OSCAR WRAP UP

OSCAR WRAP UP

It's a glorious night for fashion and film each year, and I admit that I'm pretty easily entertained.  I thought everyone looked great, and I enjoyed the montages quite a bit.

I was thrilled with Ellen's performance, and I thought she did a great job of keeping it light and moving it along.  The opening monologue was terrific (the best Liza Minnelli impersonator is here - great job, sir) and all in good fun, and I felt we were off to a good start.  This is the most thankless job in the industry, and before the presenter even begins, mostly people are criticizing their work.

Overall, I had a pretty good night - I got 21 out of 24 correct in my Who Should Win post, so I feel pretty good about my prognostications.  (If you used my guesses and won your pool, don't forget my cut!)

Before I get to the awards, I have a few general comments.  
- Bette Midler and Pink both killed it.  I was especially relieved that neither Lorna Luft nor Liza Minnelli sang Over the Rainbow because neither sings any better than Judy Garland did (which I think was not well - don't lynch me.)  Pink, on the other hand, was superb.
- The In Memorium section had a bit of controversy this year, and I was pleased to see Sarah Jones (the camera person who was recently killed while shooting a film by being run over by a train) acknowledged right at the end of the necrology report.  It was a good compromise to list her name and refer people to the web site.
- The pizza bit went a little long, but the people in the audience seemed to enjoy it, so what the heck.
- You have to love that the Oscars broke Twitter.  I loved seeing all the celebrities get on board and play along and not take themselves too seriously.  Kudos.

Best Picture - 12 Years a Slave
Kudos and well deserved.  My favorite overall, and one of the rare years that the Best Picture winner and the Best Director winner were not from the same film.

Actor in a Leading Role - Matthew McConaghey
I still think Chiwetel Ejiofor should have won, but McConaghey's speech was lovely and good for him.

Actress in a Leading Role - Cate Blanchett
One of the few winners about which I'm actually mad.  She couldn't touch Judi Dench in Philomena, but she also spoke graciously and beautifully, so fair enough.

Actor in a Supporting Role - Jared Leto
Yes, yes, and yes.  Great speech.  Well deserved.  Mazal tov.

Actress in a Supporting Role - Lupita Nyong'o
Right on!  (Continuing the curse of the red dress, Jennifer Lawrence!)  Also a beautiful speech, and yes, I cried, because I have a rule that no one cries alone.  I'm sure she appreciated my support.  I was also happy that June Squibb's scene at the cemetery where she lifts her dress and yells, "see what you could have had if you didn't talk about wheat all the time!" got shown in the clips.  She was so terrific in that movie, and I wish she had been neck and neck with Lupita instead of Jennifer Lawrence.

Animated Film - Frozen
Let's face it, it was unstoppable, but I hope people will take the time to see Ernest and Celestine.  It's coming out in English, but try to see it in French.  A-dor-a-ble!

Cinematography - Gravity
I know my many readers from the Academy are going to pay attention when I say they should add another category called Hybrid Cinematography.  If we're going to recognize this kind of work, then it can't compete with just good old fashioned camera work with no special effects.

Costume Design - The Great Gatsby
Yup.  But don't bother seeing the movie.  Go online, check out the costumes, and you'll have spent your time better.

Directing - Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
I can't imagine how hard it must be to put together all of the pieces of this kind of film, so I think this award was won for level of difficulty.  Again, it's rare that we say that there is a film that is the absolute BEST and then not recognize the leader who made it happen (Steve McQueen).  But, I loved Gravity, so I don't begrudge this award.

Documentary - 20 Feet From Stardom
Oh, Darlene Love, his eyes ARE on you, you little adorable sparrow.  First he sent you David Letterman (who basically revived her career) and then you get this wonderful recognition.  You go girl.  (Still, how The Square or The Act of Killing don't win the prize, shows a little something about how deep Academy voters are willing to go.  Or maybe they just didn't watch all of the choices since the rule changed to the honors system this year.)

Documentary Short - The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Don't mess with the Holocaust people. Seriously.  This was a beautiful film and how sad that its 110 year old subject didn't live to see the win.  But she lived an amazing life and this was a lovely tribute to her.

Film Editing - Gravity
Yup.  No question.

Foreign Language Film - The Great Beauty (I got this one wrong!)
UGH, the second worst of the lot.  Hard for a documentary to really compete among these kinds of films, but I still really encourage everyone to see The Missing Picture, The Broken Circle Breakdown, and The Hunt - all superb films.

