My Oscars Reactions (17/24)

¨And the Oscar for Best Picture goes to Argo¨

Last night the 85^th Academy Awards were celebrated in a big way. Hollywood´s top actors made their way through the red carpet with a lot of glamour. I´m not a fashion expert so I won´t comment on who was wearing what, but I can say that everyone looked beautiful. The ceremony began with a monologue from first time host Seth MacFarlane who got some laughs out of the audience with his song ¨We saw your boobs¨ and with a sock puppet version of Flight while he was interrupted by Captain Kirk (William Shattner) who came from the future to warn him about his terrible hosting gig. He showed us some glimpses of what went wrong and MacFarlane tried to make amends by following Captain Kirk´s advice. The jokes were funny although not that irreverent as the Family Guy and Ted director has us used to. I still enjoyed his opening and I think he did a decent job hosting the Oscars, which once again ran about three and a half hours long. I know many people complain about the length of the ceremony, but I really enjoy this once a year event and loved every minute of it.

Despite opening with a surprise win for Christoph Waltz for best supporting actor, the Oscar were pretty predictable and the heavy favorites won. I loved Waltz´s performance, and he was my favorite in that category but I didn’t think the Academy would give him his second Oscar in three years. I was wrong, and I was happy about that. I was 17 for 24 in my predictions, but I knew some of the categories were going to be close races between one or two picks. So close in fact, that in one category we had a tie which hadn’t happened since the 1960´s. Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall shared the Oscar for Sound Editing. The biggest surprise of the night was Ang Lee´s victory over Steven Spielberg in the best director category. Life of Pi was one of my favorite movies of the year so I was very pleased once again with the Academy´s decision. The other categories I didn’t predict were both writing categories which did go to the favorites: Argo (adapted screenplay) and Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino). I loved Tarantino´s acceptance speech and this was his second win after Pulp Fiction. It was a long awaited win, but he finally got his moment. Brave beat Frankenweenie in the Best Animated category (a film I really didn’t like too much), Lincoln beat Anna Karenina in the Production Design category, and Inocente beat my pick Open Heart as the best short documentary. Those were my only misses; everything else went on as predicted.

Argo finally won for Best Picture and Ben Affleck got his redemption for not being included in the best director category since he was one of the producers of the film along with George Clooney. He gave one of the best speeches of the night and reminded the audience of how young he was when he won his first Oscar for writing Good Will Hunting. He never thought he would be back, but he made it and has proved to be one of the best directors of this last decade. Daniel Day Lewis won the Oscar for his portrayal of Lincoln and also gave a gracious speech. He is the only actor to have won 3 Oscars in a leading role. He made a joke about Meryl Streep who presented the award to him and his acceptance speech felt natural and authentic. Jennifer Lawrence was also a big winner as she won for her role in Silver Linings Playbook. She tripped while climbing up the stairs and also made fun of herself while accepting the award. She was gracious enough to congratulate Emmanuelle Riva on her 86^th birthday and was very classy. Anne Hathaway won for her performance in Les Miserables in the supporting role. Amour received love in the Foreign Language film category, and Searching for Sugar Man won best documentary (one of my favorite moments of the night because I really loved that doc). Adele was also a big winner for her song Skyfall which she got to perform live on the show. There was also a tribute for the 50 years of the James Bond franchise, and a tribute to musicals as well as we saw some of the cast from Chicago, Dreamgirls, and Les Miserables perform.

The awards were pretty much scattered throughout as there wasn’t one movie to take home a lot of awards as it usually happens. This is because there were a lot of strong contenders this year. Life of Pi was the big winner of the night as it took home 4 Oscars (Director, Visual Effects, Cinematography, and Original Score), Argo 3 (Picture, Adapted Screenplay, and Editing), and Les Miserables also took home 3 Oscars (Actress in a Secondary Role, Sound Mixing, and Makeup) and Lincoln only managed to win 2 (Lead Actor and Production Design) out of the 12 nominations it had. Django Unchained won two as well (Original Script and Best Supporting Actor). Zero Dark Thirty and Silver Linings Playbook each took home one Oscar, so the only Best Picture nominee to leave empty handed was Beasts of the Southern Wild, but that small independent film was a winner simply by being nominated.

