Post-Oscars 2016

I started writing this entry a couple days earlier so I could write down [for my own recollection] who I pick to win all the categories.
I think last year, I only got 7 winners right of the ones I picked beforehand (a couple documentaries, I picked when I heard the nominees, so it wouldn't be fair to count them).

The ones in bold are the one I got correct... or the winners were mentioned elsewhere in my blurbs.

Predictions

Best Picture- The Martian
Best Actor- Leonardo DiCaprio [Right now my gut is saying Matt Damon... but it's hard to ignore the buzz around Leo... the next time RDJ is nominated for an Oscar, he better get this same buzz]
Best Actress- Jennifer Lawrence [It's hard not to go with the J-Law/David O. Russell combo, although Brie Larson and Cate Blanchett have just as good a chance to win]
Best Supporting Actor- Sylvester Stallone [my gut says Mark Ruffalo but "Spotlight" has all but been ignored this awards season]
Best Supporting Actress- Kate Winslet [I'd love Rachel McAdams, but I just don't see it happening, see above]
Best Animated Film- Inside Out
Best Cinematography- The Revenant
Best Costume Design- The Danish Girl [it's hard to pick- none of the costumes stand out to me]
Best Director- Alejandro Inarritu for "The Revenant"
Best [Full] Documentary- Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom [I'd like "Amy" to win because I heard it was really good... but I have a feeling about this one. Isn't it time to lift the sanctions on Russia over Ukraine? It's not worth sinking the world's economy over that]
Best [Short] Documentary- Last Day of Freedom
Film Editing- Mad Max: Fury Road
Foreign Language Film- Son of Saul
Best Makeup/Hairstyling- Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Original Score- Bridges of Spies [Can't go wrong with John Williams]
Best Original Song- " 'Till It happens to you"- Lady Gaga [I like "Earned It" but this song from "The Hunting Ground" NEEDS to win... if not to make up for the fact it wasn't nominated for best documentary, then for everything it stands for- stopping victim-blaming in sexual assault cases]
Production Design- The Revenant
Short Animated Film- World of Tomorrow
Short Live-Action Film- Ave Maria [hard not to go with that name]
Best Sound Editing- Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Sound Mixing- Star Wars VII
Best Visual Effects: Ex Machina
Best Original Screenplay- Ex Machina ["Straight Outta Compton" is probably going to win just because on the whole race issue that's been plaguing the Oscars]
Best Adapted Screenplay- Room


Red Carpet
Going through my previous two "post-Oscars" entries, I noticed that Anna Kendrick was my "best dressed" both times.
This year, she wasn't anywhere near the red carpet (and for the second year in a row, Robert Downey Jr. was nowhere to be seen... but really, the one thing I have any concern about with him is when HE gets that campaign for an Oscar that Leo had... please don't make him wait until he's Charlie Chaplin's age or, even worse, don't do him like Omar Sharif  [RIP] and neglect to give him an Oscar at all).

Anyway, my new pick for "Best Dressed":




Best actress nominee ["Brooklyn"] Saoirse Ronan

Also it was cool to hear her natural Irish brogue. I'd seen her in "Hanna," "The Lovely Bones" and "The Host" (which I hope I'll be able to find somewhere for five bucks).
And hopefully now everyone will know her name is pronounced "Sir-sha."
I didn't know until Stephen Colbert had her on the late show.
I was half hoping she would win the Oscar this year, but Brie Larson definitely deserved it too.


another of my "best dressed" of the night


But I have one honorable mention:




Kevin Hart had shiny embroidery on his tux. The perfect compliment to his shining personality.
He gave maybe the funniest opening monologue I've seen on SNL. I'd only been watching over the past couple years, but I almost didn't stop laughing the entire time.
Which reminds me... I gotta get around to seeing some of his movies. "The Wedding Ringer" was named one of the worst movies of 2014, but I still wanna see it. And of course "Ride Along" because I almost went out and saw the sequel.
Another side-note: I'd love to see him host the Oscars at some point too.

Rating Oscar Host Chris Rock

Speaking of SNL, Chris Rock recently hosted a show where Prince was the musical guest. I like both these guys a lot (Prince especially) and both disappointed me. Chris Rock told a joke involving 9/11 that went way too far for me and his monologue never recovered. I believe Prince performed a PlectrumElectrum track "Marz" with his band 3rd Eye Girl, but beyond that, it didn't live up to the hype. [Then again when he performed "Fury" while there in 2007, I had a million nitpicks about that too...]

With the exception of one joke (one of my cousins is a cop, so for me one joke went too far) and one segment (man on the street interviewing random people in front of a movie theater), Chris Rock was a great host.
He hosted the first Oscars I ever watched back in 2005 and he was great then as well.

Of course everyone who wasn't boycotting the Oscars was eager to see how he would address the lack of nominee diversity issue. It got tiresome a couple hours later, most running jokes often do. But his "sorority racist" comment, I thought, was spot-on and kinda clever.
My favorite sketch poking full at the issue was where we saw Whoopi Goldberg, Leslie Jones and Kevin Hart injected into movie scenes. I'm guessing Chris Rock stole that from Ellen because she ruined what was meant to be a serious scene from "Breaking Dawn." (Admittedly, her "50 shades" parody made up for that).
Best part was Leslie Jones (probably my last SNL reference in this entry, lol) being the bear from "The Revenant." If that scene was actually part of the movie, I might have watched it. Cannot wait to see her as part of the new "Ghostbusters" reboot-- freaking hilarious!!

Chris Rock did one other thing that Ellen did... and topped her.
She invited a pizza guy from a little local pizzeria and got pizzas for people.
Chris Rock brought Girl Scout Cookies and made more than $65,000 for his daughters' girl scout troop. Pizza's great, but you can't beat those cookies :P

Also loved when he had three Asian kids come out with the briefcases.

