Oscars 2015: Oh, How Wrong I Was

For a while, during the broadcast of the 87th Academy Awards broadcast, which I watched at the Rialto Theater in Raleigh (pictured above) last night, I was getting every category right as per my predictions posted last Friday. But my winning streak ended approximately halfway through after 14 Oscars were given out, when my pick for Best Editing, BOYHOOD, was beaten out by WHIPLASH. After that I lost 4 others (see below) including the biggest one, Best Picture.

I was happy that BIRDMAN and its director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, won (the film was my #2 favorite of 2014), but I was really rooting for BOYHOOD, and Richard Linklater to take home the gold because I thought it had the slight innovative and emotional edge going for it. 

As for the show itself, first-time host Neil Patrick Harris did a good job starting with his intro - “Tonight we honor Hollywood's best and whitest -sorry brightest” - and the opening song and dance number (especially the Jack Black bit) was one of the stronger ones of recent years, but he wasn't given the best material to work with, something many are blaming on Oscar Head Writer Greg Berlanti, who's so not a comedy writer.

I enjoyed Lady Gaga's tribute to the 50th anniversary of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, the “Everything is Awesome” (from the otherwise snubbed THE LEGO MOVIE) production number (featuring amusing appearances by Tegan and Sara, The Lonely Island and Questlove!), and the acceptance speeches by Julianne Moore, Patricia Arquette, IDA director Paweł Pawlikowski (glad this win may get more people to see the striking IDA), and director Iñárritu in particular.

But I wasn't a fan of NPH's running gag about his Oscar predictions being sealed in a briefcase, locked in a clear box onstage, with his recruiting previous Oscar winner Octavia Spencer to keep her eyes on it throughout the show - the supposed pay off really didn't result in big laughs. I also was disappointed that Joan Rivers, who I tweeted “was in a lot of films, even directed one (a big flop but it starred Oscar fave Billy Crystal)” and SNL's Jan Hooks, who also appeared in a lot of movies including a pivotal part in PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE, were left out of the In Memorium segment.

Anyway, here's the 5 Oscar predictions that I got wrong:

Best Picture: BIRDMAN

Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne. 

Yes, Keaton was robbed, but Redmayne's humble giddiness at winning was a little touching and funny, and his performance as Stephen Hawking in THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING was solid, even if I wasn't so hot on the film. But, again, yeah, it would've been really sweet for the 63-year old Keaton to have finnally gotten that bigtime recognition.

Best Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Best Editing: WHIPLASH

Best Original Screenplay: BIRDMAN

Besides BIRDMAN, the other big winner of the night was THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, which won 4 Oscars. Now, those I got right.

Well, that's it for this year's Oscars. 19 of of 24 wasn't so bad, and I got a few surprises. Now back to watching movies for fun and not for sport.

More later...

Hey Kids! Funtime 2015 Oscar Picks!

Yep, here we go again. The 87th Academy Awards Ceremony is this Sunday, February 20th, so it's time for Film Babble Blog's official predictions to be posted.

Now, last year I got 21 out of 24 right - my best score ever - but this year I find myself really wanting to be wrong about some of these. I would love some surprises, some upsets, to shake things up this time. I want to see first-time host Neil Patrick Harris quipping between categories about some unexpected thing that just happened. Even NPH says he's “hoping for a scandal.”

Anyway, on to my picks which go something like this: 

1. BEST PICTURE: BOYHOOD

This is battling it out with BIRDMAN (which I wouldn't mind winning as I loved it too), but my money is on Richard Linklater's 12 years in the making epic about life, love, and time. It was my #1 favorite film of 2014 so I'm way biased, but it feels so right.

2. BEST DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater for BOYHOOD

3. BEST ACTOR: Michael Keaton for BIRDMAN

I'm biased here too because I love Keaton and thought he did an incredible job as actor Riggan Thompson/Birdman. Hard to believe the guy has never been nominated before - I think he should've been for CLEAN AND SOBER back in '88. Eddie Redmayne for his performance as Stephen Hawking in THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING seems to be the major competitor, but, c'mon! It has to Keaton

4. BEST ACTRESS: Julianne Moore for STILL ALICE

5. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: J.K. Simmons for WHIPLASH

6. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia Arquette for BOYHOOD

And the rest: 

7. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Adam Stockhausen & Anna Pinnock for THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

8. CINEMATOGRAPHY: BIRDMAN

9. COSTUME DESIGN: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

10. DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: CITIZENFOUR

11. DOCUMENTARY SHORT: CRISIS HOTLINE: VETERANS PRESS 1

12. FILM EDITING: BOYHOOD

13. MAKEUP: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

14. VISUAL EFFECTS: INTERSTELLAR

15. ORIGINAL SCORE: THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

16. ORIGINAL SONG: “Glory” from SELMA - I'd actually prefer “Everything is Awesome” from THE LEGO MOVIE to win because I'm not a big fan of Common's song, but SELMA should at least win something. Then again THE LEGO MOVIE got snubbed too so we'll see.