It was pretty much an even race, but Argo won the biggest prize of the night in a ceremony which I really enjoyed. I thought it was one of the best in recent memory. I don’t know why people watch the Oscars if they always complain about how bad and long it is; I watch them because I really enjoy them. My favorite moments were the big acceptance speeches from Ben Affleck, Daniel Day Lewis, Quentin Tarantino, Chris Terrio, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Lawrence, and Ang Lee. If you missed them then perhaps you might want to look them up in YouTube. I also loved the musical performance from Les Mis cast, from Adele, and from Barbra Streisand who sang during the touching memorium tribute. We can´t leave out the most expected star of the show: Ted who entered with his co-star Mark Wahlberg and made some funny remarks. I thought the was a great show and hopefully next year I will improve my score, but for now satisfied with the overall picks. 

  

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My Oscars Predictions

¨And the Oscar goes to…¨

I finally finished watching all the Oscar nominated films and therefore feel ready to make my predictions about how things might turn out on February 24^th although I expect the race to be very close this year considering the frontrunner for best picture, Argo, hasn’t received a best director nomination and that can hurt its chances. Lincoln can pick up the slack if Argo fails to deliver with the Academy although Argo has been winning all the major awards up to now. I will make my prediction on the ¨Who I think will win¨ category, I will also add the possible upset in the ¨Who might surprise¨ category, and finally I will mention my favorite nominee in the ¨Who I would vote¨ category.

BEST PICTURE

-Who I think will win: Argo

-Who might surprise: Lincoln

-Who I would vote: Life of Pi or Beasts of the Southern Wild

BEST DIRECTOR

-Who I think will win: Steven Spielberg

-Who might surprise: Ang Lee

-Who I would vote: Ang Lee

BEST LEAD ACTOR

-Who I think will win: Daniel Day Lewis

-Who might surprise: Joaquin Phoenix

-Who I would vote: Joaquin Phoenix

BEST LEAD ACTRESS

-Who I think will win: Jennifer Lawrence

-Who might surprise: Jessica Chastain or Emmanuelle Riva

-Who I would vote: Jessica Chastain

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

-Who I think will win: Robert De Niro

-Who might surprise: Tommy Lee Jones

-Who I would vote: Christoph Waltz

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

-Who I think will win: Anne Hathaway

-Who might surprise: Sally Field

-Who I would vote: Anne Hathaway for The Dark Knight Rises

BEST ANIMATED FILM

-Who I think will win: Frankenweenie

-Who might surprise: Wreck it Ralph

-Who I would vote: Wreck it Ralph

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

-Who I think will win: Life of Pi

-Who might surprise: Skyfall

-Who I would vote: Life of Pi

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

-Who I think will win: Anna Karenina

-Who might surprise: Les Miserables

-Who I would vote: Anna Karenina

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM

-Who I think will win: Searching for Sugar Man

-Who might surprise: How to Survive a Plague

-Who I would vote: Searching for Sugar Man

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

-Who I think will win: Amour

-Who might surprise: A Royal Affair

-Who I would vote: A Royal Affair

BEST EDITING

-Who I think will win: Argo

-Who might surprise: Zero Dark Thirty

-Who I would vote: Zero Dark Thirty

  

