Oscars 2013 Nominees and Winners

I really enjoyed this years Oscars I was a little unsure on how Seth Macfarlane would do, but I do think he didn't do too bad. I laughed a lot actualy. I thought the random Shatner bit was a little weird, and not funny, but I liked the general gist of the skit. I thought his other jokes throughout the night were pretty hilarious, and his musical numbers were great. I really liked that this year had a theme of appreciating the music. There were some really great performances, and surprise guests to remind us how much the music really matters. Here are my thoughts on the big winners last night;

Best Picture

Amour
Argo
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

I was so excited that Argo won! Such a great film. Honestly, I think my vote would have been for Django Unchained, definitely my favorite of the choices, but Argo definitely deserved it as well!

Actor In A Leading Role

-  Bradley Cooper
"Silver Linings Playbook"

- Daniel Day-Lewis
"Lincoln"
- Hugh Jackman
"Les Misérables"
- Joaquin Phoenix
"The Master"
- Denzel Washington
"Flight"

Definitely 100% deserved. I think everyone would have died of shock if Daniel hadn't have won. 

Actress In A Leading Role

- Jessica Chastain
 "Zero Dark Thirty"
- Jennifer Lawrence
 "Silver Linings Playbook"
- Emmanuelle Riva
 "Amour"
- Quvenzhané Wallis
 "Beasts Of The Southern Wild"
- Naomi Watts
 "The Impossible"


I think this was the category that I was most unsure about. Although, not overly surprising, and Jennifer Lawrence definitely deserved it, I really wasn't sure if it would go to JLaw or Jessica Chastain. I'm happy it went to Jennifer though, I really like how she doesn't take herself too seriously. 

Actor In A Supporting Role

-Alan Arkin

"Argo"
- Robert De Niro

"Silver Linings Playbook"
- Philip Seymour Hoffman

"The Master"
-  Lee Jones

"Lincoln"
- Christoph Waltz

"Django Unchained"

So happy about this one. Lots of great performances this year, but Christoph was my fave. 

Actress In A Supporting Role:

- Amy Adams

"The Master"
- Sally Field

"Lincoln"
- Anne Hathaway

"Les Misérables"
- Helen Hunt

"The Sessions"
- Jacki Weaver

"Silver Linings Playbook"

A well-deserved win for Anne, despite some oddly bad reviews of her performance, she really made the film. Loved every minute of it.

Animated Feature Film

Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band Of Misfits

Wreck-It Ralph

I've only seen 2 of these, Brave and Wreck-It Ralph, but Brave really is such a sweet inspiring story for young girls. It was also gorgeous, so I think I did deserve the Oscar.

Directing 

- Michael Haneke

"Amour"
- Benh Zeitlin

"Beasts Of The Southern Wild"
- Ang Lee

"Life Of Pi"
- Steven Spielberg

"Lincoln"
- David O. Russell

"Silver Linings Playbook"

I actually haven't seen Life of Pi yet, but its obviously getting big awards, so I guess I should get on that. Ang Lee is a great director, so bravo to him.

Documentary (Feature)

5 Broken Cameras

The Gatekeepers
How To Survive A Plague

The Invisible War
Searching For Sugar Man

I've only seen "How To Survive A Plague" and "The Invisible War", so I have no idea how good this film is. What I can say is that the two films that I just mentioned were absolutely amazing documentaries, focusing on very important issues that needed to be recognized so if this films beat it, it must be a seriously fantastic documentary. 

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

- Chris Terrio

"Argo"
- Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin

"Beasts Of The Southern Wild"
- David Magee

"Life Of Pi"
- Tony Kushner

"Lincoln"
- David O. Russell

"Silver Linings Playbook"

Writing isn't one of the awards that most people think about, and the writers aren't normally known names unless they are also directors. Chris Terrio did a great job on this screenplay and his speech is really nice as well.

Writing (Original Screenplay) 

- Michael Haneke

"Amour"
- Quentin Tarantino

"Django Unchained"
- John Gatins 

"Flight"
- Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola 

"Moonrise Kingdom"
- Mark Boal

"Zero Dark Thirty"

I think of all of the categories and winners last night, this one I was most excited about. I absolutely loved this film, and I'm so glad the genius of Quentin Tarantino was recognized. I adored this movie beyond words. Such great writing. 