Makeup and Hairstyling - Dallas Buyers Club
Thank goodness - I think I couldn't live in the world where Bad Grandpa wins an Oscar, but this Academy branch needs to step up its game finding better choices for this category.  None of these was that impressive.  Are you telling me there were no cool sci fi choices, period pieces, or full fledged drag queens available to recognize?  We need to get on that.

Original Score - Gravity
The nice thing about this film is that the silence of space made room to showcase a great score, and I think that's what made for this win.  It was easy to be moved by the music next to the quiet moments of the film.

Original Song - Let it Go
Look, I love my Idina Menzel (Adele Dazeem?) as much as the next gal, but this was not a great performance of the song.  Her hand was shaking, and I'm shocked because she does live performance for a living!  It was good throughout, but went really wrong at the end - almost as though they started an octave too high without telling Idina.  She screamed the big note instead of singing it, and her voice cracked throughout the note.  Still, most of the world can't hit that note on their best days, so we can cut her some slack.  I've seen some internet banter that she was frazzled because Travolta mangled her name, but that's absurd.  The woman is a professional singer.  A mispronunciation of her name isn't going to shake her.
After two years flubbing words in the introductions, John Travolta needs to come off the presenter list.  Last year, he mangled Les Miserables (I still can't begin to reproduce what he tried to say), and this year, he mangled Menzel's name.

Production Design - The Great Gatsby
Yes, again, google the sets.  They were spectacular.  But not worth watching the movie.

Animated Short - Mr. Hublot (I got this wrong!)
Ok, ok, I should've known.  This category rarely goes to Disney and Pixar films, and also, usually what wins are the quirky or emotional films.  Since was basically the only other semi-passable choice, I supposed I should've predicted it.  My bad, readers, my bad.  I just thought that Get A Horse film was so clever and creative that they would overlook the source.

Live Action Short - Helium (I got this wrong!)
Look, I like films about kids dying from cancer as much as the next gal, and I did cry at the end of this one, but I still think Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me) should have won.  This was a good film and I think folks went for it because of its emotional component, but wouldn't it be nice if children being kidnapped into terrible lives of murder and rape and losing their souls made us cry as much as cancer did?

Sound Editing - Gravity
No brainer.

Sound Mixing - Gravity
No brainer.  The technical awards were clearly what made Gravity the night's biggest winner.

Visual Effects - Gravity
Ditto.

Adapted Screenplay - 12 Years A Slave
Bravo!  This often goes to films that aren't going to get other recognition so I secretly thought they might choose Wolf of Wall Street.  Choosing NOT to recognize a story about the lowest life forms who basically created class warfare was a great outcome, in my opinion.  I wish that Mandela had been nominated in this category over Wolf of Wall Street.  

Original Screenplay - Her
I was thrilled with this choice.  I loved the movie and I was delighted for it to get some recognition.  My other choice would have been Nebraska, which was such a delightful film.

I will continue to review movies as I see them, so feel free to subscribe to the blog, so you can stay tuned for updates, and I'll see you next year at the Oscars!!!

WHO SHOULD WIN?

WHO SHOULD WIN?

Wow, big day!  Yesterday I completed my final movie review and for the first time in my history, I saw every single nominated film.  I'm so grateful to all of you who have followed, reposted, commented, and supported the blog.  I might just make this a regular hobby of reviewing films as I see them, both new and old.  Anyway, I feel I owe you something and while I have no idea who the winners WILL be, I'm happy to tell you who I think they SHOULD be.  I've included some industry buzz about who will win, and if you win your Oscar pool, I'll take 10%!

Best Picture
Should win: 12 Years a Slave - the movie was important, told a story we haven't heard before through the eyes of a man who was born free and kidnapped into slavery.
Will win: It's going to be a tight race among 12 Years, Gravity, and American Hustle, but I think one of the first two will prevail.  Academy voters are older and like epics and historical narratives, but they knew 12 Years would be a tough film and might have skipped watching it.  Still, I'll predict 12 Years.

Best Actor
Should win: Chiwetel Ejoifor - his performance basically wrung himself out as a person.  No competition.
Will win: Matthew McConaghey - Academy voters love physical makeovers (Nicole Kidman's nose, Charlize Theron's "ugly," Tom Hanks' weight loss) and when it is combined with great acting, it's usually rewarded.  

Best Supporting Actor
Should win: Jared Leto - I wrote a lot about his performance in the Dallas Buyers Club review.  I think he will remain changed as a person from this role.
Will win: Jared Leto - he's won almost every other award this season (surprise win at the BAFTA's for Barkhad Abdi, good for him! I hope he continues to do well.)