BEST MAKEUP

-Who I think will win: Les Miserables

-Who might surprise: The Hobbit

-Who I would vote: Les Miserables

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

-Who I think will win: Life of Pi

-Who might surprise: Lincoln

-Who I would vote: Life of Pi

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

-Who I think will win: Skyfall

-Who might surprise: Pi´s Lullaby

-Who I would vote: Skyfall

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

-Who I think will win: Anna Karenina

-Who might surprise: Les Miserables

-Who I would vote: Life of Pi

BEST SOUND EDITING

-Who I think will win: Zero Dark Thirty

-Who might surprise: Argo

-Who I would vote: Zero Dark Thirty

BEST SOUND MIXING

-Who I think will win: Les Miserables

-Who might surprise: Life of Pi or Skyfall

-Who I would vote: Les Miserables

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

-Who I think will win: Life of Pi

-Who might surprise: The Hobbit

-Who I would vote: Life of Pi

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

-Who I think will win: Lincoln

-Who might surprise: Argo

-Who I would vote: Silver Linings Playbook

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

-Who I think will win: Zero Dark Thirty

-Who might surprise: Django Unchained or Amour

-Who I would vote: Django Unchained

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

-Who I think will win: Open Heart

BEST SHORT FILM LIVE ACTION

-Who I think will win: Curfew

BEST SHORT FILM ANIMATED

-Who I think will win: Paperman

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My Top 10 Films of 2012

2012 was an exciting year for movies with some highly expected films that didn’t disappoint me like The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, and Django Unchained. Then there were also plenty of surprising small independent films like Beasts of the Southern Wild, My Sister´s Sister, and Safety Not Guaranteed that blew me away. This year I will avoid my worst movie list because to be honest I stayed away from pretty much all those bad films, but I will add a few films that disappointed me despite receiving a lot of critical acclaim. Since most of the bigger films come out later in the year, I just got around watching most of them. The following were my favorite films of the year:

1. The Dark Knight Rises (10/10)

This was my favorite film of the year and the perfect ending for one of my favorite trilogies of all time. Christopher Nolan delivered a wonderful film and managed to live up to its predecessor. The Batman had to come back and he did in a powerful way. The film works more as a perfectly crafted thriller than an actual superhero movie. It was like a Shakespearean tragedy. This was the most fun I had at the movies all year.

2. Life of Pi (10/10)

Ang Lee delivered the most spectacular visuals that I´ve seen on screen in Life of Pi. It not only was gorgeous to look at, but it had a wonderful story about a boy, a tiger, and their struggle for survival. Ang Lee reminded me in this film about how hard it is to accept the fact that many times we don´t get the chance to say good bye to the ones we love. Movies can be such a magical and emotional experience; Life of Pi reminded me of it.

3. Beasts of the Southern Wild (10/10)

A million years from now, we are still going to remember Hushpuppy, the girl from the Bathtub. This is unlike any other movie I saw in 2012, and I felt as if I were reading a poem rather than watching a movie. The film also deals with the struggle for survival, but what really blew me away here was Quvenzhane Wallis´s performance. This 9 year old girl was absolutely amazing in a film that began making noise in the Cannes Festival. This was Benh Zeitlin´s first feature film, and an absolute triumph. The movie successfully mixes some surrealism with a tender story between a daughter and her father. I will keep an eye on Zeitlin in the future.

4. Django Unchained (9/10)

This may not be Quentin Tarantino´s best film, but it is a great one nonetheless. Tarantino is one of the best storytellers of our time and he manages to mix comedy with violence in a way many others fail. In this Spaghetti Western (actually Southern) Tarantino redefines a genre and surprises us with great action scenes, dialogues, and awesome performances. Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, and Samuel L Jackson were amazing in this film. Tarantino no longer has my curiosity, he has my complete attention. I never get tired of his films and have such an exciting time at the movies.

5. Silver Linings Playbook (9/10)

David O Russell does a wonderful job in this crazy romantic comedy thanks to some great performances from his ensemble cast. It´s so hard to make romantic comedies that work these days since there are so many clichés, but this film definitely stands out from the rest by doing something crazier: telling a love story between two mentally troubled adults. The script is quirky, but sharp, and it works really well. I was laughing so hard at this wonderful comedy and the chemistry between Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper was amazing. Russell gives a very sensitive direction here. This is crazy good.

6. People Like Us (9/10)

I´m probably the only person who has this film on my top 10 list considering it didn’t receive much love from the critics, but I really loved this film and found it to be the most emotional film of 2012. It also happens to be one of the best family dramas I´ve seen in a long time. It is one of those films that has you smiling in one scene and crying in the next one. Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks give terrific performances here, and this is one of those movies I saw early in the year that has continued to stick with me.

7. Bernie (9/10)

I never thought I would see Jack Black giving such a great performance as the one he gave in Bernie. He really deserved more love from the Academy this year because he gives the performance of his career. This film is so unbelievable that you just know it has to be true because it would be impossible for someone to make this sort of story up. Richard Linklater is a great director and he doesn’t disappoint in this film where he includes some documentary footage from the people who actually knew the real life Bernie. This was a wonderful and funny small film that many people haven’t even heard of but is worth seeing.