Music (Original Song)

-"Before My Time" From "Chasing Ice"
(Music and Lyrics: J. Ralph)
-"Everybody Needs A Best Friend" From "Ted"
(Music: Walter Murphy; Lyrics: Seth Macfarlane)
-"Pi's Lullaby" From "Life Of Pi"
(Music: Mychael Danna; Lyrics: Bombay Jayashri)
-"Skyfall" From "Skyfall"
(Music and Lyrics: Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth)
-"Suddenly" From "Les Misérables"
(Music: Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyrics: Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil)

I'm so happy for Adele, at this point she's won almost every award possible. She's so talented and this has been such a great year for her and she looks great after having her baby.

Kiwi Film Design: Django Unchained

IMDB: 8.6/10 (Top 250 #39)
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%
Roger Ebert: 4/4 stars

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson
Directed By: Quentin Tarantino
Written By: Quentin Tarantino

Release Date: 25 December 2012
Described By IMDB as "With the help of his mentor, a slave-turned-bounty hunter sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner."

Well, the Oscar nominations came out today, so I thought I should finally get around to writing my review for this film, and what a film it was.

I enjoyed every moment of this film, all 2hours and 45 minutes of it. Clearly thats a long time, but it honestly doesn't seem long or drawn out at any time. There's constantly action, and just quirky, interesting things going on. I actually feel incredibly bad for it because of the number of fantastic movies that came out this year. I mean, there are aways a handful of great movies every year, but I think this years Oscar nominees are all deserving, which I haven't been able to say with 100% honesty in the past. I really think this film deserves an Oscar for best picture, but I just know that Lincoln or Argo is going to win, and I think they both deserve it as well, so its a complicated feeling that I have. I think it is astounding that this film has already made it to number 39 on the IMDB Top 250 list. Unreal. I went to see this film twice in theatres and I would definitely go back again.

The acting in this film was absolutely breathtaking, best ensemble acting I've seen in a very long time. Dr. King Shultz(Christoph Waltz) commands the screen from the first moment he appears from the darkness with his wacky tooth cart. His badass-ness isn't questioned for a single moment in this film, and I think thats great. Waltz has already won a Golden Globe for his performance, and just last night also won the BAFTA for his role as Dr. Shultz as well. Very well deserved, but I think that a couple of people are going quite unnoticed. I sort of feel bad for Jamie Foxx because I think if I was in this film I would have assumed that this would have been my next Oscar film, and he hasn't even been nominated. I think this is definitely one of his best performances that I've seen for sure. I do wish he'd gotten a bit more recognition, but I think everyone is aware of how great a job he's done in this film. Then theres Leonardo DiCaprio, just wow. I thought he did such a great job in this film, you really couldn't help but absolutely dispise him. I thought our introduction to him was absolutely genius, it perfectly sets up how you're supposed to feel about him, and Mandingo fighting is enough to make anyone sick. He's totally awful throughout the rest of the film, and its perfect. Finally Samuel L. Jackson really proved himself to me in this one. In all honesty, I can't think of many films he's been in that haven't had the 'Snakes on a Plane" vibe so it was nice for me to see him in something that he's really done well. I think on a different year he also could have deserved an award, but not this year. His character Stephen is really as bad as you can get. He's an African-American who is on the white, slave-owner's side. I don't want to give too much away, but his final scene is pretty damn epic.

The soundtrack was really great and fit the movie perfectly. Tarantino really has a way of capturing that in his films. Most of the songs he uses has no business being in his films as they don't even begin to fit the time or setting of the film, but its ok, because it totally fits the emotion he's trying to portray. The song "Django" was stuck in my head for a week after seeing this film. its just so good. I'm trying to do this review with as few spoilers as I possibly can but its going to be hard. I'll be sure to put up an alert if I feel one coming on.  

Quentin Tarantino is one of my favorite directors, and I don't even fully enjoy all of his movies as I have enjoyed this one and Inglorious Basterds, but I think its important to have people with imaginations as wild as Quentin's in the directing world. You really never know what you're going to get, and I think this one really blew everyone away. The writing, as always from Tarantino, was fantastic. Intense but funny at the same time. There were so many great lines and I think he really gave the actors an amazing tool to build their characters around. The love story he built was really fantastic, and it was a fantastic fountain for this film to be built on. The love that Django(Foxx) had for Broomhilda(Kerry Washington) is something to be admired.

Tarantino's cameo in this film is short and sweet, I think he was the only actor who really sucked, but his *spoiler alert* death is one for the ages. I mean, who wouldn't want to write their own *spoiler alert* death in a film? I think everyone on earth would. So hilarious, and I think thats the most interesting thing about this film. Its such a serious and important topic, but there are just some absolutely hilarious moments in it. "You silver-tongued devil you."

