CJ and Dani preview the coming Oscars.
Tag: oscar nominations
Oscar Nominations 2019 / 2020 Immediate Thoughts
Here are the Oscar nominations with some of my immediate thoughts below each nomination. Overall, this could tilt a lot Quentin’s way (which I’d be very happy with), a lot Bong’s way (which would be deserved, and a win for World Cinema) or 1917 could come along and hijack things like GREEN BOOK did…
Performance by an actor in a leading role nominees:
Antonio Banderas in PAIN AND GLORY
Leonardo DiCaprio in ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Adam Driver in MARRIAGE STORY
Joaquin Phoenix in JOKER
Jonathan Pryce in THE TWO POPES
Nice to see Antonio in there; total bummer Adam Sandler isn’t in there for UNCUT GEMS; race is between Joaquin and Adam Driver.
Performance by an actor in a supporting role nominees:
Tom Hanks in A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Anthony Hopkins in THE TWO POPES
Al Pacino in THE IRISHMAN
Joe Pesci in THE IRISHMAN
Brad Pitt in ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
This is Brad’s all the way.
Performance by an actress in a leading role nominees:
Cynthia Erivo in HARRIET
Scarlett Johansson in MARRIAGE STORY
Saoirse Ronan in LITTLE WOMEN
Charlize Theron in BOMBSHELL
Renée Zellweger in JUDY
I’m still assuming Renée takes it.
Performance by an actress in a supporting role nominees:
Kathy Bates in RICHARD JEWELL
Laura Dern in MARRIAGE STORY
Scarlett Johansson in JOJO RABBIT
Florence Pugh in LITTLE WOMEN
Margot Robbie in BOMBSHELL
This is definitely going to Laura Dern.
Best animated feature film of the year nominees:
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD
Dean DeBlois, Bradford Lewis and Bonnie Arnold
I LOST MY BODY
Jérémy Clapin and Marc du Pontavice
KLAUS
Sergio Pablos, Jinko Gotoh and Marisa Román
MISSING LINK
Chris Butler, Arianne Sutner and Travis Knight
TOY STORY 4
Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera
Let’s take a swing and say it’s going to I LOST MY BODY, since FROZEN 2 isn’t even nominated. Of course, MISSING LINK won the Globe (weirdly).
Achievement in cinematography nominees:
THE IRISHMAN
Rodrigo Prieto
JOKER
Lawrence Sher
THE LIGHTHOUSE
Jarin Blaschke
1917
Roger Deakins
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Robert Richardson
This is going to Roger Deakins. The best thing about 1917 – the only thing, really – is the cinematography.
Achievement in costume design nominees:
THE IRISHMAN
Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson
JOJO RABBIT
Mayes C. Rubeo
JOKER
Mark Bridges
LITTLE WOMEN
Jacqueline Durran
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Arianne Phillips
Wide open. Could be a sneaky win for JOJO?
Achievement in directing nominees:
THE IRISHMAN
Martin Scorsese
JOKER
Todd Phillips
1917
Sam Mendes
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Quentin Tarantino
PARASITE
Bong Joon Ho
Quentin or Bong.
Best documentary feature nominees:
AMERICAN FACTORY
Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert and Jeff Reichert
THE CAVE
Feras Fayyad, Kirstine Barfod and Sigrid Dyekjær
THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY
Petra Costa, Joanna Natasegara, Shane Boris and Tiago Pavan
FOR SAMA
Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts
HONEYLAND
Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska and Atanas Georgiev
It should go to FOR SAMA or THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY but could go to AMERICAN FACTORY.
Best documentary short subject nominees:
IN THE ABSENCE
Yi Seung-Jun and Gary Byung-Seok Kam
LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU’RE A GIRL)
Carol Dysinger and Elena Andreicheva
LIFE OVERTAKES ME
John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson
ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN
Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan
WALK RUN CHA-CHA
Laura Nix and Colette Sandstedt
Haven’t seen ‘em.
