I have been slack I admit and I apologise to my tiny but intensely loyal following for my literary failings.
I intend to do MUCH better from now on but in the meantime here is a review to keep things ticking along.
It also appears (rather excitingly)here:
http://www.killerreads.com/reviews/what-you-thought-of-dont-look-back-by-laura-lippman/#more-1908
There may be some more over there soon, apparently they like me a little bit. So that's nice.
See how cool I'm playing it over the whole "kind of published on a real website, by a real publisher" thing?
Now if you'll excuse me I have to go and find a quiet spot where I can bounce up and down like Tigger without attracting attention........
Don't Look back by Laura Lippman
The year that Elizabeth Lerner was 15, a chance encounter with a spree killer named Walter Bowman irrevocably altered the course of her young life
Kidnapped and held by Bowman for 39 days she has always believed herself to be the sole witness to his final murder , that of 14 year old Holly Tackett …….but was the truth really as straightforward as it appeared?
Twenty years on, and determined not to be defined by her past, Elizabeth is now Eliza Benedict, happily married, devoted to her two children and living the suburban dream.
Although Walter Bowman was tried and convicted for kidnapping and raping Elizabeth it was Holly’s murder, which occurred across the state lines in Virginia that put him on Death Row where he has been languishing ever since.
But now his time is rapidly running out and the only person who can save him from the ultimate punishment for his crimes is Eliza.
Having survived her time with Bowman, where others before and after did not, Eliza has always known that she was considered the “lucky one”.
But luck is always relative and the last thing Eliza feels is lucky when Walter Bowman tracks her down with the help of a press clipping and a sympathetic associate. “I’d know you anywhere” says his note, and he is not referring to her face.
Eliza knows that she survived the 1985 kidnapping due to her compliant and biddable nature, a nature that Bowman now has every intention of manipulating to his advantage in his final bid for life.
In “Don’t Look Back” Laura Lippman has crafted a sensitive and thought provoking novel with fully developed protagonists and a strong supporting cast.
Alternating between 1985 - the year Elizabeth/Eliza was taken - and the present day, she develops her characters into fully rounded human beings complete with all the flaws, complexities and insecurities that that entails.
They are not always likeable but they are honest and believable and their dialogue flows so naturally that the reader quickly develops a strong sense of affinity.
Although this book deals with some weighty issues, not least of which is the motivations of those who campaign so passionately both for and against the death penalty, it never becomes maudlin or bogged down in morality.
The facts and ambiguities are presented and ultimately the reader is left to draw their own conclusions.
In conclusion “Don’t Look Back” shows an emotional intelligence that sets it apart and makes it a true killer read!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Desperately Seeking Connection
I have been thinking alot about the direction that want this blog to take and whilst I am still a little undecided I don't want to stop writing while I'm thinking. So, in the meantime, and in line with a suggestion from someone whose opinion I greatly value, I am going to continue use this space primarily for the purposes of movie, book and theatre reviews.
With the odd bit of Jo-ness thrown in to keep it lively of course!
And first out of the starting blocks we have.........
Never Let Me Go
Director - Mark Romanek
Starring:
– Keira Knightley (the one from "Atonement")
- Andrew Garfield (the one from "The Social Network")
- Carey Mulligan (the one from "An Education")
- Charlotte Rampling (the one from "The Verdict" - a classic courtroom drama with Paul Newman which belongs on everyone's "must see" list http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084855/
As the lights came on at the Rialto Flicks and Flutes screening of Never Let Me Go my movie companion and I turned to one another with one accord and uttered the words:
“Blimey that was a bit grim”.
All around us similar sentiments were being expressed by a lightly stunned and primarily female audience.
Adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro's novel this is a beautiful looking, more than competently acted, but overall incredibly bleak, cinematic outing.
Despite fine performances across the board, it is really only the actors portraying the characters as children who succeed in drawing you in. Sadly they are not on screen for long enough.
I realised I was not fully engaged with their adult selves when I found myself critiquing their somewhat bizarre hairstyles (“why does Carey Mulligan have a bad mullet? Nice bouffant Andrew Garfield”) as opposed to being deeply moved by the triangular love story and the grim fate awaiting the childhood friends. Once the “secret” is revealed, surprisingly early on, and it becomes obvious that there is no chance of redemption for the badly coiffed threesome, the film becomes a maudlin trip down misery lane complete with longing looks and close up shots of tears slowly rolling down cheeks; and that is just the bloke!.