Other Cameos
My sister reminded me to mention the non-human characters that had cameos at this year's Oscars.
For starters, the droids from the latest Star Wars movie- C3PO, R2D2 and BB-8.
So cute seeing Jacob Tremblay standing on his chair in the audience to get a look at them. He mentioned being starstruck by them on the red carpet. It was mentioned that John Williams was for up for his 50th nomination and only won 5 times.
(I know in my predictions, I mentioned "can't go wrong with John Williams," but I incorrectly attributed him to scoring "Bridge of Spies"- that was Thomas Newman. John Williams scored Stars Wars- other than the two droids, the only other person involved in every Star Wars movie, which is kinda cool).

Then we had the Minions read the nominees for best animated short.
Johnny Weir tweeted shortly after "I don't understand...what are minions?"
A fanblogger of his RTed someone saying something to the effect that if Johnny doesn't get it, then it shouldn't be important.
I beg to differ... sure, "Minions" wasn't a perfect movie by any means, but I still love those characters. Their appearance was just Kevin having issues with the mic stand and Bob wound up reading the envelope after all the ruckus.

Lastly, Buzz and Woody from "Toy Story" were having a little back and forth as they always do, making fun of each other, and read the nominees for Best Animated Film.
Which of course was "Inside Out"- one of the best movies of the year [that I'm starting to regret not going out to see in theaters] and they're both Pixar films.

Performances

Unlike previous years, we "only had time" for three performers for the "Best Original Song" category. My favorite blogger, Lyndsey Parker, expressed a little annoyance at this because two lesser known artists were excluded. [And also noted that Duran Duran and John Parr were snubbed for "A View To a Kill" and "Man in Emotion (St Elmo's Fire)" collectively]. Anohini would have sang "Manta Ray," which was from the documentary Racing Extinction- showed a lot of undersea creatures including those big-ass Manta Rays. Their size boggles my mind!
"Simple Song #3" was from YOUTH- never heard of it, so for me, it wasn't a huge loss.

In retrospect, it's too bad we couldn't give awards based solely on how well they were performed...
I don't know how long it's been since Sam Smith sang publicly or how long ago his vocal cord surgery was, but he sounded a little off. I'm not sure why. It's a shame because he really does have an amazing voice. [I recently bought his album too-- I went from being a non-believer to a fan because of "Not The Only One"].
The Weeknd performed "Earned It" inside a ring of candles surrounded by scantily barely clad women, one of which was hanging from the ceiling. The only missing for me was his falsetto in the bridge leading to the chorus-- that's the vocal range that gets me every time I hear this song. [Listened to his album for the first time today-- lots of great slow jams and baby-making music, but some tracks ran too long and I paid a bit for neglecting to notice the Parental Advisory sticker... smooth silky voice or not, the some of the language in 2-3 tracks wasn't tasteful towards women].

At the end of it all, Lady Gaga gave one of the most powerful Oscar performances ever. Her "Sound of Music" tribute last year was amazing, yes, but this... Isn't there a Grammy category for a live performance? Because this would win hands down.
She did " "Till It happens to you" stripped down at the piano and at the end, all these rape and sexual survivors came out and stood hand in hand. On their arms, there were varying messages written.

So when they read of Sam Smith's name, I flipped out... everyone [except my friend Drew] was picked Gaga to win this. Everything was set up that way. Instead, they went with a James Bond theme that people were tweeting wasn't all that great. (I'll have to hear the recorded version to be sure of my feelings).
But when Sam gave his speech, whatever angry/sadness I felt evaporated. It was lucky he co-wrote with someone or he wouldn't be able to stay on his feet :P And it's a great win for the LGBT community. I had a feeling it'd be the first time an openly gay artist won this award.

Also, Dave Grohl performing "Blackbird" during the In Memoriam section- he's with the Foo Fighters and rocks hard a lot, so it was kinda cool he's capable of doing the exact opposite.
[According to IMDB, they forgot Abe Vigoda... they always forget someone... I could point out the fact they didn't mention Vanity/Denise Matthews, even though she only did B-movies...]

Winners and Losers

So, for starters, I guess I can thank "Mad Max: Fury Road" for giving me the first couple correct guesses that night.
We usually give out Best Supporting Actor first, but this time we started with the writing categories.
"The Big Short" won for Adaptation and "Spotlight" for Original... both movies were ones I didn't think would win anything because they got nothing at the Golden Globes.

Considering I only got 7 winners right last year and 9 this year, I should probably listen more to the other awards shows and less to the Golden Globes and my sentimentality... that's usually where I make the most mistakes.

Should I also accept the fact that Jennifer Lawrence is probably going to NEVER WIN another Oscar? I've picked her every time since "Silver Linings Playbook" and I've been wrong. And I REALLY hate being wrong.
Brie Larson definitely deserved it, though. No denying that. One thing about "Room" that gets on my nerves a tiny bit-- the kid is so loud in the one scene they showed. Isn't she trying to keep his existence a secret? I'm on edge that any second, her captor is going to break into the room and attack her/them. If opportunity knocks, I will see "Room"-- even though it'll probably be hard to watch.

Anyway, "Mad Max" won at least 6... and throughout the night, my mom kept saying "I really hope it doesn't win Best Picture."
I wanted to see it on HBO after all the hype, which I thought was ridiculous. As it turns out, it was nominated for Best Picture because it's supposed to be a metaphor/allegory of what our future could potentially become. The first half hour was really hard to get through-- really grotesque visuals. But after that, I did kinda enjoy it and some of the hype was warranted. So long as you don't associate it with the original "Mad Max" series with Mel Gibson. That was the one thing my mom couldn't get over. I never saw the original, so I wouldn't know. The movie kinda reminded me something out of a graphic novel.