Achievement in film editing nominees:
FORD V FERRARI
Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland
THE IRISHMAN
Thelma Schoonmaker
JOJO RABBIT
Tom Eagles
JOKER
Jeff Groth
PARASITE
Yang Jinmo
PARASITE? JOKER? Hard to say. THE IRISHMAN? Can a three and a half hour picture win Best Editing? It’s nuts and sad that ONCE UPON A TIME isn’t in here. They’ll probably give it to the cars (FORD V FERRARI).
Best international feature film of the year nominees:
CORPUS CHRISTI
Poland
Directed by Jan Komasa
HONEYLAND
North Macedonia
Directed by Ljubo Stefanov and Tamara Kotevksa
LES MISÉRABLES
France
Directed by Ladj Ly
PAIN AND GLORY
Spain
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
PARASITE
South Korea
Directed by Bong Joon Ho
PARASITE, obviously. This is ROMA all over again, except maybe, just maybe, this year PARASITE also takes Best Picture…
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling nominees:
BOMBSHELL
Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker
JOKER
Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou
JUDY
Jeremy Woodhead
MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL
Paul Gooch, Arjen Tuiten and David White
1917
Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis and Rebecca Cole
What is 1917 doing in there? Anyway, it has to be BOMBSHELL, right? But maybe JOKER.
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) nominees:
JOKER
Hildur Guðnadóttir
LITTLE WOMEN
Alexandre Desplat
MARRIAGE STORY
Randy Newman
1917
Thomas Newman
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
John Williams
This is going to the world’s coolest Icelander, Hildur Guðnadóttir, for JOKER.
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) nominees:
“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from TOY STORY 4
Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from ROCKETMAN
Music by Elton John
Lyric by Bernie Taupin
“I’m Standing With You” from BREAKTHROUGH
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Into The Unknown” from FROZEN II
Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
“Stand Up” from HARRIET
Music and Lyric by Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo
They’re gonna give it to Elton and Bernie because they’re ELTON AND BERNIE.
Best motion picture of the year nominees:
FORD V FERRARI
Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and James Mangold, Producers
THE IRISHMAN
Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Producers
JOJO RABBIT
Carthew Neal and Taika Waititi, Producers
JOKER
Todd Phillips, Bradley Cooper and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Producers
LITTLE WOMEN
Amy Pascal, Producer
MARRIAGE STORY
Noah Baumbach and David Heyman, Producers
1917
Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Jayne-Ann Tenggren and Callum McDougall, Producers
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh and Quentin Tarantino, Producers
PARASITE
Kwak Sin Ae and Bong Joon Ho, Producers
ONCE UPON A TIME or PARASITE. I’m happy with either but as a lifelong Quentin devotee I would love him to win this. It’s his ‘personal’ film, it’s the one that everyone can enjoy, I’ve come to understand why the violence at the end is as it is… this film is brilliant and worthy and I’d love it to win.
I do believe PARASITE has a shot because of the preferential ballot. I suspect PARASITE will be up there among the 1s and 2s on a lot of voting forms while Quentin, who does have some detractors, may be down the list on some, and the preferential ballot favours generally loved films over polarising ones.
UNCUT GEMS should have been here, certainly instead of FORD V FERRARI and JOJO RABBIT and 1917 (but the latter could have a weird sweep, which would be a crying shame, because it’s empty spectacle).
If 1917 takes it, that’s “a GREEN BOOK” as far as I’m concerned.
Achievement in production design nominees:
THE IRISHMAN
Production Design: Bob Shaw
Set Decoration: Regina Graves
JOJO RABBIT
Production Design: Ra Vincent
Set Decoration: Nora Sopková
1917
Production Design: Dennis Gassner
Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Production Design: Barbara Ling
Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
PARASITE
Production Design: Lee Ha Jun
Set Decoration: Cho Won Woo
Wow. Great category. 1917, ONCE UPON A TIME, PARASITE, THE IRISHMAN… all contenders.
Best animated short film nominees:
DCERA (DAUGHTER)
Daria Kashcheeva
HAIR LOVE
Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver
KITBULL
Rosana Sullivan and Kathryn Hendrickson
MEMORABLE
Bruno Collet and Jean-François Le Corre
SISTER
Siqi Song
Haven’t seen ‘em.