Director Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) maintains a kind of detached observational style that doesn’t fully work with this material.
I wanted to care, I really did, but I couldn’t properly engage and I found that deeply frustrating. if you are already a little bit depressed this may well have you going home and reaching straight for the top shelf.
I would recommend seeing when you are in a very good mood. I didn’t hate it, but given its excellent pedigree I can’t help but wish that I had been able to like it more.
With the odd bit of Jo-ness thrown in to keep it lively of course!
And first out of the starting blocks we have.........
Never Let Me Go
Director - Mark Romanek
Starring:
– Keira Knightley (the one from "Atonement")
- Andrew Garfield (the one from "The Social Network")
- Carey Mulligan (the one from "An Education")
- Charlotte Rampling (the one from "The Verdict" - a classic courtroom drama with Paul Newman which belongs on everyone's "must see" list http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084855/
As the lights came on at the Rialto Flicks and Flutes screening of Never Let Me Go my movie companion and I turned to one another with one accord and uttered the words:
“Blimey that was a bit grim”.
All around us similar sentiments were being expressed by a lightly stunned and primarily female audience.
Adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro's novel this is a beautiful looking, more than competently acted, but overall incredibly bleak, cinematic outing.
Despite fine performances across the board, it is really only the actors portraying the characters as children who succeed in drawing you in. Sadly they are not on screen for long enough.
I realised I was not fully engaged with their adult selves when I found myself critiquing their somewhat bizarre hairstyles (“why does Carey Mulligan have a bad mullet? Nice bouffant Andrew Garfield”) as opposed to being deeply moved by the triangular love story and the grim fate awaiting the childhood friends. Once the “secret” is revealed, surprisingly early on, and it becomes obvious that there is no chance of redemption for the badly coiffed threesome, the film becomes a maudlin trip down misery lane complete with longing looks and close up shots of tears slowly rolling down cheeks; and that is just the bloke!.
Director Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) maintains a kind of detached observational style that doesn’t fully work with this material.
I wanted to care, I really did, but I couldn’t properly engage and I found that deeply frustrating. if you are already a little bit depressed this may well have you going home and reaching straight for the top shelf.
I would recommend seeing when you are in a very good mood. I didn’t hate it, but given its excellent pedigree I can’t help but wish that I had been able to like it more.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
A Heaping Helping of Hat
This is a little later than I was aiming for, recent events in Canterbury somewhat drove the frivolity out of me and suddenly it all seemed rather trivial and silly.
But I think we still need a bit of trivial and silly, perhaps even more than usual at the moment, so here are the actual results and how my predications compared to them.
I won’t review the show itself because it was like every other awards show, 20% funny and teak jerky in parts and 80% cringe making and oh just get ON with it inducing the rest of the time.
The bit with Bob Hope was great though, now there’s a man who knew how to give good host!
And the winners were..........
Best picture: The King’s Speech: correct
Actress in a leading role: Natalie Portman - correct
Best supporting actor: Christian Bale - correct
Best supporting actress: Melissa Leo - correct, but after her ghastly, over-acted speech complete with staged swearing she should have been made to hand it over to Amy Adams.
Art Direction: Alice In Wonderland – incorrect - actually saw this again on Sunday and have to concede that it does look amazing (if you can get beyond Johnny Depp’s Willy Wonka meets Sweeney Todd with flashes of Edward ScissorHands caricature of the Mad Hatter. I couldn’t obv)
Cinematography: Inception took it – and deservedly so but that would make me - incorrect
Costumes: Alice in Wonderland – making me (in the words of Chandler Bing) “a small word, rhyming with “song”, beginning with “w’ and meaning incorrect”.
Should have picked this one, am very annoyed with self *chews hat*
Documentary Feature: “Inside Job” - correct
Film Editing:“The Social Network” - incorrect - upon re-reading my picks I am astonished to find that I missed this one out completely. Something that I can only put down to my stalwart conviction that it had lacked an editor entirely.
And yet it must have had one because it won for Best Editing – astonishing. And “dislike”........a lot, when ARE FB going to add a button for that I wonder?
