Best Picture Nominee #8

12 Years a Slave

Undoubtedly one of the year’s strongest nominees, 12 Years a Slave has all the makings of a Best Picture winner: the sensitive subject crafted in an articulate and astounding way by a director rapidly crawling to the top of his game. Sure, Steve McQueen has a taste for the bleak (Hunger, Shame), but this does not detract from the film’s credibility. Naturally, controversy has hit surrounding its depiction of slavery. But the fact its closest rival is fundamentally a two-hander sci-fi blockbuster speaks volumes about how interesting this year’s race is…

If I was a betting man, my money would be splashed on 12 Years a Slave to beat Gravity to the Best Picture Oscar.

Film: 4.5/5
Chances of winning: 4.5/5

What will it win? The main award of the evening (Best Picture) - yet its other two best chances are slightly shadier: Best Supporting Actress for Lupits N'yongo is threatened by Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle) in the ceremony's closest battle, and Best Adapted Screenplay for John Ridley.


Readmore...

Best Picture Nominee #7

Philomena

It’s great to see Philomena amongst this year’s crop, not only alerting those who weren’t aware of an astounding true story, but championing the British side of things. Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope’s script, adapted from Martin Sixsmith’s book, tells the story of political journalist Sixsmith himself (here played by Coogan) and Philomena Lee (Dame Judi Dench), who attempts to find her son who was cruelly taken away from her five decades previous when she fell pregnant in a convent. The film is fantastic, putting the audience through countless emotions all at once, but the nomination - sadly - is a case of filler.  

Film: 4.5/5
Chances of winning: 1/5

What will it win? The suspicious has sneaked in how Philomena could pull a blinder in the Adapted Screenplay category, snatching the statuette away from John Ridley for 12 Years a Slave. It's a big shout, one that would be praised, but when it comes down to it, may just be too good to be true.
Readmore...

Best Picture Nominee #1

This year's Oscar race is perhaps the most interesting one in sometime; what is fundamentally a two-horse race, there are a whole array of other eclectic nominees which ensures the annual ceremony remains an exciting one. Time for analysis...

American Hustle  

David O. Russell's tale, loosely based on the FBI ABSCAM operation of the 70s, is something of an enigma. The film isn't bad - it remains, in fact, great fun - and it’s not that the film doesn't deserve awards recognition. But somehow, for a film that happens to be tied at having the most nominations (with Gravity, fact fans), its severe lack of heart remains a problem. With O. Russell clearly loitering in voter’s regards following 2012's Silver Linings Playbook, the fact remains that American Hustle is quite the contender. If anything, the wheels are in motion for Jennifer Lawrence to steal the Supporting Actress gong from right under the nose of Lupita N’yongo (12 Years a Slave), perhaps lessening its chances in the Best Pic category. Let it be said: a shock upset isn't on the cards, however there's no denying the film's continued prowess throughout the entire awards season. Would it have been nominated had simply five films made the cut? Certainly. Yet is it the weakest one out of this year's bunch? Definitely.

Film: 3.5/5

Chances of winning: 3/5

What will it win? Its best bets are success in the Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay and Costume Design category - my prediction is that N'yongo will reign supreme in the evening's closest battle, and Her will take the Original Screenplay crown. Costume Design it is.

Readmore...

Inside Llewyn Davis

15, 2014, Directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman
  

Pluck a film from the back catalogue of those brothers Coen and sure as anything it'll have a leading character oozing hapless self-obsessed schmuckery; a leading character who - in any other filmmaker's feature - would traipse around on-screen with an air of teeth-baring unlikability; someone that you'd walk past on the street and never ever look back at.

...and so, add Llewyn Davis, our titular guide through the 1961 New York folk scene, to that list (the same one including both Barton Fink and Jerry Lundegaard, just resting under Larry Gopnik). An immensely talented guitar-strumming musician attempting to make a break in a scene that offers him no breaks, Llewyn is fundamentally a sofa-dwelling layabout who makes no effort to appease those closest he has to friends.