Best live action short film nominees:
BROTHERHOOD
Meryam Joobeur and Maria Gracia Turgeon
NEFTA FOOTBALL CLUB
Yves Piat and Damien Megherbi
THE NEIGHBORS’ WINDOW
Marshall Curry
SARIA
Bryan Buckley and Matt Lefebvre
A SISTER
Delphine Girard
Haven’t seen ‘em.
Achievement in sound editing nominees:
FORD V FERRARI
Donald Sylvester
JOKER
Alan Robert Murray
1917
Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Wylie Stateman
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
Matthew Wood and David Acord
FORD V FERRARI, right? The cars, right?
Achievement in sound mixing nominees:
AD ASTRA
Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano
FORD V FERRARI
Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A. Morrow
JOKER
Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic and Tod Maitland
1917
Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler and Mark Ulano
1917, right? Because it’s “immersive”?
Achievement in visual effects nominees:
AVENGERS: ENDGAME
Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken and Dan Sudick
THE IRISHMAN
Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser and Stephane Grabli
THE LION KING
Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman
1917
Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy
If they give this to THE IRISHMAN – for the “de-aging” – that’ll be a laugh. It kind of has to go to THE LION KING, right? But maybe they give it to Marvel (AVENGERS: ENDGAME).
THE IRISHMAN
Screenplay by Steven Zaillian
JOJO RABBIT
Screenplay by Taika Waititi
JOKER
Written by Todd Phillips & Scott Silver
LITTLE WOMEN
Written for the screen by Greta Gerwig
THE TWO POPES
Written by Anthony McCarten
If they give this to JOJO it’ll be a shame, but they might, because it’s got a lot of nominations. It really should go to Steven Zaillian (IRISHMAN) or Greta Gerwig (LITTLE WOMEN).
KNIVES OUT
Written by Rian Johnson
MARRIAGE STORY
Written by Noah Baumbach
1917
Written by Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Written by Quentin Tarantino
PARASITE
Screenplay by Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won
Story by Bong Joon Ho
This is Quentin’s.
Feel free to comment.
CJ
Cold War
* * * *
A grand romantic drama, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War won the Best Director award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and it’s easy to see why. There are many movies to get through at Cannes, and Pawlikowski’s superbly crafted film clocks in at only eighty-eight minutes, covering fifteen years and four nations. It’s a lot of movie, and represents tremendous value if your time is tight.
Should you be lucky enough to have oodles of time up your sleeve, Cold War’s brevity might count against it. It’s so good, and so engaging, that you feel a little cheated when it ends. It’s the kind of sweeping European love story that in the past has sustained epic cinema, and Pawlikowski’s decisions to keep it so tight – he also constrains the image, shooting in the boxy “Academy Ratio” and in black and white – seem like a defiant, almost petulant, flight of fancy. Obviously not a cheap production, Pawlikowski seems determined to not put all the money on the screen.
But that’s his aesthetic, and we should be grateful for it. Anyone can shoot a movie in black and white, or in Academy Ratio, but not everyone will do so with such purpose and rigor. He restrained himself similarly with his last film, Ida (2014), and the two films complement each other in other ways. They’re both concerned with post-war Europe, with devotion, with sacrifice, and, here especially, with love. Ida was austere, whereas Cold War is lush and highly populated, but the sharp contrast of the black and white cinematography – Lukasz Zal shot both films – keep the vibe forever wintry, the mood ever melancholy, like a meal for one in a quiet Paris bistro at twilight on Christmas Eve.
Cold War’s love story, of two musicians destined to continually be drawn together and pulled apart by the Iron Curtain and their own internal conflicts, is such a good one – such a blatantly effective story – that it verges on the preposterous. It’s not. It’s based on Pawlikowski’s own parents, and that tips it over into the miraculous. One of the films of the year.
Oscars 2018 Preview and Predictions!
CJ and Jim go through most of the categories. We have ideas, opinions and predictions. We make a financial bet over Best Original Screenplay. And at the end, we apply the Preferential Ballot System of voting to our own ballots and come up with a BOLD PREDICTION FOR BEST PICTURE! Your comments welcome and appreciated. Happy Oscars 2018!