One surprise was Sylvester Stallone not winning for Best Supporting Actor when literally everyone said he would. All the critics kept saying how great "Creed" was, but it neglected to win the one award it was nominated for.
Likewise, "Bridge of Spies" only got a handful of nominations, but only won this won for supporting actor. Mark Rylance.

Another great surprise- Mad Max not sweeping all the technical awards.
"Ex Machina" got a lot of rave reviews, but it was released so early last year that it was unlikely to get any nominations for Oscar Isaac or for Best Picture. But I'm glad that it won for Best Visual Effects.

Alicia Vikander really should have been nominated for "Ex Machina" and won. Her role in "The Danish Girl" doesn't seem like one that demanded the same recognition.
But I also hadn't seen the movie yet. For all I know, her role could have been as integral to the movie's success as Felicity Jones's in "The Theory of Everything." [Patricia Arquette was great in "Boyhood" but Felicity Jones was even better in her movie].

The running joke on Twitter was people asking if everyone was watching just to see if Leo won for best actor.
When Julianne Moore started going over all the roles and reading the names, I was starting to think anyone could win.
But then when the envelope opened, anticipation built up inside me where it was hard to even breathe.

Even she read the name with an almost "well, of course" type of attitude... everyone was expecting it. But I was still pinching myself afterwards to be sure that it was




I'm sorry, I kept thinking about this after he won :P

I guess that's the excuse I need to finally rewatch "Titanic"... I was starting to consider maybe giving it another shot now that I'm old enough to appreciate the movie.
I mean, it's a long-ass movie and the ending is going to kill me all over again, but I would like to at least do a blog post about it.

It's not every day I review a Leonardo DiCaprio film. He does a lot of movies like "The Revenant" (still can't spell it without spellcheck) that either don't interest me or look really hard to watch because it's very dramatic and such.
While he's still got his good looks, he really should do more roles that put it to an advantage.

Again my one nit-pick with him is that his speech ran too long and went too far on a tangent about climate change.
It's an issue, yes, but there are bigger issues...
Many of which we didn't really get to hear during the night because the exit music kept drowning people out. Kat Dennings tweeted her annoyance at this when Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy was talking about her Oscar-winning short documentary about honor killings and got played off mid-sentence.
It was also great to see Joe Biden introduce Gaga and support her cause and that of "The Hunting Ground."
Hopefully the fact she didn't win the Oscar doesn't nullify this momentum and more gets done. [For starters, #FreeKesha].

Then we finally had Best Picture-- which kinda felt like a formality after Leo won :P
Morgan Freeman introduced all the nominees and it felt like he read the winner rather quickly.

And to me, it was a huge surprise that it went to SPOTLIGHT.

The Golden Globes all but ignored it. Maybe the Hollywood Foreign Press didn't like the "Press" this movie was about... who knows?

What I do know:

1) we didn't really want "Mad Max: Fury Road" to win-- despite the fact it was the only movie we saw of all this
2) I didn't really want "The Revenant" because it looks like a hard movie to get through
3) The Martian didn't win anything
4) "Spotlight" looks like a great movie and, more importantly, it looks like I'd be interested in seeing.

It's not like I intend to see ALL of the movies that've won Oscars over the years, but I'd like to see as many of them as possible. So long as there's something in it for me.
The cast alone is reason enough to see "Spotlight."

2014 Golden Golden Awards

My first Golden Globes was in 2010. I'm not sure what made me did it. I'd seen the Oscars a couple of times, but wasn't serious about movies and actors back then. But something unexpected happened that night and is the very reason why I come back year after year.

It's not every day that Robert Downey Jr. wins something at these things, yet the first time I ever tuned in, he won Best Actor in a comedy/musical for "Sherlock Holmes."
Mind you, this was before I became the huge fangirl I am now. I'd seen "Tropic Thunder" a few years before and just recently, I saw him in "Sherlock Holmes." I gotta say, the dude knows how to give a speech :-P
and I love revisiting that moment on YouTube every year as well as the press conference afterwards and a hilarious "victory lap" he did with his wife, Susan, on ET.

Everyone jokes about this awards show being a relaxed Oscars where everyone is drunk and such. I enjoy the show because there's a lot of room for unpredictability. You never know who's going to win sometimes.
I like to partake of the moments where people not used to winning get that chance, either because the Hollywood Foreign Press is composed of a looser group of people or because the split between drama and comedy/musical give some less prestigious actors to shine.

This year's examples of that were Matthew McConaughey winning best actor for "Dallas Buyer's Club" and the cop comedy-spoof "Brooklyn 99" coming away with two wins, one for the show and the other for Andy Samberg as best actor.
Granted, it's not the greatest show in the world. I didn't think it'd last more than a couple shows, but I took a chance on it and I can't get enough of it. The characters are a unique bunch and I always have a good time watching.

One thing I noticed this year was how much I really wanted to go out to see some of these movies. Like I'm itching more than ever to see "American Hustle" because it won best comedy/musical and two of its actresses were honored.
Jennifer Lawrence won the first award of the night for supporting actress. If anything, her speech made her more relatable and human because she confessed the nerves were playing a big role. I also liked how she said in her speech how she looked up the director of "I heart Huckabees" cuz she loved the movie and how she wanted to work with David O. Russell for that very reason. :-P that's my process with some of my movies. I look out for certain actors and directors when I learn they did something I really enjoyed.

Then I was super happy for Amy Adams because I knew she'd been nominated several times in recent years and this time, she actually won. Good for her!
Robert was the one giving out the award for best actress in a comedy/musical. His shtick was running through the nominees and saying what he'd get out of it depending on the winner. His consolation with Amy Adams would be that if they take a racy selfie backstage, he gets to keep that sharp Gucci tuxedo. :-P

"Dallas Buyer's Club" ran the dramatic actor categories. Jared Leto, who Ellen DeGeneres has been championing since she saw the movie, won for playing a transgender male. As for McConaughey, the props were deserved of course, but I liked how informal his speech. Being true to himself the only way McConaughey knows how.