Foreign Language Film: correct – and “thanks boss”
Makeup: The Wolfman - correct – still “meh” but I’ll take it *spits out some hat*
And coming right up two large portions of Stetson for the lady, please pass the ketchup.
Music Original Score: The Social Network – incorrect - nothing stood out about the score for me, it all sounded the same. Maybe because it was overlaid with the sounds of tapping on keyboards? Anyway – I’ll eat some hat for the sake of honour but I do it under protest.
Music Original Song: Toy Story 3 – “We Belong Together” - incorrect.
Now I love Randy Newman, I really truly do, but all his work for Pixar sounds vaguely samey to me and I feel that the word “original” is a bit of stretch for a song that sounds like a re-write of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from the first Toy Story. Maybe it’s his voice? Maybe it doesn’t count if you plagiarise yourself?*
Anyhow, complain though I might, the end result is still the same, more tasty delicious hat for me!
Sorry Jeff – you might need to wear it as a trilby if I continue to consume it at this rate.
Sound Editing: Inception – correct - hooray!
Sound Mixing: Inception – correct - *cautiously pushes hat away a little*
Visual Effects: Inception – correct - Yes!
Writing Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network – correct and I am seeing some light at the end of the millenary tunnel
Writing Original Screenplay: The King’s speech, incorrect, nooooooooo. Inception was robbed, robbed I tell you. The Kings Speech was wonderful but Inception was a one of a kind, it defined the word “original” dammit.
I think that perhaps the esteemed (and somewhat aged) members of the Academy simply didn’t get it, which is a terrible shame. Or maybe they nodded off during the “people with guns in the snow” sequence and woke up at the end nudging each other and saying “what happened, did Jack get off the boat OK”?.
And I really could have done without any more hat, that brim is very hard on the teeth.
So in conclusion I aced the top five and scored 12 out of a possible 19. Jeff dude, I have your hat here, it’s fairly well chewed but still wearable I think. This prediction business is not as easy as it looks folks
It was a hell of a lot of fun to do though. And it made the awards themselves a much more entertaining watch.
Next year I aim to do better, more hits, less hat, and that is a promise or I’ll eat.......pretty much anything but hat really.
*Note: I was intrigued by this concept so I googled “can you plagiarise yourself” and it seems that no one else is 100% sure either. I actually think that you can, but it’s not called plagiarism, it’s called “laziness”.
Sorry Randy.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Will I Be All Right On The Night?
As promised here are my predictions for Oscar 2011. I’m going for broke here and including the technical catagories because if it is worth doing it is worth doing boldly and with false confidence and very little technical expertise. It’s rather long, which considering my comments about the importance of good editing further down is a touch hypocritical but it’s my blog and I’ll be self indulgently verbose if want to. But only once a year.
At risk of being hoisted by my own petard on the 27th Feb here goes.
Actor in a Leading Role
In an aside – the academy leaving Ryan Gosling out of this field after his blistering, and emotionally committed performance in Blue Valentine is a complete and utter travesty. There is no excuse for his lack of nomination. One has to wonder who he has p*ssed off?
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Haven’t seen this one and I love Javier but the Spanish language/subtitles aspect will definitely count against him here
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Or “The Dude” on a Horse in a Hat. I adore this guy and it possible he might swing it but overall I think it’s Colin Firth’s year
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
It’s not an “actor’s movie’ and although I would need to see him in something else to be sure – I think he was pretty much just being himself.
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
Has to be, no question, a pretty much pitch perfect performance.. And he is guaranteed to make a witty, non political and pitch perfect acceptance speech. And he is hot…..which be may shallow of me to mention but is also undeniable
James Franco in “127 Hours”
Although I’ve heard he is very good in Man vs Rock I’m just not feeling an Oscar. Possibly because most of the voters will have watched a good chunk the movie cringing and hiding behind their collective fingers………..which is a little ironic given the subject matter.
Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
My Vote becauseI love that he is just not like anybody else and he is so fearless in his choices. He deserves this. Plus he lost a lot of weight for this film – the academy love performances that incorporate excessive weight fluctuations, they really dig that kind of “commitment” and “passion”. *Note - see also Natalie Portman
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
I haven’t seen it so can’t comment
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
He was very good but “The Hurt Locker’ was his moment
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
I like him, a lot but this is too “movie of the week” for an Oscar
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”
Great performance but he won’t win. And if he does I’ll eat Jeff’s hat.
Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nope – usually love her but she overacted her socks off in this
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Haven’t seen but as an actress she mostly annoys me so I’m saying no.
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Haven’t seen but apparently she is excellent – future winner I think but not this time
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Will win and I would have said should win up until I saw………
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”
who blew Natalie right out of her tutu, She won’t win though, the material was too raw and it is Portman’s turn…she was robbed of the Best Supporting Actress for Closer in 2004. However if they were to have a moment of truth and give it to William’s my respect for the awards system would increase immeasurably.
Actress in a Supporting Role
This is always a hard category to predict and I may well find myself ingesting some more western style headgear. I blame some pretty weird choices in previous years for my reluctance to fully commit – two words people “Marisa Tomai” – OK she’s not a bad actress NOW but in 1992 for “My Cousin Vinny”? I don’t THINK so Tim.
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
I love her but I think she is still seen as a lightweight – possible though
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Could win but unlikely as I suspect that Colin will queer the pitch in terms of any more Brits taking home the gongs in the acting field
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
I’m 85% sure she is going to win this one – she is the clear favorite and would be a popular choice in a tricky category
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
By all accounts amazing performance but possibly hasn’t really done enough yet to justify a win – and she has plenty of time
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”
I wish, I wish, I wish, she was superlatively good and quite the most chilling example of the stone cold matriarch on celluloid since Laura Linney in Mystic River. But most of the voters won’t know who she is and the movie is under the radar in the US. So good to see her included here though.
Right I am going to rattle through the rest largely sans the verbosity or I’ll still be doing this on the 27th!
Animated Feature Film
“Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich
Art Direction
““Inception” Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
Cinematography
“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
Costume Design
“The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
Directing
“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky My Vote – but only because of the performances he extracted from his cast – the film itself – well you already know what I think
“The Fighter” David O. Russell
“The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” David Fincher
“True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Documentary (Feature)
“Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
“Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
“Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs: My vote
I thought this was excellent “the sub-prime mortgage debacle for dummies” so I’m picking it to win – although my head tells me the Banksy film could easily take this
“Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
“Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley
Film Editing
“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
I know it very well COULD win but it shouldn’t because the film too flaming long and I thought the whole point of “editing” was to actually cut some something (please, anything!) out
“The Fighter” Pamela Martin
“The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
My vote because it felt neither too long nor too short – like baby bear’s porridge it was just right and that is not easy to achieve, especially with anything historical
“127 Hours” Jon Harris
Foreign Language Film
“In a Better World” Denmark Because I haven’t seen any of them but my boss raved about this for days. It’s not a great reason but it’s all I’ve got so I’m going with it.
Makeup
Can’t believe I recognize NOTHING in this category. Were the other movies this year having a makeup embargo? What about Harry Potter? Hello? Voldemort!! Or are they saying Ralph Fiennes is just aging rather badly? Have they SEEN the nose for crying out loud? That nose took someone hours. And the Black Swan - such amazing use of the smokey eye and not even a mention, very odd.
So yeah, meh! I’m going for The Wolfman – man into wolf – sounds like a challenge I suppose. But still – meh!
“Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
“The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
Music (Original Score)
“Inception” Hans Zimmer
Music (Original Song)
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
As I don’t like any of them very much I am crassly basing this on the most likely to win rather than personal preference – I may be fed up with eating hat by this point in proceedings and need a cheap win
Best Picture
Pretty much covered in my previous blog but my money is on The Kings Speech. Purported historical inaccuracies aside it is a little gem and it deserves to shine on the night.
“Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
“The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
“Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
“The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
“The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers YES
“127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
“The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
“True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers
Sound Editing
“Inception” Richard King
Sound Mixing
“Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
Visual Effects
“Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
This gets my vote because the writing was good enough that spending over two hours watching people typing wasn’t as boring as could have been despite the lack of a good stiff editing
“Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
Because it is incredibly smart, shouldn’t work but it does ought to be be too clever for its own good but isn’t. somethig so complex and intricately woven should be full of holes and yet the harder you try to outsmart it the more credible it becomes. So well crafted, intelligently plotted that somehow you believe in every improbable twist. If this movie had been a book it would keep kept you up all night until you finished it. As a screenplay it just works – this man is brilliant. In short I rather loved it – could you tell?*
“The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler
*In the interests of fairness I have to point out that I could have done without approx five minutes of the “running around in the snow with guns” scene. I went to the bathroom, I came back, I had apparently missed nothing, that shouldn’t happen.