Best Actress
Should win: Judi Dench - there was no performance like hers this year.  It was subtle and hysterical in all the right ways. 
Will win: Cate Blanchett - this is the one with which I will be most disappointed.  Her one-note hysteria in a disappointing film does not an Oscar performance make.  But somehow, people are loving her this year, and she will probably take it.

Best Supporting Actress
Should win: Lupita Nyong'o - No performance touched hers this year, and the part was written to perfection.  I will admit that I would also happily accept a win for June Squibb, who was my favorite of all the nominees among the entire list of 20 actors nominated.  She was everything to me - tender, funny, misanthropic, cranky - the full range.  
Will win: This is another tough call.  Jennifer Lawrence is a favorite among Academy voters and she's won a lot of the awards this season, although Lupita Nyong'o won the SAG award, which is often a predictor of the acting awards at the Oscars.  It's a squeaker.

Best Director
Should win: Alfonso Cuaron or Steve McQueen
Will win: Alfonso Cuaron - now since I don't predict Gravity as the best pic winner, this would go against Oscar history where only a couple of times did the best pic and best director winners not come from the same film.

Adapted Screenplay
Should win: 12 Years A Slave - the most powerful and important of the list.
Will win: 12 Years A Slave

Original Screenplay
Should win: Her - the most creative and innovative of the group, and so timely for where we are in the technological world.  It moved the world forward, but not so forward that we couldn't recognize it.  It wasn't just The Jetsons come to life.
Will win: I really can't call this one.  Her would follow a string of films which win this prize that don't really win anything else.  It's sort of the "we loved the movie but not enough to give it anything else" category.  On the other hand, this prize is also often taken by movies with lots of action and dialogue, and many are predicting a win for American Hustle on this one.  I'm guessing Her.

Animated Feature
Should win: Frozen, but I would also take the win for Ernest and Celestine which I loved and just didn't get nearly the same attention, not having come from the Mouse House.
Will win: Frozen.  If you're rooting for anything of the other nominees, well, let it go.

Animated Short
Should win: Get A Horse! - the rest were basically disappointing.
Will win: Get A Horse!

Cinematography
Should win: Nebraska, no competition.  It was the most beautifully and methodically shot film of the year, with true, unenhanced, cinematography.  You know, the kind where you can't choose where to place the sun?  Special mention to the Grandmaster, which also had gorgeous cinematography.
Will win: Gravity - it should win a new award called, "Hybrid Cinematography," you listenin' Academy?

Costume Design
Should win: The Great Gatsby was amazing, and a spectacle of costuming.  American Hustle, if only for including the DVF wrap dress, the original version.  Oh, and anything that clothed Jennifer Lawrence or Amy Adams in any portion of that movie.
Will win: It's going to be a squeaker between American Hustle and The Great Gatsby, and the costume category is one of the least influenced by "buzz" and the most influenced by the actual work, so The Great Gatsby could take it.

Documentary Feature
Should win: The Square - it lifted the veil on the Arab Spring and asked important questions.  It was tight and powerful.  The Act of Killing was also important, but needed to be edited a bit more.
Will win: 20 Feet from Stardom - somehow Academy voters go for the feel good docs over the tough ones, and those get the most buzz, and the last few years, the win.

Documentary Short
Should win: Facing Fear - even though it's mostly a talking head movie, its story of forgiveness and redemption is particularly relevant this year.
Will win: The Lady in Number 6 - Academy voters love a Holocaust survivor movie.  (and they'll overlook the super weird narrator, which should have been done a different way because it was awkward.)

Film Editing
Should win: Gravity
Will win: Gravity

Foreign Language 
Should win: The Missing Picture - although hard to suss out a comparison between a documentary film with this one's weight and importance versus other films made entirely from screenplays.
Will win: I have no idea.  I've been doing a lot of reading on this one, and a favorite seems to be The Great Beauty, which won the Golden Globe (though the GG winner for foreign language and the Oscar winner are often not the same).  I hated The Great Beauty and I thought it was pretentious, but who knows.

Makeup and Hairstyling
Should win: None of them or The Hunger Games (not nominated).  Ok, the best of the lot was Dallas Buyers Club.
Will win: I think Dallas Buyers Club will take it.  It's true that Bad Grandpa had to convince people in real life that they were talking to a 70 year old man, but I can't live in a world where this piece of you-know-what wins an Oscar.

Original Score
Should win: Gravity or Saving Mr. Banks.
Will win: Gravity - it was practically the only other sound in the film, and it was done superbly.

Original Song
Should win: This is a tough category for me!  Who can resist the toe tapper "Happy" from Despicable Me 2, or the powerful "Ordinary Love" from Mandela (disappointingly the only nominee from this film)?  But Frozen it shall be.  You can't have 2 bajillion youtube video imitators and not win the big one.  I hope for the other songs that being left out in the cold doesn't bother them anyway.
Will win: Let It Go - and let's hope Idina Menzel gets to sing it again after the win.