Then for the comedy/musical category, Leonardo DiCaprio won for "Wolf of Wolf Street"... firstly, how the hell is that not in the drama category? I just don't get that. Secondly, omg, Leo actually won an award! That's something I never thought I'd get to see.
Yeah, he and Martin Scoreses will be one of the most memorable actor/director combinations in Hollywood history. They've done so many movies together that they understand how one another works. Apparently, Leo was the one lobbying for this movie to get mad.
After reading stuff about it, I'm not sure if I want to go to see in theaters. It's supposed to be hard-core R-rated, setting a new cinematic f-bomb record, with all kinds of nastiness in between. I don't know if I could stand that for three hours straight, certainly not in a big closed-off room.

I'd like to get around to "American Hustle" in theaters and "Dallas Buyer's Club" some other time... I get the feeling I'll have a hard time finding someone to see that with me.
"Her" also intrigues me quite a bit. It won for best original screenplay by Spike Jonze.

With all the talk about Sandra Bullock's performance in "Gravity," I thought she'd be a lock for Best Actress in a drama... yet it went to Cate Blanchett in "Blue Jasmine"... I guess it goes in line with the fact Woody Allen received the Cecil B. DeMille award this year.
But even then when he actually gets something, Woody Allen didn't bother to show up. I'm guessing it's a neurosis type of thing. So after the montage of his filmography (which made me feel bad I'd only seen two so far, both were great), Diane Keaton gave the acceptance speech and proved she was the perfect person to do it.

I've noticed that "Inside Llewyn Davis" has also been showing on Showtime as well as in theaters. Something about that movie intrigues me too, although I think it's just Oscar Isaac. After seeing him (well, being introduced to him) in "Sucker Punch," seeing him makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, yet there's this lure to him in that new movie that's hard to explain.

The only award "Gravity" won (something I don't imagine myself seeing, maybe ever) was Alfonso Cuaron as best Director. To think, it was only 10 years ago where he directed a Harry Potter movie :-P never mind one of my favorites.

Frozen did win for best animated film, which was great, but I was a little miffed that amazing song of theirs didn't win.
Instead it went to freaking Bono and U2 who wrote a song for a Nelson Mandela film... then they had to turn around and give such a compelling backstory that I had to stop being mad at them... it just doesn't seem fair to me that it had to go to a humanitarian effect that's guaranteed to win on that alone.

Let's see... other film stuff...
Alex Ebert, who is a new name to me (and looks like a guy Tim Burton could get along with, lol) won for best original score for that Redford film "All is Lost" He beat out John Williams ("The Book Thief") and Hans Zimmer ("12 years a slave"), my two favorite composers.

Best foreign film went to this Italian film I never heard of called "The Great Beauty"...
I'd heard of "Blue is the Warmest Color" and after seeing a clip, I recognized "The Wind Rises" as Miyazaki's last film... it shoulda gone to either of them :-P that's my bias talking.

The biggest award of the night went to 12 years a slave... considering its company, it deserved it the most of any of them... still isn't something I'd consider seeing because I don't go to theaters to see big dramatic movies. Certainly not one where I don't recognize any of the people working on it. Very much deserved, though, considering they'd been nominated a couple times and it was the only award they won all night.

As for the TV and made-for-TV perspective, "Behind the Candelabra" was a huge winner for best mini-series or made-for-TV movie and Michael Douglas winning best actor. That was a really well done movie and I thought it was a very compelling portrayal of Liberace (who I saw a biography of YEARS ago that had an impact on me)... I just hated how the last hour ran... so slow and so depressing that took away a little from what made it good to begin with... Steven Soderbergh did that to me in "Magic Mike" too, which I saw just before that.

The winning actress in that category was Elizabeth Moss for a Sundance channel film "Top of the Lake"... never heard of it before tonight, same with "Dancing on the edge" (it's on Starz, apparently, not all of us are lucky to have that channel). According to my mom and dad, the actress Jacqueline Bissist who won for best supporting actress had been around for a LONG time and it was her first ever win.
It took a long time for her to get going with her speech (as was the case with a lot of winners who didn't expect to win), but once she did, she was kinda funny to listen to, especially with that accent.

Supporting actor went to Jon Voight for his work on "Ray Donovan"... the way he was dressed reminded me of his cameo in "Tropic Thunder" where he was expecting to win an Oscar and instead was annoyed that it went to Tugg Speedman (seriously, who gets nominated AND wins for playing a part in a documentary... I always found that kinda odd, no matter how much I love that movie).

One win proved that times really are a changin'... Robin Wright won for best actress in a drama... and that drama was the Netflix series, "House of Cards."
Yet part of me kept thinking how annoyed a lot of "Scandal" fans probably are that, once again, Kerry Washington got passed over. A couple of my friends on Facebook love her in that show... I've yet to see it.

After the first two awards, (J-Law and Bissett), they made a quick shift to TV.
The category was best actor in a drama... I half-expected it to be Bryan Cranston and was beyond ecstatic that he did get the honor... considering how much people have been raving about "Breaking Bad" and how much they already miss it (again, I have yet to see it, but after this, I'm starting to consider reruns).
But then, part of that enthusiasm was that James Spader DIDN'T win for "The Blacklist"... I'm guessing he's too busy filming that or the next "Avengers" movie to even show up, but I've got my own personal bone to pick with him that needs its own entry to fully go into.

Then the awesomeness continued when "Breaking Bad," which had been nominated every year since its inception, finally won for best TV drama.
I just felt this itch coming from all the fans of the series (they're everywhere, supposedly) and how much they'd explode if the show got that last bit of respect after it was over.
I remember them bringing up the category and thinking that Bryan Cranston should wait a moment cuz he might be going back up. And the cherry on top, I'm sure for a lot of people, was that Aaron Paul had the last word: "yeah, bitch!"... that's gotta be his catch phrase on the show or something.

