Oscar Best Picture Rundown #3:

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

The shortest film amongst a set of films which almost half exceed the 2 hour barrier, Beasts of the Southern Wild may have had the lowest budget and the most unknown talent attached, but nothing has prevented Benh Zeitlin’s independent charmer, about a community beyond a levee in New Orleans, from being recognised... wholeheartedly deserved recognition, at that. Zeitlin’s nomination for Director may have been stolen from under Affleck’s nose, but this feat isn’t to be taken away from the first-timer. Quvenzhané Wallis’ groundbreaking nomination for Best Actress – at 9, the youngest ever – solidifies Beasts as the film that is happy not to win, but grateful to be nominated none-the-less.

Chances of Winning:

Appearing alongside the powerhouse hefty films in the mixer this year (Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln,)  counts Beasts of the Southern Wild squarely out of this race - although, love for the film hs been expressed by a few big names in Hollywood, meaning it could potentially have several votes behind it.

Film: 4.5/5
Chances of Winning: 2/5

Read my Beasts of the Southern Wild review here

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Oscar Best Picture Rundown #2:

ARGO

Ben Affleck’s third stint behind the camera has proved to be his most acclaimed – no small thing, what with the abounding love for both Gone Baby Gone and The Town – and an Oscar nomination was always going to be a certainty upon its release late last year.  The plot recounts a CIA operative attempting to rescue six U.S. diplomats by leading them out of an increasingly more violent Iran by showcasing them as a film crew on location to shoot their science-fiction film, Argo. Both intense politically-charged drama and witty Hollywood satire (thanks to John Goodman and Oscar-nominated Alan Arkin’s roles as hotshot producers,) Argo - for all of its Sidney Lumet-esque 70s politics - is an immensely enjoyable flick that succeeds at everything Affleck wanted it to.

Will it win?

Following its recent mammoth runaway success this awards season in all the leading categories, Argo has gone from dark horse to serious contender in a matter of weeks. Affleck being snubbed by the Academy for a nomination in the Best Director category initially stunted its chances, (the last time Best Director wasn’t won by a filmmaker behind the Best Picture was in 2006 – Ang Lee reigned supreme for Brokeback Mountain over the victorious Crash,) 2013 is looking likely to re-set that stat. Affleck will be both unofficial king and unsung hero of the Oscars. 

Film: 4.5/5
Chances of Winning: 4.5/5

Read my Argo review here

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Oscars Best Picture Rundown #1:

 This Sunday, awards season comes to a close as the Oscars arrive; perhaps not as important as once billed, seeing who picks up an Academy Award statuette is still the most entertaining night on the film calendar. This year, nine films have been nominated for Best Picture and every day leading up to the big night, I will be running through each film and rating its chances of winning. Presented by Seth MacFarlane, the ceremony will be broadcast live through the night on Sky Movies Oscars (check the top-notch official poster below.)

So, time to grab your popcorn and get your sweepstakes ready - the rundown starts here..! First up?

AMOUR

Michael Haneke, the Austrian auteur, is renowned for making films so bleak you’ll either love ‘em or hate ‘em (see: Funny Games, Hidden, The White Ribbon.) But rarely does a film garner such unanimous praise as the French–language film Amour has done since it's Palme d'Or win at Cannes Film Festival last May. His emotionally-driven love story about a long-married couple who have to deal with a trauma when illness strikes is elevated by the two central performances (Emmanuelle Riva – officially now the oldest Best Actress nominee ever,and Jean-Louis Trintigant - cruelly overlooked) making this Haneke’s most acclaimed film to date. A nomination, and probable win, in the Foreign Picture category is a no-brainer; its appearance in the main category is a nice touch.  

  

Will it win?

If Haneke hadn't received a nod in the Best Director category, Amour's chances would be non-existent. But its aforementioned Foreign Picture nomination counts it out of the race. Last year’s winner (The Artist) may have been French-affiliated, but a foreign-language film has actually never won the top prize since the ceremony's conception in 1929. Nine have been nominated (including Amour,) with Clint Eastwood’s Japanese-language Letters from Iwo Jima being the most recent in 2006. Crazy to have to count Amour out when it is probably the most unanimously praised film out of all the nine nominees.