8. End of Watch (9/10)

This was such a great cop thriller and a wonderful homage to all policemen from director David Ayer (screenwriter of Training Day). Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña give great performances as partners fighting crime in this realistic thriller. Ayer knows his material and delivers a very authentic script. The film combines some great action scenes with a lot of laughs and dramatic moments. This is required viewing for cops everywhere and their families, because Ayer pays a beautiful homage to all the hard working honest cops out there.

9. Prometheus (9/10)

I couldn’t leave out one of the best science fiction films I´ve seen in a while. The visuals were incredible; there were very strong performances (especially from Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace), and the suspense was very intense. Ridley Scott did a wonderful job with this Alien prequel and despite all the criticism he has received I really loved this movie. There are plenty of scares and thrills in Prometheus and the tension is very well constructed. There is one scene involving Noomi Rapace undergoing a surgical procedure that will remain as one of the most shocking scenes of the year for me.

10. Your Sister´s Sister (9/10)

It was very hard having to leave other equally great movies out, but I couldn’t forget this wonderful small independent film directed by Lynn Shelton (Humpday) staring Mark Duplass, Emily Blunt, and Rosemarie DeWitt. The film is basically an improvised character study between three people dealing with different situations in a cabin on a beautiful location. The performances were great and the script was very cleverly written. The film felt real and spontaneous with some ingenious twists that worked really well. This is a really funny romantic comedy and I laughed really hard during the several surprising revelations that took place.

The following films couldn’t make it to my top 10 list but all received the same score from me (9/10). They would all be included in my top 25 list. In no particular order I present to you the rest of films that left a mark on me in 2012: The Intouchables, Argo, Moonrise Kingdom, The Avengers, The Hunger Games, Safety Not Guaranteed, Lawless, Pitch Perfect, Get the Gringo, El Pescador, Wreck-it Ralph, Flight, Zero Dark Thirty, The Master, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

As for the most disappointing films for me, they were: Cosmopolis, Killing Them Softly, Killer Joe, Premium Rush, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, What to Expect When You´re Expecting, Resident Evil: Retribution, The Watch, Total Recall, Rock of Ages, The Dictator, Take This Waltz, Snow White and the Huntsman, Underworld Awakening, Battleship, and Touchback.  

Here is a really cool edited video with several films from 2012 that pretty much sum up the year in movies:

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My Reaction to the Acadamy Award Nominations

There were some pleasant surprises this year as the Acadamy Award nominations were announced to us by future Oscar host Seth Macfarlane and Emma Stone in a very short but funny presentation. I will begin by mentioning some of the pleasant surprises, because there were also some negative ones as some major directors were ignored.

First of all I must say that I´m excited for all the love that Beasts of the Southern Wild received after being nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Actress in a Leading Role, and Best Adapted Screenplay. This was one of my top three films of the year (although I have to admit I still have to see five of the nine nominated films for 2012 since most of these films haven´t come out here in Ecuador yet). The other favorite of mine was Life of Pi which also received a lot of love from Acamdey voters by getting 11 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Cinematography. This film blew my mind visually and it deserves all the technical awards. The film with most nominations was Steven Spielbergh´s Lincoln which received 12 nominations including all the big awards. Daniel Day Lewis gave one of the best performances of the year and I think he will win this category easily although he has some competition in Joaquin Pheonix (The Master) and Hugh Jackman (Les Mis). I´m glad Denzel Washington received some love for his work in Flight, although I don´t think he has a chance here. However, I loved his work in that film. The small independent film, Silver Linings Playbook received a lot of love from the Academy as well receiving 8 nominations including all the important ones (director, actor, actress, and picture). I haven´t had a chance to see this film yet, but it looks good. The German film, Amour received much love as well as it will be competing for Best Picture and Best Director. It received 5 nominations. Les Miserables got 8 nominations, although it didn´t receive a Best Director nod which was a surprise for many. Finally, there´s Django Unchained, that received 5 Acadamy Awards including Best Picture although there was no love for Quentin Tarantino in the Best Director department. 