There was maybe one other award that I felt didn't go to the right person...
just doesn't seem fair that Amy Poehler is co-hosting this thing and she won best actress in a comedy... not just cuz she and Tina Fey were giving Julia-Louis Dreyfus grief all night for going back and forth between the movie and TV tables, but also cuz my girl Zooey Deschanel got passed over again.
C'mon, now!

That little bit aside, and possibly the awkward "Mr. Golden Globe" bit, Tina and Amy were true-to-form great hosts. Their monologue poked fun in a playful way, just inches away from crossing any lines. The most memorable had to be the Matt Damon comment (which he continued on with when he took the stage to present later on, lol) and the George Clooney comment about him not wanting to date someone the same age.

I don't remember seeing him or Brad Pitt or even Angelina Jolie (who I was kinda pleased not to see, don't care for her much) there at all. Yet at the end of the night, the "12 years a slave" crew gave props to Brad Pitt for helping them get their picture made...
Clooney supposedly had a lot of influence on "Argo" the year before, so that has to be the latest big thing in Hollywood.
Get A-list toppers Clooney and Brad Pitt involved in your picture and it's bound to go far.

So ends that awards show... phew... I'm debating about whether to do an entry on the Oscar nominees later this week, but there's really no hurry with that one. The show doesn't come until March.

...one last night.
Lea Thompson was my other favorite moment of the night. She was presenting with her heels in one hand and a martini in the other. When it came to opening the envelope, she decided to toss the shoes behind her and trade the martini glass for the envelope :-P
still think she shoulda won for "Saving Mr. Banks"... another movie I'd like to see as well.

Like I said, there'll be plenty of time to see everything before the big night.

65. Inception (2010)

Code-name: Dream (x 4)

Director: Christopher Nolan
Type: Sci-fi, drama

Cast:

Cobb- Leonardo DiCaprio
Arthur- Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Ariadne- Ellen Page
Eames- Tom Hardy
Saito- Ken Watanabe
Yusuf- Dileep Rao
Robert Fischer- Cillian Murphy
Mal- Marion Cotillard
Miles- Michael Caine

Notable Awards & Nominations:

AFI- Best Film of the Year
OSCAR- Best Cinematography
OSCAR- Best Sound Editing
OSCAR- Best Sound Mixing
OSCAR- Best Visual Effects
Nomination-OSCAR- Best Picture
Nomination-OSCAR-Best Original Score (Hans Zimmer)
Nomination-OSCAR- Best Original Screenplay (Christopher Nolan)
Nomination-OSCAR- Best Art Direction
Nomination- Golden Globe- Best Picture (Drama)
Nomination- Golden Globe- Best Director (Christopher Nolan)
Nomination- Golden Globe- Best Original Score (Hans Zimmer)
Nomination- Golden Globe- Best Original Screenplay (Christopher Nolan)

 

[For Many] The Stand-Out Film of 2010

What a year that was for movies.
I went to the theater 23 times and I more or less became a movie nerd in the process.

Ironically, this being one of the biggest hits and "movies that got people talking," I didn't see it until it premiered on HBO. The same was true with "The Social Network," which I didn't see until it premiered on FX. In both cases, I loved the movies and it was worth the wait. Unfortunately, "The Social Network" just missed making my list, but I'd been meaning to rewatch it.

Every year, there's always a movie people are talking about, asking if you saw it or if you're going to see it (and if you're one of the lucky few, how you liked it).
At the Oscars, it set the tone for "Hugo" and "Life of Pi," in that it procured almost all of the technical awards and missed out on the BIG wins (although Ang Lee won for directing "Life of Pi").

Why didn't I go to see it? I'm not sure. I certainly wasn't frugal with getting tickets. I was skeptical about "The Social Network," afraid of going there and being disappointed with what it had to offer.

How I'd Describe It...

This is the type of cinematic wonder that obtains one of two reactions:
"WTF was that all about?"
or
"Dude, that was freaking awesome."

In other words, a love it/hate it type of movie.

For me, it was "freaking awesome" and I loved it.
The type of movie you kinda have to see multiple times just to get a better grasp on understanding it. I still don't, but that's okay.
I'm not the type of movie-goer that needs every literal thing explained to them. Additionally, I like to think of myself as someone who takes weirdness and unrealism very well.

Up front, I'll say that if you haven't seen it yet (no worries, I won't wag my finger at the people who haven't), you should be prepared to leave with more questions than answers. Not all is explained. It's more or less left up to interpretation.

 

Props to the Acting Department

 

tread lightly, spoilers are afoot

Before I get any further with that, I want to applaud Christopher Nolan for putting together something I actually enjoyed watching :-P I'm in the minority of those who loathe the Dark Knight series, so it's nice there's at least one movie I enjoy from him.
The latest "Dark Knight," I liked more than its predecessor by quite a bit, but I'm still a Marvel fan-girl all the way.
Other than that, the only other Christopher Nolan film I'd watched was "The Prestige." Which I'd been meaning to see, but I just didn't like it. Neither of the two leads had any redeeming qualities, but because I hate his "Batman," I was extra pissed Christian Bale came out on top.

I am grateful, though, that he put together such a good cast for this... and proceeded to bring a couple of them to the latest "Dark Knight," where they consequently stole the show 8-)

As I may have mentioned in my Gatsby entry, it's good to see Leonardo DiCaprio in something I can enjoy. He's a handsome actor and I always harp on the fact he doesn't do movies I'd consider to be "my type." Most of the time, he's in dramas either too serious for my liking or take place in another time/place I don't care to visit.
"Catch me if you can" was a good movie and I enjoyed Leo as the lead, but it isn't a perfect compromise.