Production Design
Should win: The Great Gatsby - there is nothing that can touch it.  True Baz Luhrmann spectacle through and through.
Will win: The Great Gatsby - Production Designers tend to go for what's deserving and not just what has buzz.

Live Action Short
Should win: Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me) - it was a powerful film about child soldiers and in a category filled with excellent choices, this was the best, in my opinion.
Will win: The Voorman Problem - the Academy never goes for the African child soldiers films, no matter how excellent they are.  In this category, they've been picking the funny, English language shorts, and this one has legit stars to boot.  But what a miss, if they do.

Sound Editing
Should win: Gravity
Will win: Gravity

Sound Mixing
Should win: Gravity.  My personal favorite of the mix (though they were really all deserving in this category) was Inside Llewyn Davis, but Gravity really did an amazing job.
Will win: I think Gravity is going to sweep these more technical awards.

Visual Effects
Should win: Gravity - come on.
Will win: Gravity

Have fun tonight!  I'll probably be live tweeting @JodiBee, so feel free to follow my reactions, which I will summarize in tomorrow's blog!

THE GRANDMASTER - 2 nominations

THE GRANDMASTER

Cinematography - Philippe Le Sourd
Costume Design - William Chang Suk Ping

The Grandmaster is about the life of Ip Man, the grandmaster of Kung Fu who became legendary for having been the martial arts teacher of movie legend, Bruce Lee.  He begins as a young apprentice of the Gong Family school, and we follow his journey, along with the journey of Gong's talented daughter.  There are many rivals and betrayals, and all of this leads to many fights, including avenging Gong's death, one student capitulating with the Japanese during the war, and the various roles that disciples of the original school followed, some honorable, some not.

But the story is almost irrelevant in the film, because of how beautiful the Cinematography is.  From the opening scene, you can tell that this is no ordinary Kung Fu movie, and each shot is a feast for the eyes.  When you add in the amazing costumes which not only reflect China's history over time (read: period pieces!) but also support the narrative of the film in innovative ways, it's easy to see how the movie got the Academy's attention.  These two elements combine to take a genre that normally has no appeal for me and transform it into a piece of art from which I couldn't look away.  I'm not sure that seeing the film is imperative for those who aren't lovers of the martial arts genre, but those who do see it will inevitably spot how special it is compared to its counterparts.

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

ERNEST AND CELESTINE - 1 nomination

ERNEST AND CELESTINE

Animated Feature Film - Benjamin Renner and Didier Brunner

Ernest and Celestine, on its face, is about the unlikely friendship between a bear named Ernest and a sweet little mouse named Celestine.  They find that they need to help each other along the way - him, in his quest for food and shelter and her in her quest to become a dentist.  But, their respective mouse and bear communities have fears and prejudices about the other that are seemingly impenetrable.  Ernest and Celestine commit theft together, and they escape to Ernest's home in the woods.  When they are caught (she by the bears and he by the mice), they discover that each community is more invested in their prejudices than in seeing them as individuals.

On its face, Ernest and Celestine is just a super adorable animated film.  But when you take time to look at the underlying point of the story, it takes on a level of importance that I wouldn't have expected before I saw it.  I have talked in other blogs about how this Oscars journey where I see every nominated film uncovers a hidden gem that I would never have seen without this process.  Ernest and Celestine IS that gem, and I can't believe it took until the second to last film on the list for me to find it.

I loved this film, and I'm pleased to share that it will be coming out again soon, dubbed totally in English by a cast of powerhouse American actors, so it will get more attention.  However, I highly recommend seeing it in its original French before you see the English version.  I promise you'll be glad you did!

Haven't seen the film?
Watch the Ernest and Celestine Movie Trailer

THE GREAT BEAUTY - 1 nomination

THE GREAT BEAUTY

Foreign Language Film - Italy

Did you ever sit through 2 hours of a movie and wonder what the heck just happened in the story you just watched?  I have, it was called The Great Beauty.  It took over an hour for me to even figure out the plot.

The basic premise is that an aging writer in Rome looks back on his life and wonders if it was a series of opportunities wasted, how he missed out on the great love and beauty of his life, why he never wrote a second novel after much acclaim for the first, and if his decadent lifestyle has any meaning.  Scenes are set against the backdrop of avant garde performance art pieces, which seem to question life and its absurdity.  There are also heavy religious symbols, including a Mother Theresa-esque character, who is presumably there to provide a juxtaposition between crazy excess and over the top self-deprivation.