The negative surprises from today´s nominations came from the lack of love for Argo and Zero Dark Thirty which seemed like Lincoln´s main rivals in this year´s Oscars. They both received Best Picture nods, but neither Bigelow nor Affleck received director nominations for there work in these highly critically acclaimed films. Not having a Best Director nomination usually means they won´t end up contending for Best Picture. Argo did recieve 7 nominations however and Zero Dark Thirty ended up with only five when many were predicting each one of these films would get at least 10. I was sad that there was no love for Moonrise Kingdom although it did recieve a nomination for Original Screenplay for Wes Anderson. I was hoping it would recieve a Best Picture nod considering it was one of his best films in quite some time. My favorite film of the year, The Dark Knight Rises, received no love whatsoever, and I was hoping it would at least get a couple nods for vissuals. There were a couple of smaller performances I wished would get recognized like Richard Gere´s work in Arbitrage (his best work to date) and Jack Black in Bernie, but I knew they were long shots. 

Well those were my reactions to this year´s nominations. I look forward to watching the Oscars on February 24 to see who ends up with the big prize at the end. I still have several films to watch before I can make my predictions but this looks like it will be a very tight race between Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Life of Pi, Amour, and Beasts of the Southern Wild. I Think Lincoln has the big edge for now. In case you missed the nominations this morning, here is a video.

My Review: Life of Pi (10/10)

¨All of life is an act of letting go but what hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye.¨

This film reminded me of why I love movies so much. Even though it is very hard to come across these gems nowadays, once you finally discover one you completely fall in love with it and are reminded why you fell in love with movies in the first place: it is just such a magical and emotional experience. Life of Pi is among the 3 best films of 2012 and despite my dislike towards 3D movies in general, I loved its use here. The art direction, visual effects, and cinematography were astonishing; it was one of the most beautiful films I´ve seen. This is a film you will want to see in 3D and enjoy the experience as much as possible because in my opinion this is the best use in 3D that I´ve seen. Life of Pi is based on the successful novel written by Yann Martel which many considered impossible to adapt to the big screen, but Ang Lee found a way to do it yet again.  Lee amazed me in 2000 with his wonderful Chinese film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. He has always been a magician artistically speaking. He also did a wonderful job with the storytelling and cinematography in Brokeback Mountain, but in Life of Pi he directs his best and most complete film to date. I left the theater totally satisfied and amazed with the wonderful visual experience. I also enjoyed the performances and the storytelling; so I have nothing really negative to critique about Lee´s work here. I also love climatic twist endings and this film has one of the best I´ve seen since The Sixth Sense. This is a masterpiece and a must see movie for all.

A writer (Rafe Spall) has been sent by an acquaintance to visit a man named Pi Patel (Irrfan Khan) who has a story to tell him that will make him believe in God. Pi receives the writer kindly and while he cooks for the man he begins to narrate his story. The writer is curious to find out what Pi has to tell him and he patiently listens to him as he narrates his story from the very beginning. He explains how he got his name, what his family was doing in India at the time, and so on. Of course none of this is really what the writer is expecting to hear until Pi gets to the heart of the story. He explains that his family owned a zoo and that his father suddenly decided to move them all to Canada. While they are all (including the animals) on their way to Canada on a carrier ship a heavy storm intercepts them and the ship sinks. Pi (the younger version played by Suraj Sharma) manages to survive along with a couple animals: an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena, and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Pi struggles to survive along with the animals in the small lifeboat in middle of the Pacific Ocean as he encounters many obstacles that will test his faith. The film is told in a similar fashion to Slumdog Millionaire (through flashbacks which happen to be longer than the present scenes) as we have the narrator telling his incredible story to the writer.

Suraj Sharma is really great here as the main character. Incredibly he has had no prior experience as a film actor, but he singlehandedly delivers this movie considering he is in the boat almost the entire time on his own (the animals were added mostly through CGI). A lot of credit has to be given to the visual effects department considering the animals look so real and believable. This film is really beautiful to watch, everything about it is just wonderful, including the powerful climatic ending which had a great message. I thought the film worked as sort of a parable more than an actual metaphor. I haven’t read the novel, but I really can´t see how it can be better than the film. Lee´s imagination works better than mine, and he has created a wonderful film with many memorable scenes that will stick with me forever. The film touches lightly on themes of religion and faith, but at the end it will make you think about it. Everyone can make their own conclusions as to what story they want to believe, but it was pretty clear for me as to where the director was trying to get as to how he viewed God. The less you know about the film before going into it, the better. The film does start a bit slow, but it was a nice setup in my opinion with some beautiful cinematography, and it just picks up from there.

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