Although of course I may have missed something, will have to watch it again to find out………………damn ;-).
At risk of being hoisted by my own petard on the 27th Feb here goes.
Actor in a Leading Role
In an aside – the academy leaving Ryan Gosling out of this field after his blistering, and emotionally committed performance in Blue Valentine is a complete and utter travesty. There is no excuse for his lack of nomination. One has to wonder who he has p*ssed off?
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Haven’t seen this one and I love Javier but the Spanish language/subtitles aspect will definitely count against him here
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Or “The Dude” on a Horse in a Hat. I adore this guy and it possible he might swing it but overall I think it’s Colin Firth’s year
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
It’s not an “actor’s movie’ and although I would need to see him in something else to be sure – I think he was pretty much just being himself.
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
Has to be, no question, a pretty much pitch perfect performance.. And he is guaranteed to make a witty, non political and pitch perfect acceptance speech. And he is hot…..which be may shallow of me to mention but is also undeniable
James Franco in “127 Hours”
Although I’ve heard he is very good in Man vs Rock I’m just not feeling an Oscar. Possibly because most of the voters will have watched a good chunk the movie cringing and hiding behind their collective fingers………..which is a little ironic given the subject matter.
Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
My Vote becauseI love that he is just not like anybody else and he is so fearless in his choices. He deserves this. Plus he lost a lot of weight for this film – the academy love performances that incorporate excessive weight fluctuations, they really dig that kind of “commitment” and “passion”. *Note - see also Natalie Portman
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
I haven’t seen it so can’t comment
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
He was very good but “The Hurt Locker’ was his moment
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
I like him, a lot but this is too “movie of the week” for an Oscar
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”
Great performance but he won’t win. And if he does I’ll eat Jeff’s hat.
Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nope – usually love her but she overacted her socks off in this
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Haven’t seen but as an actress she mostly annoys me so I’m saying no.
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Haven’t seen but apparently she is excellent – future winner I think but not this time
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Will win and I would have said should win up until I saw………
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”
who blew Natalie right out of her tutu, She won’t win though, the material was too raw and it is Portman’s turn…she was robbed of the Best Supporting Actress for Closer in 2004. However if they were to have a moment of truth and give it to William’s my respect for the awards system would increase immeasurably.
Actress in a Supporting Role
This is always a hard category to predict and I may well find myself ingesting some more western style headgear. I blame some pretty weird choices in previous years for my reluctance to fully commit – two words people “Marisa Tomai” – OK she’s not a bad actress NOW but in 1992 for “My Cousin Vinny”? I don’t THINK so Tim.
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
I love her but I think she is still seen as a lightweight – possible though
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Could win but unlikely as I suspect that Colin will queer the pitch in terms of any more Brits taking home the gongs in the acting field
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
I’m 85% sure she is going to win this one – she is the clear favorite and would be a popular choice in a tricky category
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
By all accounts amazing performance but possibly hasn’t really done enough yet to justify a win – and she has plenty of time
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”
I wish, I wish, I wish, she was superlatively good and quite the most chilling example of the stone cold matriarch on celluloid since Laura Linney in Mystic River. But most of the voters won’t know who she is and the movie is under the radar in the US. So good to see her included here though.
Right I am going to rattle through the rest largely sans the verbosity or I’ll still be doing this on the 27th!
Animated Feature Film
“Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich
Art Direction
““Inception” Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
Cinematography
“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
Costume Design
“The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
Directing
“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky My Vote – but only because of the performances he extracted from his cast – the film itself – well you already know what I think
“The Fighter” David O. Russell
“The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” David Fincher
“True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Documentary (Feature)
“Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
“Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
“Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs: My vote
I thought this was excellent “the sub-prime mortgage debacle for dummies” so I’m picking it to win – although my head tells me the Banksy film could easily take this
“Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
“Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley
Film Editing
“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
I know it very well COULD win but it shouldn’t because the film too flaming long and I thought the whole point of “editing” was to actually cut some something (please, anything!) out
“The Fighter” Pamela Martin
“The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
My vote because it felt neither too long nor too short – like baby bear’s porridge it was just right and that is not easy to achieve, especially with anything historical
“127 Hours” Jon Harris
Foreign Language Film
“In a Better World” Denmark Because I haven’t seen any of them but my boss raved about this for days. It’s not a great reason but it’s all I’ve got so I’m going with it.