Film: 4.5/5

Chances of Winning: 1/5
 

Read my Amour review here

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Wreck-It Ralph

2012, PG, Directed by Rich Moore
Starring: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch

Ralph is bad. Ralph – with his over-sized block hands - is programmed to wreck things in the arcade game he has long been a part of. When the arcade lights go down at the end of a tiresome day, Ralph is ostracised in favour of the game’s hero Fix-It Felix, Jr., left out of the parties held at his penthouse and the cakes baked by his fellow characters. This day-to-day occurance is what brings Ralph to Bad Anon, a support group for video game villains. ‘I will never be good...and that’s not bad,’ villains ranging from Mario baddie Bowser to a House of the Dead zombie are told. Not content with this rationale, Ralph (voiced by ultimate supporting actor John C. Reilly) decides to take matters into his own large hands and does the unthinkable: skips games (via Game Central Station, of course!) in hope of winning his very own gold medal. 

The latest Disney outing may not reach the heights of Pixar movie magic, however Rich Moore's animation does have a hint of the untouchable Toy Story; once the gamers have departed the Arcade for the day, we are drawn into the game, unveiling a whole world beyond the screens. Moore immerses us into the virtual world seamlessly, delivering the film in the guise of an actual video game. With the world comes the rules (namely the one Ralph breaks - stick to your game,) the video game character interaction (two fighters from Street Fighter calling it a day and heading for a beer is priceless,) and the fears (Toy Story's characters feared the shelf...these characters fear the 'Out of Order' sign.) It is a broadly well-realised concept that really succeeds. Add to the mixer the nostalgic element at play, and Wreck-It Ralph becomes equally as watchable for adults as it is for kids.

As Ralph bumbles his way into a first-person shooting game (in a standout scene, we see how the characters incorporate the paying gamers into their world,) right through to landing in Sugar Rush, a sickly-sweet racing game populated by saccharine little children and fulsomely sprightly adults, a smile will be firmly fixed on your face. It is in this game where he meets 9-year-old Vanellope Von Schweetz, a candy-pun-spewing handful who forges a friendship with our titular hero. Voiced by comedienne Sarah Silverman, the character may irritate a touch to begin, but it is doubtful her existence as a 'glitch' (for the techno-phobes: a system fault) won't tug at the heartstrings by the end; left out by her fellow characters, just like Ralph, there is more than a hint of Monsters Inc.'s Sulley and Boo here. Not a twosome as near as memorable, however Ralph and Vanellope are endearing enough to make you root for 'the Wreck-It guy' to aid the 'glitch' in realising her dreams of participating in a cup race...a true underdog story.

Wreck-It Ralph may not reach the heights of Pixar's best, but don't be fooled - this is still a cut above the rest, and superior to Disney's recent offerings Filled with references galore, laugh-out-loud quips and top-notch characterisation (including a homeless Q*bert,) this - as well as the charming pre-feature short Paperman - is an unadulterated joy to be shared with all.

This game is not over.  

4/5

 

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Django Unchained

2012, 18, Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson

Say what you want about Quentin Tarantino, there’s no doubt as to the loyalty of the guy’s feverish fan-base; with five gleaming entries into his ‘body of work,’ accompanied by a few - shall we say... misjudged steps (Death Proof is not a bad film – just a letdown by QT’s standards) – Tarantino’s latest and always anticipated slice of filmmaking is as revisionist,  homage-laden and violently-stylised as we’ve come to expect. This time, instead of rewriting the history of WWII (as seen in 2009’s Inglourious Basterds,) his attention has now turned to – or returned to, for this is something forever been in the pipeline - the subject of slavery in Django Unchained.

 As the film commences, our titular hero Django (Jamie Foxx) is a slave who, in a perfectly-pitched opening scene, is set free by bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) – and his horse, Fritz. Initially requiring Django’s services to identify a trio of brothers with price tags dangling over their racist heads, he learns the softly-spoken former-slave was separated from his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington,) who is now owned by Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio,) the charmingly malicious owner of plantation Candyland - the two forming an unlikely companionship as they trek across America to free Broomhilda. For all of Django’s gun-slinging, Foxx plays him as effectively as Tarantino’s script allows him, perhaps in many scenes relying on the character’s presence to do the talking. That he isn’t as memorable as the supporting players is more credit to Tarantino’s character-conception than a disservice to Foxx. In all honesty, Schultz and Candie could be two of the finest characters he has created, with the latter providing Leo DiCaprio with the performance of his career thus far. For all of Christoph Waltz’s terrifying tenacity as Hans Landa in Basterds, he plays what we could previously assume is against type here, with Schultz one of the most compassionate creations in the QT film canon. With claims to being a former dentist, the calmest bounty hunter that side of the border travels across the states by a horse-led carriage fit with a tooth attached to a spring bouncing off the top. Razor-sharp wit of the visual form.   