(Side-note: Considering how far I'd come as a movie nerd in recent years and that I'd seen several movies by my favorite actors despite less-than-perfect typing, maybe I should consider revisiting or at least doing more research into his resume)

Marion Cotillard would steal my heart in another film further down this list.
Although we only see her character as a phantom in Cobb's dreams, we wonder what happened to her and why she seems to be the one thing standing between Cobb and realizing his ultimate goal: finishing this way of life so he can reunite with his kids.

Ellen Page, everyone saw in "Juno," and as the newest member of this organization, she's the one asking all the hard questions and apparently the only one willing to go all the way through Inception to help Cobb.
She reminds me of a few characters I'd written myself: newcomers to a previously set dynamic of people who ask why things are as they are and feel the need to effect change.

Ariadne derives from Greek mythology as the daughter of the king who established the labyrinth, and after defeating the Minotaur, Theseus runs away with her.
That being said, her character is hired as the new "architect" for the group- someone who creates the maze of the dream world, able to navigate it easily while leaving the enemy unable to escape.

I believe she's hired because Cobb can't be the architect for this final job, seeing as the ghost of his wife Mal always creeps back into his subconscious and throws off the mission.

Although we see less of him as the movie goes on, my favorite contributor was Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I personally hadn't seen him since "Angels in the Outfield," so that alone was mind-blowing. Arthur is Cobb's right-hand man and the only person willing to clue Ariadne in about Cobb's problem with his wife.
It's hard to put it into words exactly, but I really do enjoy watching this guy act. There's just something about his presence. (As a result, I saw "50/50" in theaters and loved him in the latest "Dark Knight").

Let's see if I Got This Right...

 

I'll explain this the best I can without giving too much away.

Truthfully, this is the type of movie you have to see to believe. Plus, I'd had to set the wrong precedent by fudging the explanation.

 

For the best explanations, feel free to check out IMDB or Wikipedia... my go-to sources for the movies I don't know like the back of my hand :-P or ones I simply haven't seen in a while and have no means to revisit before the entry date.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/faq?ref_=tt_faq_sm

 

Cobb is an "extractor," who steals thoughts and ideas from people in their dreams.

For this last job, his job is to PLANT an idea. According to him, it's a parasite. "Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate."

 

They're hired by Saito to accomplish "Inception"... constructing a dream within a dream (and so on) to plant an idea in the head of his competitor, Fischer (Cillian Murphy). His father recently passed so it's up to him to figure out what to do with the company.

The idea Saito wants them to plant is "I want to split up the company."... therefore, Saito's company will dominate that particular market.

 

Eventually, this is accomplished through several levels of dreaming and Cobb's personal life adds to the complexity of the job.

 

Cobb's group and Fischer are on a long flight as they're pulling the job. All of them are sedated.

In the first dream, they're in a van driving somewhere. Meanwhile, cars are chasing them, manifestations of Fischer's subconscious trying to defend itself against their intrusion. Everyone but the driver (Yusuf, because the dreamer must be awake to maintain the conditions of that particular realm) is put under sedation.

In the second dream, they're at a hotel. The next layer is set-up and Arthur is in charge of everything running smoothly.

In the third dream, they're outdoors in Calgary.

 

An additional layer is required, Eames taking care of matters, and Ariadne and Cobb are left deal with Mal.

 

From there, it's out of my hands to attempt to explain it all.

 

The storyline with Cobb and Mal is eventually explained.

Supposedly the two of them spent several years in a dream-world they created with their memories. But he convinced her that "the world we're in isn't real." Inception was achieved, but at a cost.

She was left to believe their world isn't real, so she committed suicide to prove this to him... ultimately she dies for real, but the fact he did this to her haunts him to this day.

 

Other than being hard to explain, the only downfall of the movie was the ending... which took me a little while to "get"... it fell kinda flat for me.

 

One Final Thing..

 

I cannot finish this entry without addressing Edith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien."

 

This song is played throughout the movie, mainly as the signal to the dreamers that it's time to wake up. Or to the people controlling the dreams, it's time to set up the "kick," the motion needed to shake people out their dream state.

 

After seeing this movie, it was impossible for me to hear the song without thinking of it :-P

About as contagious and hard to eradicate an idea out of your head once you have... tee-hee

Theatrical Review: The Great Gatsby (2013)

Location: Pocono Movieplex
Date: May 11, 2013
Time: 1:10pm
Duration: 143 minutes (+3 trailers)
Party: 3 (mom & sister)

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Cast:
Nick Carraway- Tobey Maguire
Jay Gatsby- Leonardo DiCaprio
Daisy Buchanan- Carey Mulligan
Tom Buchanan- Joel Edgerton
Myrtle- Isla Fisher
Jordan Baker- Elizabeth Debicki

[Coming Attractions]
One of the best things about going to the movies is seeing the latest trailers.
This comes as a double-edged sword cuz there's always that chance the trailers look so good you find yourself thinking "that looks so much better than what I'm here to see."

First off, "Now you see it," which I think I saw the trailer for way back when before the final Twilight. I swear, every time I see a trailer for this movie, it just makes me want to see it more and more. Between the special effects and the star-studded cast (Mark Ruffalo especially has my attention, even if he is playing the "bad guy" in this), I'm just stoked.

Then was another "Lone Ranger" trailer, likely the same one I saw the previous week with "Iron-Man 3," but with less distraction. Even then and even though it is Johnny Depp, I'm not itching to see that one, at least not at the movies.

Finally, you have the final "Hangover" movie. The best trailer yet. I was laughing my ass off... is it me or is every good-looking movie coming out in May? There's gotta be some sort of magic in the air because I just want to see everything.

Only a dozen or so other people came out for this and sadly, it was at its liveliest during the "Hangover" trailer.
There's nothing quite like being in a theater erupting with laughter, but then again, "Gatsby" isn't that type of movie anyway.