Molly’s Game
Lady Bird
Lady Bird
* * * *
It’s been terrific to watch, and be surprised by, Greta Gerwig’s evolution as a film artist. Having missed her entire early career as the leading lady of the mumblecore movement from 2006 to 2011, I finally became aware of her goofy charms in Greenberg (2010). For a while, I frankly thought she was a one-trick pony, her voice and physicality being so distinctive and consistent across the next few of her films that she seemed destined to play variations of herself. But then her craft seemed to expand, and in roles like Abbie in 20th Century Women (2016) she revealed greater depth of characterization. Indeed, in a film full of great actresses, for me she stole that show.
Meanwhile, her writing developed alongside. She co-wrote the lovely, humble Frances Ha (2012) with her paramour Noah Baumbach, and then did so again, more ecstatically, with the razor-sharp, truly witty Mistress America (2015). Now, she journeys solo as a writer, and directs, with the sublime Lady Bird, and in doing so gives us her origin story.
The film is billed as “semi-autobiographical,” but it’s so full of precise – and off-beat – observations that I’m taking it as pretty close to her real life. In fact, it’s so personal that the final lines of the film feel like they’re intended for an audience of one (while not actually excluding the rest of us, no mean feat). It covers the final year in the Catholic High School career of Gerwig’s surrogate, Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan, Oscar-nominated), taking in her relationships with boys, her best friend, her teachers (including the nuns), her family and, most vitally, her mother (Laurie Metcalf, nominated in the Supporting category).
The script is fantastic – smart, witty, revealing, precise, and concise. Gerwig and Baumbach pulled off something tricky with the script of Mistress America, constructing the third act as one continuous set-piece in the vein of a theatrical farce, but Gerwig goes in the opposite direction here, keeping every scene surprisingly brief. Blink and you’ll miss one; go for a wee and you’ll miss three. Thankfully you shouldn’t have to; in keeping with the speedy vibe, the whole shebang is over in 94 minutes.
I could have watched it for days. Ronan is staggeringly charming and appealing, even when Lady Bird is not. There is absolutely an element of Gerwig in her performance, specifically in her physical mannerisms, a kind of shaking of the lower face that was a hallmark of Gerwig’s, at least from 2010 to 2015. Metcalf is solid and real, and there is an exciting find in Beanie Feldstein as Lady Bird’s bestie Julie. Her character has an entire, intriguing arc, not all of which we’re privy to; Gerwig leaves its darker elements off-screen, as though Lady Bird / Gerwig didn’t hear the whole story until after this story ended.
My experience of the film was light, delightful, airy and droll, but I think that the closer you yourself are to Lady Bird the more the film’s heavier, darker notes will resonate. If you’re a young woman with a mother and a Catholic School education, you’ve almost certainly found, in this beautiful film, your Catcher In The Rye, your Rushmore, your Sixteen Candles, your Juno, your origin story.
Mustang
***1/2
At this year’s Academy Awards, the race for Best Foreign Language film came down to two horses: Mustang (which neatly fits the metaphor, yeah?) and Son of Saul. It’s completely understandable that the latter won: it’s a rather revolutionary work, which justified re-visiting the holocaust by its bold technique and astonishing integrity. Mustang is not revolutionary, it’s just a very solid and well-constructed film that is eye-opening without being heavy-handed.
Five sisters go to the beach after their final class for the semester. There they play in the water with some boys. It is a sequence of pure beauty and delight: young people enjoying a classic vibe. School’s out, and they are free.
But there’s the rub – because they’re in a Black Sea town in Turkey, not Sydney or Santa Monica, and a local old lady, watching from afar, doesn’t like what she sees. The sisters are orphans, living with their progressive or at least easy-going grandmother, and when the nosy old biddy dobs them in to their uncle, he takes it upon himself to tighten the reins. These beautiful free, somewhat wild horses are going to be broken.
The magic trick of Mustang is that it’s a scathing indictment of traditional patriarchal control in modern Turkey without being at all heavy handed. You’re in for the story and the message comes free. I had no idea this stuff went on in contemporary Turkey; that exposes some ignorance on my part and made the film all the more powerful.