I know some people love these kinds of "arty" movies (The Great Beauty won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film), but I find them gratuitous, overly complex, and mostly exhausting.  I find no evidence that absurdity is a higher form of intellect, and The Great Beauty only seemed pretentious in its circus atmosphere.  You have to work way too hard to get the point.

However, I do have to give a shout out to the spectacular costumes and the absolutely beautiful soundtrack.  The production design was also wonderful and captivating, and with Rome for a backdrop, the setting was gorgeous.  Better than seeing the film, go to Rome, listen to some beautiful music, and go shopping on the Piazza Navona - it will have been time much better spent.

Haven't seen the film?
Watch The Great Beauty Movie Trailer

OMAR - 1 nomination

OMAR

Foreign Language Film - Reported by the Academy as the submission from "Palestine"

Omar tells the story of a young member of a terrorist group living in the West Bank who, with his two friends Tarik and Amjad, go in the middle of the night to a base for the Israeli Defense Forces and shoot and kill a soldier from their concealed spot in the woods.  Omar is caught by the IDF and while imprisoned, is tricked into implicating himself for being an accomplice to the crime.  Meanwhile, he is in love with Nadia, Tarik's sister, and he dreams of marrying her and starting a life together, so he agrees to act as a double agent for the army as they try to round up Tarik, who is the head of the terrorist group in order to gain his release from prison.  He remains loyal to the group and immediately reveals what the army wants him to do, but the group figures out that there is indeed an informant in the mix.  He also discovers that he has a rival for Nadia's affections in Amjad, who would equally do anything to win her, and to get Tarik's approval for marriage.

I am incredulous at this film's nomination, first and foremost because of the major holes in the story.  Before I even address the propaganda in the film, it is impossible to miss that there are so many big, implausible, illogical plot points for which we are asked to suspend disbelief that it is difficult to understand how this became an Oscar nominee.  It is just a cartoon of a film in which all Israelis are the caricature equivalents of Dastardly Dan tying the innocent damsel to the train tracks, and all Palestinians are simple people trying to live their lives in peace, even when they are planning murders of IDF soldiers.  We are asked to disregard the fact that Omar, himself, volunteers to act as sniper without a single thought when Amjad, the shooter, is agonizing about pulling the trigger.  We are asked to applaud Omar that he never betrays his cause and will set up an ambush to murder the extraction team who wants to arrest the leader of the terrorist group (Tarik) who orders the times and places of murders of Israelis.  

The movie hopes that we will miss the fact that when Omar is imprisoned, that he is provided a lawyer for free, that the Israelis acknowledge that they need evidence to charge and hold him, and that let's face it, were the situation reversed, there would be no justice system for captured Israelis, merely executions.  And, the biggest problem of all, we are asked to draw a moral equivalence between being used as an operative for the Israeli army in order to capture known terrorist leaders and murdering a person in the dead of night.  This is too big of a leap for me to make, and in the end, all I had for this film was stunned and angry silence.  Let's hope that smart people are not so easily manipulated.

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

THE MISSING PICTURE - 1 nomination

THE MISSING PICTURE

Foreign Language Film - Cambodia

The Missing Picture documents the reign of the Khmer Rouge, and the atrocities committed by them under their ruthless dictator, Pol Pot.  The systematic murder of intellectuals followed by the "re-education" of the Cambodian people is carefully and methodically portrayed through the use of hand created clay figurines, with a background of bits of video footage from the time.  Most photo and video evidence has been destroyed, including individuals' own histories, since they were required to release any personal items from the moment that the Khmer Rouge rounded the people up and sent them to labor camps.

The film is an astounding accomplishment both in storytelling and in the incredible feat of staging hundreds (thousands?) of clay figurines in the settings.  They are truly magnificent and that accomplishment alone makes the film mind boggling.  The story of the violence and brutality is told through the eyes of one survivor, his journey, and his family, and it is impossible to shake off once the film is completed.

When one is able to connect with clay figurines as representations of people, you know there is a powerful story there.  It is not easy to sit through if you have even the slightest sense of humanity, but it is likely the most important of the foreign films nominated this year.  The question for the Academy voters is likely to be what prevented The Missing Picture from making the top 5 list of the full length documentary nominees, as it easily competes with this year's crop.  However, what a relief to know that this film will get recognition and attention through the foreign film category, at least.  It will be interesting to observe how a documentary competes with original screenplays written to be entertainment, rather than the review of real life events.

Either way, The Missing Picture is an outstanding and moving film - one that is truly not to be missed.

Haven't seen the film?
Watch The Missing Picture Movie Trailer