17. ANIMATED SHORT: FEAST / Dark horse: THE DAM KEEPER

18. LIVE ACTION SHORT: THE PHONE CALL

19. SOUND EDITING: AMERICAN SNIPER

20. SOUND MIXING: WHIPLASH

21. ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

22. ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: THE IMITATION GAME

23. ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: BIG HERO 6

24. BEST FOREIGN FILM: IDA

There's no way I'm going to do as well as last year, so like I always say: Tune in Monday to see how many I got wrong.

More later...

Film Babble Blog’s Top 10 Movies of 2014 (Plus Their Key Lines)

Since the Oscar nominations were announced a week ago, and I’m pretty caught up on all the major, and not so major, movies of 2014, it’s time to list my 10 favorite films of last year (plus some spillover). This time instead of providing a blurb for each entry, I’m going to only highlight a key line, or at least what I think is one of the most memorable, for each movie. Also, unlike in previous year’s lists, I’m listing them from 10 down to 1. Click on the film's titles to read my original reviews:

10. CALVARY (Dir. John Michael McDonagh)

Father James Lavelle (Brendan Gleeson): “The commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ does not have an asterisk beside it, referring you to the bottom of the page where you find a list of instances where it's okay to kill people.”

9. ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE
(Dir. Jim Jarmusch)

Adam (Tom Hiddleston): “You drank Ian.”

8. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

(Dir. Wes Anderson)



M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes): “The most dreadful and unattractive person only needs to be loved and they will open up like a flower.”
Also: “I sleep with all my friends.”

7. THE LEGO MOVIE

(Dirs. Phil Lord & Christopher Miller)

Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman): “The only thing anyone needs to be special is to believe that you can be - I know that sounds like a cat poster, but it’s true.”

6. INHERENT VICE (Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)



Dr. Rudy Blatnoyd, D.D.S. (Martin Short): “It’s not groovy to be insane.”

5. SELMA (Dir. Ava DuVernay)



Martin Luther King (David Oyellowo): “That means protest! That means march! That means disturb the peace! That means jail! That means risk! That is hard!”

4. WHIPLASH (Dir. Damien Chazelle)



Fletcher (J.K. Simmons): “My dear god, are you one of those single tear people?”

3. LIFE ITSELF (Dir. Steve James)



Roger Ebert: “Look at a movie that a lot of people love and you’ll find something profound no matter how silly the film may seem.”

2. BIRDMAN (Dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu)

Riggan Thomson as his inner Birdman (Michael Keaton): “People, they love blood. They love action. Not this artsy fartsy, philosophical bullshit”

1. BOYHOOD (Dir. Richard Linklater)

“Never leave your mother’s womb, unless you wanna see how hard a broken heart can swoon.” - Tweedy (from the end credits song “Summer Noon”)

And now, in no particular order, a bunch of 2014 spillover, with a few of their key lines too:

EDGE OF TOMORROW (Dir. Doug Liman) “Okay, first of all, terrific presentation. Just Terrific.”

FRANK (Dir. Lenny Abrahamson)

NIGHTCRAWLER (Dir. Dan Gilroy)  “Do you know what fear stands for? False Evidence Appearing Real.”

WILD (Dir. Jean-Marc Vallée)

THE RAID 2 (Dir. Gareth Evans)

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Dir. James Gunn): “It's got a real shining-blue suitcase, Ark of the Covenant, Maltese Falcon sort of vibe.”

FORCE MAJEURE (Dir. Ruben Östlund)

A MOST VIOLENT YEAR (Dir. J.C. Chandor)

GONE GIRL (Dir. David Fincher) “We're so cute. I wanna punch us in the face.”

UNDER THE SKIN (Dir. Jonathan Glazer)

JOHN WICK (Dir. David Leitch & Chad Stahelski): “Oh.”

All in all, not a bad year for film.

More later...

BOYHOOD, Linklater, & Monty Python Discussed On The New Postmodcast

On the newest episode of postmodcast, a podcast that I am now co-hosting with Kevin Brewer (Twitter handle: @RealKevinBrewer) I talk about the new movie BOYHOOD, touch on the career of its director Richard Linklater, and discuss Kevin's experience seeing MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL for the first time (I've seen it so many times that I think its the #1 movie I've seen the most). That's Kevin and I pictured above at a Halloween party at my house few years ago (I'm in the Devo garb).