Makeup
Can’t believe I recognize NOTHING in this category. Were the other movies this year having a makeup embargo? What about Harry Potter? Hello? Voldemort!! Or are they saying Ralph Fiennes is just aging rather badly? Have they SEEN the nose for crying out loud? That nose took someone hours. And the Black Swan - such amazing use of the smokey eye and not even a mention, very odd.
So yeah, meh! I’m going for The Wolfman – man into wolf – sounds like a challenge I suppose. But still – meh!
“Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
“The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
Music (Original Score)
“Inception” Hans Zimmer
Music (Original Song)
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
As I don’t like any of them very much I am crassly basing this on the most likely to win rather than personal preference – I may be fed up with eating hat by this point in proceedings and need a cheap win
Best Picture
Pretty much covered in my previous blog but my money is on The Kings Speech. Purported historical inaccuracies aside it is a little gem and it deserves to shine on the night.
“Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
“The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
“Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
“The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
“The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers YES
“127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
“The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
“True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers
Sound Editing
“Inception” Richard King
Sound Mixing
“Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
Visual Effects
“Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
This gets my vote because the writing was good enough that spending over two hours watching people typing wasn’t as boring as could have been despite the lack of a good stiff editing
“Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
Because it is incredibly smart, shouldn’t work but it does ought to be be too clever for its own good but isn’t. somethig so complex and intricately woven should be full of holes and yet the harder you try to outsmart it the more credible it becomes. So well crafted, intelligently plotted that somehow you believe in every improbable twist. If this movie had been a book it would keep kept you up all night until you finished it. As a screenplay it just works – this man is brilliant. In short I rather loved it – could you tell?*
“The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler
*In the interests of fairness I have to point out that I could have done without approx five minutes of the “running around in the snow with guns” scene. I went to the bathroom, I came back, I had apparently missed nothing, that shouldn’t happen.
Although of course I may have missed something, will have to watch it again to find out………………damn ;-).
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Dances with Cliches
Last night we headed out to the lovely Capitol cinema with the AmJam (aka Al and Jen) to see if Black Swan could live up to the surrounding pre-Oscar hype-fest.
And straight after seeing it last night I thought that it was visually stunning, brilliantly acted and deeply disturbing.
Al thought it was a cliché-ridden load of old drivel.
I must now reluctantly admit that, having slept on it, I am leaning towards Team Al.
It’s not that it isn’t clever, or well executed, or beautiful to look at but it is also predictable, overwrought and not quite as clever as it thinks that it is.
It certainly had chilling moments but the bits that made me alternatively jump out of my skin or cover my eyes tended to be more of the “ewww that is really gross” as opposed the shivers down the spine, blood running cold variety.
And a lot of the time I jumped because Jen jumped, love, love, love sitting next to Jen in movies – she is so gloriously participative in the best possible way.
There is some very clever stuff with mirrors, some of it quite literally blink and you miss it in terms of subtle creepiness but much of the pivotal character's descent into madness feels more like a paint by numbers guide to portraying a woman on the brink of insanity. It’s all been done before and a lot better.
To be fair though Natalie Portman is excellent, such a complete physical transformation requires enormous dedication and true grit (can’t wait for that one to come out) - she deserves the Best Actress Oscar that she will almost certainly win.
But Best Picture? Nah......not in a field that includes the King’s Speech.......not in a million years.
Mind you if it comes down to a trans-Atlantic showdown you just never know. The Fighter is also a strong (ahem) contender but I think that The Social Network might be too of its time and less of an enduring classic to hold water as a serious Best Picture option. And although it was good it wasn’t memorable in the way that a best picture ought to be and in my humble opinion it doesn’t belong in contention. However it was always going to be included in the lineup and I'm sure it would be a popular choice.
Can’t comment on True Grit – haven’t seen it yet but the Academy does love the Coen boys so you never know..........that said it’s a re-make of a classic and however good it is that may count against it.