A sustained dramatically-ironic dinner table scene as Django and Schultz eat side-by-side along with Candie, observed by Samuel L. Jackson's disturbing watchful head slave Stephen, is reminiscent of many scenes from his filmography, matching the ranks of tension, as mindless conversation abounds and the character interaction flits from one to another as the minutes tick away; essential Tarantino. Mention must go to L. Jackson, an actor seemingly unrecognised by his peers; his Stephen - a loyal house slave rarely leaving his master's side, with every glance lined with adoration - is downright disturbing. As the scene plays out, his wide-eyed hawk-like eyeballs flit about, scrutinizing even the littlest detail - not any actor could cause such unease in the mere movement of eyes.

So far, so Quentin. Unlike most of his films before, however this is strictly linear – no slicing up of the structure in what is now deemed to be his convention. Django Unchained is all the better for it. Playing it straight was an unprecedented move which he makes up for in space of extreme hyper-realised violence, an on-the-nail soundtrack and scenes shaped as witty asides, not forgetting the beautifully-realised backdrops. You can just tell how much the director is revelling in his version of a Western (deemed by the man himself as, in fact, a 'Southern',) pastiching all of his favourites - 1966's Django being the most obvious influence, highlighted by the cameo of original Django actor Franco Nero.

Much has been spoken about the film's running time (165 minutes,) and granted, the film is slightly stunted by a bizarre cameo from Tarantino himself. However, it is hard to deny the care and love merged with every stylistically-charged shot presented to the audience. Tarantino remains a filmmaker to take notice of.

'The D is silent,' drawls Foxx's Django. My praise for this film could never be.

4.5/5

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Flight

15, Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Denzel Washington, Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle, John Goodman   

 

After a slew of motion-capture animated offerings (The Polar Express, Beowulf, A Christmas Carol), Robert Zemeckis’ timely welcome return to the fold of live-action filmmaking – his first since 2000’s Cast Away – manifests itself in the form of Flight.  A boozy old-school character study, Denzel Washington is the sole focal point as (the strangely named) Whip Whittaker, an airline pilot who successfully crash lands a passenger jet. Whip’s nightmare begins once he regains consciousness however, as an investigation into the crash highlights the presence of alcohol in his bloodstream.  Considering the opening scene pits Whittaker guzzling beer and snorting cocaine through the night – and then bravely shows him boarding a passenger jet as its lead pilot, as casual as if he were working a 3-hour shift in the local supermarket – it is clear-cut our friend Whip has an addiction.

 Washington is as brilliant as always, giving a searing performance that takes John Gatins’ screenplay and positions audience members in a moral dilemma; this is a guy who is mindless to his problems...the same guy is also a hero. Washington pushes the boundaries as Whip, holding us in a headlock as he hurtles towards an unpredictable final act. If only the film could live up to his performance, instead he is forced to carry the weight of the suspect structure throughout. British actress Kelly Reilly is introduced in a disparate storyline early on, introducing us to her recovering junkie Nicole. When the characters collide in a scene not long after, you would be mistaken for assuming this story strand will culminate in adding something to the lengthy running time. Love interest? Plot filler? Neither; she is simply a mind-numbingly worthless addition and really bruises what potentially could have been a first-rate drama. A shame, considering the talent and promise Reilly evidently conducts. Intermittent appearances from the ever-welcome John Goodman are as welcome as ever, if slightly out of touch with the film surrounding them; he plays (the strangely named) Harling Mays, Whip's drug dealer pal, injecting a random bout of comedy to the whole thing - something Argo did so well, but Flight misplaces. 