These are a few subjects near and dear to my heart as BOYHOOD is my favorite film of the year so far, I'm a big fan of Linklater, and HOLY GRAIL is my all time favorite comedy. 

There was a great moment in the last episode of Judd Apatow's one season cult classic TV series Freaks and Geeks when a teacher (played by Steve Higgins, later Jimmy Fallon's announcer on Late Night/The Tonight Show) consoled the lead geek characters, who were so tired of getting bullied, with a “it all gets better” speech. Higgins then offers up an 18 mm print of HOLY GRAIL (pictured above) that he just scored, saying for now that they should “enjoy the simple pleasures in life.”

On this episode of postmodcast I find out that one person's idea of the simple pleasures may be as foreign as can be to another. It was a lesson I had to learn.

If you didn't catch the links above, click here to listen.

More later...

BOYHOOD: The Film Babble Blog Review

BOYHOOD (Dir. Richard Linklater, 2014)

Richard Linklater’s much buzzed about BOYHOOD is the best, and most real feeling film of the year so far. It takes us on an engrossing journey through the life of a boy from age 5 to age 18, covering the significant events in that timespan with powerful poignancy.

It’s able to tell its simple coming-of-age tale so well for one simple, astounding reason: writer/director Linklater shot the film intermittently over 12 years, capturing actor Ellar Coltrane stretch by stretch as he grew into early adulthood.

Along for the real-time ride is Patricia Arquette as Coltrane’s beleaguered mother, Linklater regular Ethan Hawke as his flighty father, and Lorelei Linklater (the director’s daughter) as his sister.

When the film begins in 2002, to the tune of Coldplay’s “Yello,” parents Arquette and Hawke have been separated for some time.

Despite his estranged wife taking the kids and moving away to Houston, Hawke hopes for reconciliation, but it doesn’t seem likely as he’s an unemployed musician, and Arquette has eyes for her new psychology professor (Marco Perella).

Like everything else in the film, this is seen through Coltrane’s eyes so at times we only get glimpses of such and such event – something that effectively conveys how kids’ memories can be.

Arquette marries Perrella, but he turns out to be an abusive alcoholic so after some appropriately unspecified period of time she uproots the family again. Meanwhile Hawke sheds his deadbeat dad skin, and marries a nice Christian lady (Jenni Tooley) whose mother (Karen Jones) gives Coltrane his first Bible (personalized!), while her father (Richard Andrew Jones) gives him a rifle for his fifteenth birthday.

Hawke’s birthday present to Coltrane is much more important: a three CD compilation he put together entitled “The Beatles: Black Album,” a collection of the best tracks from the solo work of the fab four (See the track listing here). This especially touched me because as a Beatles fan, I’ve made a likewise mix and have known so many others that did the same thing – i.e. try to make a new album by the band from the highlights of their post Beatles' careers. 

Since DAZED AND CONFUSED, Linklater has expertly blended music into his movies – here, with a soundtrack of 40 songs by such seminal artists as Bob Dylan, Arcade Fire, Yo La Tengo, Gnarls Barkley, The Black Keys, and Wilco – he’s made the a stirring soundtrack to a life; an awesome mix that gives that gives Chris Pratt’s coveted “Awesome Mix Vol. 1” cassette in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY a run for its money.

Within the naturalistic flow of BOYHOOD, Coltrane develops skills as a photographer, gains and losses a high school girlfriend (Zoe Graham), and has to deal with another of his mother’s drunk spouses, lastly a Afghanistan war veteran played by Brad Hawkins (“I’ve made some bad life choices,” Arquette says).

Through all these events, large or small, Linklater’s exceedingly well constructed film says a lot about the passing of time. It’s never preachy or pretentious about it, it just observes how people and times change yet still stay the same in a way that many movies have tried but never pulled off as touchingly.

Linklater's gamble that this would be movie-making time well spent really paid off in Coltrane's understated performance, matched with some of Arquette and Hawke's best acting.

Longtime Linklater cinematographers Lee Daniel and Shane F. Kelly really outdo themselves here too – the film is full of striking shots of Texan locales, and crisp close-ups of Coltrane and the cast.

Its 2 hour and 45 minute length may put some people off, but remember Ebert: “No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough.” 

Linklater has done something really special here, something he’s come close to in his excellent BEFORE films, which also well utilize Hawke and the passage of time, he’s shown how much genuine, overpowering emotion can be triggered by a such a cleverly sincere cinematic experiment.

More later...