[Write-up/Review]
to those unfamiliar with the book, be wary of spoilers

When I first heard about this adaptation, I was excited, especially given the high profile cast. But when the trailers started coming out, I was worried it wouldn't be received well. The "Moulin Rouge" director might have taken things too far with the party scenes and the visuals and so on.

Like so many others, this was one of those books I was assigned in high school. It was 11th grade, Honors English. It was the 2nd grading period (of 4) and my previous grade in the class was a C... it was a rough year, I had C's in all three of my honors courses and to put it bluntly, I was super close to failing PreCalculus (a few points away from a D).

My teacher was kinda old-school in a lot of ways and the previous period's grading was based around "The Crucible" and "The Scarlet Letter," neither of which I did really well on.
But when we started on "Gatsby," he brought in a student-teacher who brought it to LIFE. Not to the nth degree quite like in this movie, but he taught it to us with such energy. Maybe it's just having a fresh, younger perspective on things, but the dude was awesome.
"Farewell to Arms" was another book we went through with him and I did really well on that as well... let's put it this way, he taught things so well that when I tried to reread it, I couldn't get past the first chapter. We got past all that exposition with him and he taught it in terms we could understand.

So it pains me to admit I'd forgotten his last name. His first name was Mike :-P
he also helped direct a Neil Simon play in a school production with probably the best cast of actors my high school ever had. 
Mike Deen... I saved a lot of school newspaper clippings...
After his time with us, Mike gave us each a card with a little something inside...

and I just found it... literally the last place I looked, in a thing of old pictures...
I'm not going to copy the letter word for word, but I'll try to see if he still has this same email address... it's not likely, given this dates back to 2004...  but I'll try... 

Again, I wish I remembered more of Mike's teachings about this book because I would have referenced it plenty of times. 

One thing that does stick out and they brought plenty of attention to it in this film... he noted the significance of the green light Gatsby was always reaching for...
then there was the well-known bit of jargon known as "old sport"... we discussed the signficiance of that... later on in the film, Tom wonders about it just as much as he wonders where Gatsby's fortune came from. Being such a socialite type personality, he suspected right away that a facade was in place.

First of all, the movie started in a place I never would have imagined in reading it.
Different directors like to put their creative license on their films, but I thought it was kind of a leap at first glance that Nick Carraway was discussing and writing this book while staying at a sanitarium. Supposedly, he's been suffering from insomnia and excessive drunkenness.
After going through the movie and looking back on it, I understand why they chose to go in this direction.

I just kinda wish they hadn't because it makes the sad ending this book has depressing... more depressing than it really needs to be, especially given the times we're living in.
Part of me couldn't help but think about the character Pat Peoples from "Silver Linings Playbook" (via the book, I haven't seen the movie yet) who flipped out over this book because it didn't have a silver lining to it.

"Gatsby" represents a time in our country's history, one of those eras people from all walks of life, writers or non-writers, go back for nostalgia purposes. They approach it with the belief things were so much more exciting back then than they are right now.
The only other glimpse I got of the roaring 20's, aside of Honors Social Studies (same year as Honors English & PreCalculus), was the movie "Midnight in Paris," where Owen Wilson would be transported back to Paris in the 20's and hang out with all of this writers and artists he admired. 

Going from the trailers alone, I thought they were WAY overplaying. The liveliness of New York's nightlife and the parties at Gatsby's mansion, I'm thinking there is no way that they even had this many light bulbs and people back then. It boggled my mind and I worried all the critics would say  they were overreaching with this one.
Then again, this is the same guy who directed "Moulin Rouge," which cornered the market of exaggeration... so that's what you get.

Strangely enough, while being fully aware of this overly manufactured way of film making, I fell victim to it just like everyone else in the picture. The glitz and glamor tantalized the senses and however crazy, you just wanted to be part of the action if only to have a good time.
I have to give major props to the costume designers and the hair & make-up people who worked on this movie. They blew me away to the point I can't even explain myself other than I wanted a piece of the action.

This is part of the reason why I tagged the actress (who only has 2 other movie credits to her name thus far) who played Jordan Baker to the end of my castlist.
Granted, this character plays a significant role in the plot, as the person who introduces the idea of Gatsby to Nick and through her, he learns of the favor Gatsby wants him to do for him. But when she first appeared on screen, I knew exactly who she was (well, duh, I've read the book) and I was excited to see how she'd translate to the picture.

In every scene, she looked immaculate as if her clothes were designed for her and she could pull off chic as well as sporty (Jordan was a golfer).
I'd go so far as to say she's the kind of girl crush where I would steal her look in an instant. All of the girls in the movie (except for Tom's mistress, Myrtle) had the really short Roaring 20's hairstyle and a number of times, I considered the possibility of trying to duplicate it.

Besides the overdone imagery, going in, I was skeptical about Carey Mulligan played Daisy. In the scenes I saw beforehand, she didn't translate to me as the person I read in the book. Something was just off... maybe it was the fact I read her as having longer hair than that. But within a minute or so, I found myself falling in love with her just as much as Gatsby had five years ago. She had a certain magnetism I couldn't put my finger on.
Then as the movie progressed, a lot of that adoration went away... but that wasn't just exclusive to her, but the rest of the picture.

Wealth almost always involved exaggeration in this adaptation. In the first scene with the Buchanans, Nick arrived in the living room to meet with Daisy and all of the curtains floated into the air, cloaking the entire room. Then the help closed all the windows to stop the breeze and they floated back into place. 
Upon rereading the book a year ago, I remembered the scene very well where Nick said it was the 2nd time in his life he got plastered drunk. He was out on the town with Tom who was seeing Myrtle in a hotel room. The camera angles showed everything going out of control, whipping around the room and outside of it looking over at the town. In the scene, there's a line where Tom tells Myrtle that she can't say Daisy's name and when she won't stop, he slaps her.