With the loving attention-to-detail the Coen's are so adept at layering over every shot, their films live a life different to most others with Inside Llewyn Davis bearing no difference. Such is the conviction of their period setting, dabbled with the effortlessly fluent screenplay setting a tone that flows with no specific apex, at times it is saddening to recalibrate to the notion that you aren’t watching a biographical documentary, but a work of fiction inspired by real-life musician Dave van Ronk (which, if you didn’t know, makes for a world class soundtrack - songs come in full here).

That’s no negative. Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel creates a lavishly bleak locale for the events that befall ole’ Llewyn and bleak has rarely looked so beautiful. Oscar Isaac embraces the opportunity to become somebody, breathing life into this character potentially having the worst week of his life. In between performing songs to a near-packed Gaslight Café (the basement coffee house situated in Greenwich Village, which famously introduced an unsuspecting world to Bob Dylan) and deciding whose sofa-space he can scrounge the following night, Llewyn’s half-hearted futile attempts to earn a record deal are dampened further by his unwitting theft of the hospitable Gorfein’s orange tabby cat and Jean, the girlfriend-of-a friend that he may or may not have knocked up (a deliciously frosty Carey Mulligan, churning Coen Brother dialogue like a pro and Justin Timberlake at home in woollen jumpers).

An offbeat middle section follows, with Davis hitching a ride to Chicago with a strangely menacing John Goodman (no surprises) as a travelling jazz musician and his beat poet driver (Garrett Hedlund).  Serving as an opportunity to make discoveries of his troubled past he wouldn’t dream on reflecting upon otherwise, the sequence also presents that now-classic Coen notion of presenting a sequence of importance that leaves as rapidly as it comes - introducing a scenario that departs before a resolution - capturing that unknowing essence of life: if we encounter a stranger on the street, what happens to them later on that evening will simply never be known.

But here is a Joel and Ethan film with a beating heart that pulsates a little harder than usual; in Davis, we’ve a protagonist that bit different to the others featured throughout Coen canon. Sure, his future remains as uncertain, yet you’re left with a tint of optimism that if returned to in years to come, Llewyn Davis could be a cat-owning, home-dwelling, sofa-lender all of his own. In what has been a milestone year for cinema, these brothers effortlessly show that you don’t need 3D glasses or tear-jerking subjects to provide cinemagoers with what is quite evidently yet another emotive masterclass in filmmaking.  

5/5

Readmore...

Golden Globes 2014 - The Predictions

Best Motion Picture – Drama

12 Years a Slave; Captain Phillips; Gravity; Philomena; Rush

Prediction: Discounting all but 12 Years a Slave and Gravity, the entire awards season truly is a two-horse race this year; Steve McQueen’s challenging film tackles slavery, whilst Alfonso Cuarón’s blockbuster embraces spectacle – you really couldn’t get two more different films, and it could go either way. Judging by the HFPA’s past winners, I predict Gravity will be the evening’s big winner meaning 12 Years a Slave will have to wait until March for its statuette

Who I Want: Gravity – an immersive rollercoaster ride of a film.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine; Sandra Bullock – Gravity; Judi Dench – Philomena; Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks; Kate Winslet – Labor Day

Prediction: The awards buzz has surrounded Blanchett since Blue Jasmine landed last summer, and although strong competition has manifested in Sandra Bullock and us Brits (with Judi Dench building prominence for her role in Philomena), it would be one hell of a shock if Cate Blanchett didn’t emerge victorious in a completely deserved win for Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine.

Who I Want: Cate Blanchett – her role in Blue Jasmine is one that will never be forgotten.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave; Idris Elba – Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom; Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips; Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club; Robert Redford – All Is Lost

Prediction: As astounding as it would be to see Ejiofor finally recognised for the terrific actor he is, Tom Hanks put forward a true masterclass in Captain Phillips. Could he commandeer the win? It will be close, but I still think Chiwetel Ejiofor will come away with the win for his role as Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave - with Matthew McConaughey the dark horse just outside the ring.

Who I Want: Tom Hanks for that final scene alone, although would be incredible to see acting legend Robert Redford take to the stage.