The performances are all terrific but the girls are just sublime. The actresses – the youngest is thirteen – are astonishingly believable as sisters. In the opening, sunny, completely enticing early scenes, when the “mustang” is free, the way the girls move together, through the streets and open spaces of their town, is extraordinary. They flow like a single organism that contracts and expands, exchanging positions, following and leading, their energy seemingly binding them on invisible elastic cords, not so much like a school of fish as an amoeba.
Warren Ellis contributes a score made up of cello, flute and violin that suits the tone of the film perfectly, which is dreamy, soft and fluid, despite the imposing subject matter. It’s the debut feature for writer / director Deniz Gamze Ergüven, who made the film for just €1,300,000. We’ll be hearing more from her.
The Best Picture Nominees Rated
Now that I’ve seen all eight nominees for this year’s Best Picture, here’s my ranked list, from favorite to least favorite. Bear in mind, they’re all very good this year.
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Big Short
Room
Spotlight
Brooklyn
The Martian
Bridge of Spies
The Revenant
Your comments most welcome.
Quick Response to the Oscar Noms
An Instant Response to the Oscar Nominations: (NB not having yet seen THE REVENANT)
BEST PICTURE:
All good nominees. FURY ROAD should win. ROOM and BROOKLYN are the great surprises. I would easily give the award to ROOM in a year FURY ROAD didn’t exist. But these are all very, very good films. Will win? FURY ROAD or THE REVENANT. Weird omission: CAROL.
BEST DIRECTOR:
Should win and will win: George Miller. Come on.
ACTOR LEAD:
It’s shocking Paul Dano isn’t here for LOVE AND MERCY. It feels like it’s gonna go to Leo.
ACTRESS LEAD:
I’d now say it’s definitely Brie Larson for ROOM – should and will.
ACTOR SUPPORT:
Again, this should be Paul Dano. I guess it will go to Mark Ruffalo. Maybe Sylvester Stallone.
ACTRESS SUPPORT:
Jennifer Jason Leigh. Done.
ANIMATED FEATURE:
INSIDE OUT or ANOMALISA? I wouldn’t lay a dollar here.
CINEMATOGRAPHY:
C’mon. CAROL.
COSTUME DESIGN:
C’mon. Jenny Beavan, FURY ROAD.
DOC FEATURE:
Not everyone loves AMY. How about THE LOOK OF SILENCE?
EDITING:
C’mon: Margaret Sixel, FURY ROAD.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FEATURE:
SON OF SAUL, natch.
HAIR AND MAKE UP:
C’mon, Lesley Vanderwalt, FURY ROAD. But possibly THE REVENANT.
PRODUCTION DESIGN:
Obviously Colin Gibson, FURY ROAD
SOUND MIXING, VFX, SOUND FXL:
FURY ROAD
WRITING (ADAPTED):
The hardest of all – is it CAROL or THE BIG SHORT? I think it will be CAROL.
WRITING (ORIGINAL):
It’ll be SPOTLIGHT or INSIDE OUT.
LAST LOOKS, FINAL CHECKS: POTENTIAL OSCAR UPSETS
Well, tomorrow they’re not gonna matter more than a hill o’beans except to the winners, but it’s Oscar Day, so some final thoughts are due.
Every year, the punditry (of which I am part) gets noisier, more crowded, but also – I guess because of the first two – more accurate. The Oscars are losing their surprising quality. When I was a kid, I could cross my fingers ‘till they ached hoping that Raiders of the Lost Ark was going to win Best Picture; these days, by the time I’ve read the blogs, heard the radio spots, and checked the bookie’s odds, I know what is likely to pan out (and it wasn’t going to be Raiders). I have put my money where my mouth is before (by laying bets), and I’ve won. I decided to stop doing that because it took a little of the fun out of it for me.
But there are still, always, thankfully, some surprises. So here are a few concepts of what might happen. In other words, some possible upsets.
GRAVITY WINS BEST PICTURE
The money’s all on 12 Years a Slave to take the Producer’s prize at the end of the night, and Alfonso Cuarón is as much of a lock as has ever been for Best Director. But everyone I speak to says something along the lines of, “Look, I loved 12 Years A Slave, but for me, the best picture of the year was Gravity.” Some of these people vote. A lot of the voters, I suspect, feel this way. All those sneaky votes for Gravity may just end up in… a win for Gravity.