I just had to ask: Mr. Luhrmann, did you really have to show that slap in slow motion?
Just ridiculous! (Unfortunately, typing this up limits me as to how much I really empahisize that... my voice strains to the point of being rendered useless entirely).
C'MON NOW!

Meanwhile, Gatsby's mansion wasn't just full of people. It was packed like everyone was in line to see a rock concert... literally wall to wall people. The only difference is that I'd mentally accepted how crazy things were in this movie by this point and I surrounded to all the visual delights offered.

Quickly to address the music... I oppose hip-hop in general, but oddly enough, I felt like most of it fit into the parties really well... my only complaint is at the speakeasy where it sounds like
Jay-Z is in the room with us talking over the dialogue... he is definitely not one of my favorite people...

I loved the casting choices for the two men. Tobey Maguire is one of a few individuals who I think are great for narration in general. No matter the situation, he has us believing he has a good eye for noting the human condition and we're entranced by his vision, which I can characterize as naive optimism.
Again going back to the trailers, however much I like Leo, they had me believing he was too accessible, too much a part of this movie to be anywhere close to the book's vision.

When we read it for class, I didn't know until it was pointed out later on that Gatsby was a young man in his early 30's. His eccentricity and of course the size of his estate has one believing he's an elusive million quite a bit older than that. But taking into account how hesitant he is to ask Nick for his help to reunite with Daisy, his age makes a lot more sense. 

Much to my relief, Gatsby remained as elusive as ever. We don't see him for quite a while, but his reputation immediately precedes him. Leo brought a hidden quality to his performance that I deem as flawless and enamoring... and beyond that, it defies description. Let's just say you have to see it to feel it and truly appreciate it, even if words are doomed to fail. 

After the party, the first time Nick spends time with Gatsby is in the craziest car ride I saw that wasn't a chase scene. 
I'm looking at the book and it contains the phrase "and then came that disconcerting ride"... which has me believing he meant the conversation. Once or two, the narration includes the word "sped," but at points, it was a toss-up between being too cheesy and too unrealistic. Gatsby's talking to Nick throughout this, giving him his full attention as if he's not even driving the car. I kept freaking out that they were going to crash into somebody because he clearly wasn't watching the road. 

The scene where Gatsby and Daisy meet, for the first time since parting ways 5 years ago, plays out just as I imagined it would... at least from his perspective. He was a nervous wreck, primed to leave even though she's set to arrive in two minutes. Then when she arrives, he disappears, only to wait at the front door for Nick to let him in.
The man had to make an entrance and going back to the book now, I do see that he's dripping wet, having been out in the rain.

Man, makes me wish I reread the book a week ago rather than a year ago because there were a lot of details I didn't remember. 
The relationship between the two of them played out beautifully, even though we all knew it was doomed to fail. 

Afterwards, the movie took another turn and the overall feel of it changed entirely.
A tension was put on so thick that you could barely cut it with a butter knife.
While Gatsby closed his mansion to all the parties and the press, spending time alone with Daisy, I couldn't help but wonder how they would bring Tom back into the picture.

We're led right away into believing the dude is a scumbag, but the movie really served to exploit that. I wanted to scream that he had no excuse to be upset with Gatsby because he's been cheating on his Daisy for ages. Given Myrtle's unfortunate fate and then some, I get that he loved both women, but seriously... if he loved Daisy as much as he claimed, he wouldn't be cheating on her. 
The worst of it is that he gets away with SO MUCH.

With all the parties gone, the movie just dragged... everything was so tense and depressing and I just wanted the last few significant scenes to be over and done with. 

Myrtle is killed in a hit-and-run, which Tom believes to be at the fault of Gatsby.
Gatsby tells Nick Daisy was driving and not to tell anyone else.
Tom slips to Wilson, Myrtle's husband, that the car belonged to Gatsby... and the obvious conclusion is drawn.

Nick spoke with such love for Gatsby that you're on his side no matter what comes to pass. Of course, as the viewing audience, we see things exactly as they are. Meanwhile, all the other characters are left with the impression that Gatsby was not only responsible for Myrtle's death, but he was the one who had the affair with her.
Yet another time Tom got away with... to that end, I have a million insults I want to throw at him right now, but all the name-calling would get too exhausting.

It's not surprising that nobody showed up for Gatsby's funeral. After all, people just showed up at the parties to have a good time. They were never invited. The only person ever invited to a Gatsby party was Nick.

They went into a lot more detail than they did in the book about Gatsby's business dealings, being in the business of bootlegging, bonds, wall-street and so on. I just didn't remember reading about the press being this rabid for details. 
I mean, they showed up at his home, taking pictures of him in the casket, almost as if they're the original paparazzi.

While it likely wasn't needed in the movie, I was disappointed that Gatsby's father didn't show up at the funeral like he did in the book. All of his backstory was told in flashbacks long before he died, but I couldn't help feeling something was missing there.

I thirsted for at least one more significant scene to the end...
a little something called closer.
Possibly Nick getting to speak to Tom and/or Daisy about what happened.
At the very least, I would have liked one final scene with him and Jordan Baker. I had to go back and read to see what happened with them.

Supposedly the last time they saw each other, she said she was engaged and whatever affections she had for him was a one-time thing... as if he was just the latest novelty...
Taking all of the above into account, it does make some poetic scene that Nick kinda lost his mind over everything. 
The 20's have jaded him with their superficiality. Ironically, Gatsby, who had such prestige surrounding him, was the only anomoly... the only person or thing Nick knew of those times that was grounded in something tangible and genunine.

No matter what he was involved in business-wise, deep down, Gatsby was just a lover and a dreamer who longed to live in the past and the future as if they were obtainable at the same time.

Grade: B
while the acting was great and the visuals were amazing, the execution of the storytelling left some to be desired.