Tag / Christopher Nolan

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The Academy Award Goes To

side_oscarAs they finish polishing up the statues for tonight’s ceremony, it’s time to finish up our predictions with the major categories for the 96th Academy Awards.  So, without further ado, we begin with:

Best Picture

American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest

I’ve seen a grand total of two of these, but neither is likely to win so I’ll go with Oppenheimer, which seems like the type of movie to win these awards.

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Colman Domingo, Rustin
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

Paul Giamatti’s performance in The Holdovers is the best of the nominated work that I have seen.  Of course, it is also the only nominated performance that I have seen.

Best Actress

Annette Bening, Nyad
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan, Maestro
Emma Stone, Poor Things

I’ve seen none of these, so I’ll take a stab in the dark and pick Emma Stone.

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by admin

The Nominees Are

side_oscarThe 96th Academy Awards are going down next Sunday night and that means it is time for another go-around of my woeful predictions.  I don’t know that I’ve heard of many of these movies let alone seen them, so, with less basis in fact than most years, here’s my uneducated predictions for the non-acting awards.

Best Original Screenplay

Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, Anatomy of a Fall
David Hemingson, The Holdovers
Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer, Maestro
Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik, May December
Celine Song, Past Lives

I’ve seen a whopping two of these films, so I’m going to pick my favorite of the two, The Holdovers.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, Barbie
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Tony McNamara, Poor Things
Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest

I’m assuming this will be the start of a big night for Nolan and Oppenheimer.

Best Animated Feature

The Boy and the Heron
Elemental
Nimona
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Once again, I’ll go with the one I’ve seen.

Best Cinematography

Edward Lachman, El Conde
Rodrigo Prieto, Killers of the Flower Moon
Matthew Libatique, Maestro
Hoyte van Hoytema, Oppenheimer
Robbie Ryan, Poor Things

Seems like I’m going all in with the atomic bomb movie.

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran, Barbie
Jacqueline West, Killers of the Flower Moon
Janty Yates and Dave Crossman, Napoleon
Ellen Mirojnick, Oppenheimer
Holly Waddington, Poor Things

This seems like as good a place as any for Barbie to get on the board.

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Trying To Get It Right This Year

side_oscarAs they finish polishing up the statues for Sunday’s awards ceremony, it’s time to finish up our predictions with the major categories.  In a strange change of pace, I’ve actually seen one or two of these.  So, without further ado, we begin with:

Best Picture

Call Me By Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape Of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Unlike years past, I’ve actually seen 2 of these films.  Sadly, I’m not picking either to win, but instead am going with The Shape Of Water.

Best Actor

Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

With talk of his upcoming retirement from acting, my guess is that Daniel Day-Lewis will take home the prize.

Best Actress

Sally Hawkins, The Shape Of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Meryl Streep, The Post

I’m guessing that Margot Robbie’s turn as disgraced skater Tonya Harding will earn the ultimate recognition.

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You Ought To Be In (19) Pictures

Movie_Reel_22Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  So, given those guidelines, it is time to look at all of the actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of May 30th.

Today, we dive into the 3 actors that have starred in 19 movies that I have seen.

Ben Affleck

The first Ben Affleck starring role that I saw was in 1997, when I saw both Going All The Way and Chasing Amy.  In 1999, he kicked off a 6 year run where I saw 11 of his films, including 3 films in both 2000 and 2003.  There were 5 years total where I had seen multiple Affleck outings.  In recent years, he has been focusing more on directing, including the last film in which I saw him, 2012’s Argo which I saw last year.  He’s likely to move up this list in the future thanks to his casting as Batman in the upcoming Man of Steel sequel.

George Clooney

George Clooney was bouncing around Hollywood for a while before becoming a superstar on a little show called ER, whose pilot movie was his first entry on this list.  That launched him to great film success.  2 films is my high water mark for Clooney, one which I have reached 5 different times, most recently in 2012.  Like Affleck in the future, Clooney also had the opportunity to wear the cowl and cape in 1997’s Batman & Robin, which killed off that franchise and set the stage for Christopher Nolan’s Bat franchise.  My most recent Clooney experience, which will actually bump him up to the next tier, was Gravity, which I saw earlier this year after the cutoff for this list.

Eddie Murphy

It’s hard to believe now, but at one time, Eddie Murphy was the biggest star in the land.  My first experience with him was likely Beverly Hills Cop.  7 of his films were seen before I started keeping track, so I’m not sure of when I first saw them.  Of the 7 years since that I have seen an Eddie Murphy film, 5 of them have been multiples.  It’s been over a decade since I’ve seen one of his starring perfromances, as I suffered through both Showtime and Adventures Of Pluto Nash in 2004.

by jim

You Were The Bomb In Phantom, Yo!

batman-affleckWarner Bros managed to send millions of nerds into a rage yesterday by announcing that Ben Affleck would be donning the cape and cowl as Batman in the upcoming sequel to this summer’s Man of Steel.  Affleck replaces Christian Bale, who had bowed out after the conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s Bat-trilogy last summer, and will appear in the Superman flick as Warner Bros and DC tries to recreate the magic Marvel found with last year’s Avengers.

The outrage seemingly stems from the fact that Affleck, star of stellar films as Daredevil and Gigli, doesn’t have the chops to play Batman.  Of course, fans (or their fathers and older brothers) said the same thing about Michael Keaton when he was cast as the Dark Knight back in the late 1980s.  Not to mention the criticism that fell upon Nolan when it was announced that Heath Ledger would be playing the Joker in his middle film.  The same fans that decried those casting decisions lauded both actors once the films were actually made.

Will Affleck make a good Batman?  Time will tell, but given his recent output, it doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility.  In fact, the question might even be why would he take the role, after focusing on smaller, more serious roles over the last few years.

Even if it doesn’t work, Warner Bros will have the building blocks in place for their long awaited Justice League film and they have shown that they have no problem switching out the actor underneath the cowl if things aren’t working out.  Hey, maybe Val Kilmer is available.

by jim

A Dark Night Rising

Earlier this morning, I arrived at the local cineplex to catch the latest and final installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman saga.  I was worried about two things: staying awake and not getting asked to leave due to alcohol-fueled tomfoolery.  It never occurred to me that going to see this film could be the last thing I ever did on this Earth.  I’m sure it never occurred to anyone in Aurora, CO either.

I’m sure you’ve heard the story by now.  A masked and heavily armed gunman opened fire on an unsuspecting crowd last night during the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises.  12 people are dead.  Dozens more were wounded.  A lunatic, who may have dyed his hair to resemble the Joker’s from the previous film and did booby-trap his apartment, is in police custody.  And a nation is left to ask the same question we always ask in this situation: why?

As of yet, there are no answers as to why.  Is there an answer that would satisfy us?  Can there be an explanation that would explain why a doctoral student who had no previous run-ins with the law decided to execute people for going to see a movie?  Sadly, I think we all know the answer is no.  We will never get a logical explanation for an act that was so illogical.

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30 Day Movie Challenge Day 19 – Favorite Movie Based On A Book/Comic

Rather than choose between a book and a comic, I’m going to choose one of each.
Winona Ryder starred in the film, but it was Angelina Jolie’s coming out party, and she took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

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