we can all cite anomaly winners where they beat other, more deserving nominees, but it's not like they weren't good movies who shouldn't have been on the list at all.)  It has been chalked up to wanting to generate more profits for more movies because a BP nomination brings in more crowds, and I think that's what is driving this decision.  I'm a romantic.  I like 5 outstanding films and 5 alone.

Second, Bad Grandpa is nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.  I have yet to see the film, so I'll reserve judgement, but if this is just because they made Johnny Knoxville look old, that is a big disappointment and silly.  But again, I'll comment when I see it.  Ironically, when my husband, brother, and kids (all boys) all wanted to go see it, my response was, "You guys go ahead.  I highly doubt this movie is looking at Oscar noms, so it's not like I have to see it."  Someone get me a fork and knife, I'm obviously going to have to eat my words.

Third, and I've saved the most controversial for last.  At the risk of having some of you check out altogether on this blog on day 2, I find it highly offensive that one of the foreign film nominees is from a "country" called Palestine.  There is no UN member state called Palestine, and this decision almost got me to check out of this whole shebang before I even got started.  I guess on the upside, we can agree that the anti-Semitic "Jews control Hollywood" myth might be undermined with this one nomination.  If it's true, then shame on you Jews who control Hollywood… you should know better than that.

So, that's where we are for now.  Check back later today for my first review of the actual films!

WELCOME TO THE OSCARS BLOG!

Welcome to the Oscar blog!

For as long as I can remember, I've been Oscars obsessed.  I always tried to see every movie, and whenever I tell people this, they say, "oh yeah, me too."  But what I mean by every movie is EVERY movie.  If there was a way to see movies to justify the awards for technical merit, I would see those too.

What separates me from others who do this is that they are usually professionals in the entertainment industry who are probably getting some form of payment to sit through all of these films.  I am not one of those people.

I do this for the love of seeing great stories, and inevitably, nominations have introduced me to films I had never even heard of prior to the Oscars.  Two such examples are In The Loop (nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2010 - see it just for Peter Capaldi's swearing and James Gandolfini's indecision), and Lars and the Real Girl (nominated for Best Original Screenplay in 2008 - see it, I cried at a funeral for a doll scene, and I bet you will too), but I could go on and on.

I have been attending DocuDay sponsored by the International Documentary Association for 15 years, and this is an extraordinary day (from 9 a.m. - midnight) in which they screen all 5 short and all 5 full length documentaries in one day.  There are two kinds of people in the audience - the docunerds (term intended with great respect) who want to know how the producers raised the money and what kinds of lenses they used, and the general nerds like me who asked questions like, "is your mom ok now?"

The hardest ones to see have always been the foreign films, because those are not always released in the United States prior to the Oscars telecast.

The closest I've ever come to seeing 100% of the nominations was last year where I saw every single film with a nomination except for Chasing Ice, which had a Best Song nomination, but was a documentary to which I never had access, because it wasn't featured at DocuDay.

Anyway, I love the Oscars and since it has been my passion for so long, I thought it would be fun to share my reviews of the nominated films.  I will do my best to comment specifically on the category(ies) for which the film is nominated, as my obsession has gone a long way into researching who gets to vote in which categories, what the demographics of the voters are, and what the heck each one is evaluating.  I'll share links to good articles that help illuminate these questions, as well.

I'd love to hear what you think, so feel free to comment, and I'll try not to post too often!

One more thing - here is my system for seeing everything, in case you are wondering how I fit all these films into such a short time period.
When the Golden Globes nominations are announced, I print out a list of the films and identify the ones I haven't seen.  There is generally a lot of crossover between the two awards, so this gets me started.  Many years ago, I didn't begin until the Oscars list was announced, and it was virtually impossible to see all of these films in the time allotted.
I make as much progress as I can, and then once the Oscars list comes out, I dump the GG list, and start over with the Oscars list of films I haven't yet seen.
Doing this over the last few years has made seeing all of the films much more realistic, and feels far less like homework.  Tomorrow, I'll know how many I need to see until March 2nd, and my amazing husband is great about helping me track down the ones on the list.

Happy Oscars season and thank you for joining me on this journey!