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO WINS BEST ACTOR
All the money’s on Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club, he deserves it, he’s won all the others, and he’ll almost certainly win it. But DiCaprio has been campaigning like no-one has ever campaigned before, particularly “behind closed doors” – ie, through his Top of the World contacts and status in Hollywood. He wants this award more than anyone in this race wants an award. He bought the rights to Wolf of Wall Street, he went through all sorts of financing hell to get it made (over seven or so years) and it’s become an astronomical financial success and a huge favourite with audiences despite lacklustre reviews. Leo’s the Last Man Standing in Hollywood, the only performer left who can open a picture, guaranteed (Will Smith having fallen to the mat with After Earth, big time). If Leo has said to enough people, on closed lines and in private rooms, “vote for me this one time, and I owe you one”… then, in a huge upset, he may just, bizarrely, win an Oscar tonight.
SANDRA BULLOCK WINS BEST ACTRESS
Even more unlikely, Bullock leapfrogs Amy Adams to then push Cate Blanchett off the podium to take home that weirdest of concepts: an acting gong for Gravity. She hasn’t won anything leading up to the Oscars and Blanchett has had her face stamped with “Oscar Winner” since Blue Jasmine hit the screens months ago. But Gravity only works if the (essentially only) character works, she owned it, and by now everyone knows what a new-fangled method of performance was involved to actually play the role, stitched up like a cyborg in all sorts of contraptions all day, being hurled around and imagining… everything. It’s old-school versus new school, Blanchett essentially giving a performance that smacks of theatre training. If Bullock hadn’t won for The Blind Side a couple years back, I’d consider her a lock. But she did, kind of unfortunately.
THE WIND RISES WINS BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Every bookie in the world would shoot themselves if this happened, as Frozen is already considered The Greatest Animated Film Ever, a true cultural phenomenon, the saviour of all the teenage (and younger) girls in the world; it’s already been green-lit as a Broadway musical, a “Sing-A-Long” version is already playing in theatres, and the DVD will probably outsell the light bulb. But Hayao Miyazaki has stated that The Wind Rises will be his last feature film, it’s made for adults, it quietly takes the concept of animated feature films into new areas, and Hayao Miyazaki has stated it’s his last film. If Picasso was offering his last painting against a still-productive Warhol’s Soup Cans, which would you vote for? It’s that kind of choice.
20 FEET FROM STARDOM WINS BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
If this slight, feel-good peek at what is undoubtedly a fun and deserving subject wins over the ground-breaking, bold, challenging and completely original brain-f**k The Act of Killing, it may come as no surprise to anyone who prefers slight, feel-good movies about celebrity to bold, challenging mind-f**ks about mass political slaughter.
HER WINS ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
There’s a lot of love for Spike Jonze’s Her, but not a lot of room to give it any awards. Here’s a spot; it would take a statue away from David O. Russell for American Hustle (isn’t that fun to say?) but in the last couple of weeks, not everyone is saying they liked that script nearly as much as the performances it inspired.
ANYONE WINS BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Dallas Buyers Club reportedly had a hair and makeup budget of $250, which was used to make sure that McConaughey and Jared Leto were always at the right stage of their HIV+ effects. This was really tricky, as the film had an independent film’s shooting schedule – that is, short and out of sequence. Although the actors lost weight, their characters still had to be leaner, and “sicker”, some days more than others. It’s really subtle work, the kind that doesn’t normally even get nominated here (see The Wolfman for the kind of film that wins the Oscar). Bad Grandpa’s makeup is astonishing, and really should win, as the whole film is predicated on that makeup being so good as to fool “civilians” (while they’re surreptitiously filmed) into believing Johnny Knoxville is 86. The thing going against it is that it’s a prank movie called Bad Grandpa. And The Lone Ranger just seems to be here as some sick joke. What’s missing is American Hustle, which used hair and makeup as an essential metaphor for its themes of artifice, illusion and trickery.