The highs of Flight make the lows fall like crashes... the standout opening plane sequence, and the build-up to the climactic hearing Whip must attend proves that the clunky exposition has shrouded the decent stuff, with these particular scenes providing breathless action and impressive visuals; factors that help you remember why Zemeckis, the man behind the amazing Back to the Future trilogy, is up there with the elite. 

As it stands, this flight is a turbulent one.

 

3/5

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Zero Dark Thirty

2012, 15, Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Mark Strong

Every year in the film universe, there appears to be a certain film which the release of sparks debate, splattering said film with controversial matter, presenting the danger of a preconceived notion planting itself into your brain before you’ve even bought your cinema ticket, thus shaping an opinion of a film you're yet to see; this year, Zero Dark Thirty is the target. Depiction of torture, an inclusion of archival footage documenting Obama’s refusal that torture-tactics were employed in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden amount to highly undeserved hole-picking of an extraordinary film that is not afraid to embrace the facts.

Kathryn Bigelow's first film since The Hurt Locker originally documented the agonising search for ‘the most dangerous man in the world,' 10 years as long as it was futile... until history altered matters on May 2^nd, 2011 when Bin Laden was finally shot and killed on sight. Bigelow's film now having a definitive closure, she and Mark Boal rewrote the entire script to account for these turn of events.

Soldiers may have carried out the deed, but not before a decade-long hunt led by a female CIA officer - here, named Maya. Re-assigned to Pakistan in 2003 following a brief career solely focusing on locating the terrorist following 9/11, Jessica Chastain skilfully tracks us from silently reserved to brashly determined, her job providing an excuse to be obsessive, as the years roll by and the locating of Bin Laden seems ever more probable. The actress does a fantastic job of emphasising the frustration of being surrounded by uncertainty in a hugely urgent situation; her superiors remain uncommitted to her confidence, coming to a head in scenes where she locks heads with Kyle Chandler’s Chief Joseph Bradley or James Gandolfini's CIA Director – a polar opposite to the Maya we see years previous, looking on as fellow CIA officer Dan (Jason Clarke) waterboards, strips and all-round tortures a detainee with possible links to terrorists. Being left alone with the detainee, somewhat uncomfortable with what she is witnessing, the interrogated pleas for her help. After a moment's hesitation, she steps forward. ‘You can help yourself by being truthful,’ she quietly says. Maya is the very epitome of lone wolf, her backstory non-existent, a character shrouded in as much mystery as the operation she is heading; the only thing Boal’s script permits us to fully process about Maya is that this hunt, for unknown reasons, is a deeply personal one.  

It may be no secret as to how this story ends, but this fact does not detract from the remainder a single bit, a sure-fire sign of a brilliant director. Somehow, Bigelow ensures her film remains as tense a cinematic experience that you can possibly have (and much more than just an extended episode of the brilliant Homeland.) The entire running time - from the aesthetically tortuous opening blank screen of nothing but a collage of reactions voiced in the initial aftermath of the 9/11 attacks - is nerve-shredding and terse as hell. Sharp script, taut editing - everything that Bigelow and Boal bring to their film is finely-tuned, every scene knife-sharp to the point of perfection. A top-of-her-game Bigelow has offered up what is, quite frankly, a master-class in filmmaking. If you were in any doubt of this, Zero Dark Thirty's final half hour will convince you; confirmation from the highest order is given to allow a team of freshly-deployed soldiers to do what the film - and 10 years of real time - built up to. Riding in stealth choppers towards a Pakistan compound, many of the team crack jokes and lark about, never once in any doubt that in front of them lies the world’s most wanted terrorist - a located needle in the globe's haystack - with the pressure on them to take him down. The mission that unfolds on-screen in real-time, cutting between the obscuring darkness of night and the equally as engaging, yet unnerving infra-red POV goggles, is terrifyingly and bluntly real; it’s hard to put into words just the heights Bigelow reaches depicting this rigorous operation, putting us in the position of the SEAL team in a way no other could - or indeed, would. I dare you to breathe during these moments.

With Maya’s mission complete and her time to head home arriving, we learn more about her character in the closing 30 seconds than the entire film allows us to; for all of her conviction, her life away from this obsessive hunt is clouded with an uncertainty she has been distracted from for so long. Zero Dark Thirty - for all of its conviction - is a rare feat: something that all film's should aspire to be.  

5/5

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