And as for the rest of the field. Inception – sci-fi – mind-bendingly clever sci-fi but sci-fi nonetheless – it’s niche market, a lot of people didn’t get it and it won’t win . The Kid’s Are Right – I really enjoyed this film but I still have to say “what the”? It’s sweet and funny and there are some great performances but it doesn’t belong in the best picture category – won’t win, Toy Story 3 – in there for no other reason but to bulk out the category, likewise 127 Hours and Winter’s Bone – which may well both be extremely good films but they haven’t the proverbial snowballs chance of beating out the heavy hitting (and heavily studio backed) competition.
When DID this category get so huge anyway? And why does the academy insist on putting very average movies alongside great movies and expecting us all to believe that they have the same shot at the little gold man.
In reality it is a five way race between True Grit, Black Swan, The King’s Speech, The Fighter and The Social Network which will quite possibly win even though it doesn't really deserve to (according to me at least). Everyone else in this catagory might just as well slip out early, avoid the limo-gridlock and get a head start drowning their sorrows at the after parties.
Next time – just for fun – my Oscar predictions. AmJam I challenge you to come up with yours – loser buys dinner at Barilla Dumpling opposite the Capitol – divine delicious dumplings for four for $23.00. I LOVE our neighborhood!
And straight after seeing it last night I thought that it was visually stunning, brilliantly acted and deeply disturbing.
Al thought it was a cliché-ridden load of old drivel.
I must now reluctantly admit that, having slept on it, I am leaning towards Team Al.
It’s not that it isn’t clever, or well executed, or beautiful to look at but it is also predictable, overwrought and not quite as clever as it thinks that it is.
It certainly had chilling moments but the bits that made me alternatively jump out of my skin or cover my eyes tended to be more of the “ewww that is really gross” as opposed the shivers down the spine, blood running cold variety.
And a lot of the time I jumped because Jen jumped, love, love, love sitting next to Jen in movies – she is so gloriously participative in the best possible way.
There is some very clever stuff with mirrors, some of it quite literally blink and you miss it in terms of subtle creepiness but much of the pivotal character's descent into madness feels more like a paint by numbers guide to portraying a woman on the brink of insanity. It’s all been done before and a lot better.
To be fair though Natalie Portman is excellent, such a complete physical transformation requires enormous dedication and true grit (can’t wait for that one to come out) - she deserves the Best Actress Oscar that she will almost certainly win.
But Best Picture? Nah......not in a field that includes the King’s Speech.......not in a million years.
Mind you if it comes down to a trans-Atlantic showdown you just never know. The Fighter is also a strong (ahem) contender but I think that The Social Network might be too of its time and less of an enduring classic to hold water as a serious Best Picture option. And although it was good it wasn’t memorable in the way that a best picture ought to be and in my humble opinion it doesn’t belong in contention. However it was always going to be included in the lineup and I'm sure it would be a popular choice.
Can’t comment on True Grit – haven’t seen it yet but the Academy does love the Coen boys so you never know..........that said it’s a re-make of a classic and however good it is that may count against it.
And as for the rest of the field. Inception – sci-fi – mind-bendingly clever sci-fi but sci-fi nonetheless – it’s niche market, a lot of people didn’t get it and it won’t win . The Kid’s Are Right – I really enjoyed this film but I still have to say “what the”? It’s sweet and funny and there are some great performances but it doesn’t belong in the best picture category – won’t win, Toy Story 3 – in there for no other reason but to bulk out the category, likewise 127 Hours and Winter’s Bone – which may well both be extremely good films but they haven’t the proverbial snowballs chance of beating out the heavy hitting (and heavily studio backed) competition.
When DID this category get so huge anyway? And why does the academy insist on putting very average movies alongside great movies and expecting us all to believe that they have the same shot at the little gold man.
In reality it is a five way race between True Grit, Black Swan, The King’s Speech, The Fighter and The Social Network which will quite possibly win even though it doesn't really deserve to (according to me at least). Everyone else in this catagory might just as well slip out early, avoid the limo-gridlock and get a head start drowning their sorrows at the after parties.
Next time – just for fun – my Oscar predictions. AmJam I challenge you to come up with yours – loser buys dinner at Barilla Dumpling opposite the Capitol – divine delicious dumplings for four for $23.00. I LOVE our neighborhood!
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