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
American Hustle; Her; Inside Llewyn Davis; Nebraska; The Wolf of Wall Street

Prediction: A category specific to comedy and musicals featuring no out-and-out comedies or musicals, it would be easy to assume this is American Hustle’s or The Wolf of Wall Street’s. Yet I’m putting my chips on Nebraska – Alexander Payne is an HFPA favourite.

Who I Want: Inside Llewyn Davis – the Coen Brothers have made a love-letter to 60s folk that rivals their back catalogue and veers towards perfection.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
Amy Adams – American Hustle; Julie Delpy – Before Midnight; Greta Gerwig – Frances Ha; Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Enough Said; Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Prediction: An understated output, Meryl Streep will win for no other reason than it’s another great performance from Meryl Streep…

Who I Want: Greta Gerwig – Frances Ha may not have been perfect, but her performance was one of the year’s most memorable.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical

Christian Bale – American Hustle; Bruce Dern – Nebraska; Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street; Oscar Isaac – Inside Llewyn Davis; Joaquin Phoenix – Her

Prediction: A category filled with top rate performances and no clear favourites means this will be the exciting one; as great as Bale is in American Hustle, he has been better, and even though Oscar Isaac is incredible in the Coen Brothers’ entrancing Inside Llewyn Davis, it’ll be down to Dern and DiCaprio to truss this one out… Expect Bruce Dern to get the gold for his role as Woody Grant in Nebraska.

Who I Want: Leonardo DiCaprio – this is one actor who deserves to be rewarded, especially for a performance such as this.

Best Animated Feature Film
The Croods; Despicable Me 2; Frozen

Prediction: Quite a tough one to call, but Disney’s Frozen will come away with the win here – despite fierce competition from those Minions

Who I Want: No preference really –Despicable Me 2, because it was my little brother Isaac’s favourite film of last year. Yep. I'm a good bro.

Best Foreign Language Film
Blue is the Warmest Colour; The Great Beauty; The Hunt; The Past; The Wind Rises

Prediction: Upon first look, this appears a straight forward category. What with Blue Is the Warmest Colour being winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes. All of the other nominated films have critical acclaim behind them however - especially Sorrentino's The Great Beauty - meaning this is one of the evening’s tougher ones to call. Still, I’m opting for Blue Is the Warmest Colour.

Who I Want: The Hunt – a mesmerizing film, with a jaw-dropping performance from Hannibal’s Mads Mikkelsen.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine; Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle  ; Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave; Julia Roberts – August: Osage County; June Squibb – Nebraska

Prediction: Some great performances in yet another category with no clear frontrunner, June Squibb should win for her show-stealing role in Nebraska. However, awards darling Jennifer Lawrence – fresh from her Silver Linings… success – has gained heat as the night has crept ever closer.

Who I Want: June Squibb for taking a character and transforming her from frustrating matriarch into one of the most heart-warming roles of 2013.

Best Performance in an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips; Daniel Brühl – Rush; Bradley Cooper – American Hustle; Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave; Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Prediction: It’s really great to see newcomer Barkhad Abdi recognised amongst these other terrific performances, but I can see all being trounced by Jared Leto’s appearance in Dallas Buyer’s Club.

Who I Want: Michael Fassbender or Daniel Brühl, for his fantastic portrayal of FL legend Niki Lauda.

Best Director – Motion Picture
Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity; Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips; Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave; Alexander Payne – Nebraska; David O. Russell – American Hustle

Prediction: It will be damned difficult to beat Alfonso Cuarón, who I am assuming is a shoo-in for his fascinating work on display in the ground-breaking Gravity. In many ways, it should be his.  

Who I Want: I believe that Cuarón deserves every accolade laid upon him; an extraordinary filmmaker who delivered a show-stopping film.

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Spike Jonze – Her; Bob Nelson – Nebraska; Jeff Pope, Steve Coogan – Philomena; John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave; Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell – American Hustle

Prediction: I’m going to opt for Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell’s American Hustle screenplay – their re-telling of the ABSCAM operation back in the 70s (albeit with caper twist) seems like a script that would take the gong.

Who I Want: Philomena – seeing Jeff Pope and Steve Coogan scooping the award for their heartfelt re-telling of Martin Sixsmith’s account would be a great moment.

Readmore...