The controversy of this film is absolutely ridiculous. This film is not offensive in any way. This shows the true horror and torture that was slavery in the United States, and if you can't accept your history, then you aren't much of patriots in my mind. The other controversy with Quentin Tarantino about the film promoting violence, I don't think thats true at all. I don't think that revenge is the answer for anything, but in this time/world where all they knew was being tortured, I think that this would have been the ultimate fantasy for a newly freed slave in the 1860s. I don't think theres anything wrong with giving it to them. Its a movie, and Tarantino is all about alternate endings (ie Inglorious Basterds which completely re-wrote history.)

I am giving this film a 10/10. No joke, I think this film will go down as one of my favorite films of all time. Amazing, go see it right now. 

Kiwi Film Review: Top 10 Directors

This weeks list topic is Top 10 Directors. I found this list very difficult because most of these directors who have created different worlds that have changed our lives, or taught us something about ourselves that we didn't know beforehand. 

10.) Sam Mendes
I think most people have actually not heard of Sam Mendes, although his name is getting a lot of coverage lately for the amazing job he did on the most recent Bond film Skyfall. He's actually only Directed 9 films so far, but all of them have been pretty well-known and extremely well recieved. American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead, Revolutionary Road, etc. Since American Beauty is one of my very favorite films of all time, I had to allow him to make it onto this list. Like I said, he's only done a few films but thats incredibly exciting because he definitely got some serious potential, and after seeing his most recent film, Skyfall, I can only assume its going to keep getting better.

Check out my Skyfall review HERE

9.) Clint Eastwood
Mr. Eastwood has surprised me in recent years, as its only been that long since I've begun watching his films. Sometimes I sort of forget about him really, but when you really think about it and see the list you just think, "Wow." All of his films have been very powerful and have shown very different sides of life. The first of his films that I watched was Mystic River which I had actually never heard of before watching it, but had actually won 2 Oscars. I then saw Grand Torino, Million Dollar Baby, and Unforgiven, and he was solidified onto this list. If you haven't seen any of these films, you are definitely missing out. So far he has won 3 Best Director and 3 Best Picture Academy Awards and I imagine many more coming in the future. 

Check out my Mystic River review HERE

8.) Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino is a truly unique person and a very unique filmmaking style. Every time I watch one of his films or see him in an interview I just think about what it would be like to be friends with him, it would be incredible. He has many films that are extremely popular and he really has quite a cult following. Some of his more famous films include Pulp Fiction, Resevior Dogs, Kill Bill(Vol. I & II), but it wasn't until I saw Inglorious Basterds that I felt like I finally understood him. When he realsed Django Unchained in December, I have to say I think it was his greatest film yet.

7.) Ron Howard
Ron Howard actually has a rather diverse directing career, but I love everything I've seen so far. The films that stick out most for me would have to be Apolo 13, Cinderella Man, Frost/Nixon but most of all A Beautiful Mind which made #3 on my Top 10 Films of all time list, but even more impressively managed to win 4 Oscars including Best Director and Best Picture. I find that his career has been super random but I think there will be many more interesting films coming out of Mr. Howard. 

6.) Ridley Scott

Few directors have as many classic films under their belts like Ridley Scott. His films are always huge productions that are often ahead of their time. He seems to have a thing with the future, but is equally as capable at capturing the past. His films include Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, American Gangster, and most recently, Prometheus, which I absolutely adored. He and Russell Crowe have had a very productive relationship which works out for all of us as their films are always interesting. Ridley Scott has been making groundbreaking films for decades, and I sure hope he doesn't slowdown anytime soon. 

Check out my review for Prometheus HERE

5.) Woody Allen
I think a lot of people will be surprised that I have Woody Allen so high, but I think that he has an incredible way of capturing people and regular life, like no one else. All of his films I have seen have been incredibly honest and have captured exactly what everyone thinks about when their sitting at home, or trying to get to sleep. Your neighbour mysteriously dies and you think "her husband is suspicious looking, I wonder if he did it." Your listening to your favorite song, or looking at your favorite painting and you think "man, I wish I was born in that decade, those were the golden years." He takes those thoughts and bring them to light. Some of his great films include Midnight In Paris(which made my top 10 flims of all time list), Manhattan, Manhattan Murder Mystery, and probably most famously, Annie Hall. I have many more of his films to see before I'm done, but the ones I have seen have all been enjoyable. 
Check out my Midnight In Paris review HERE 
Check out my Manhattan Murder Mystery review HERE

4.) David Fincher
I had honestly never heard of David Fincher until The Social Network. I was looking up who the director was of some movie and his name came up, and I noticed the unreal list of films with his name on them. Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc. I mean, give me a break, I just listed off some of my very favorite films, and some unbelievably ground-breaking ones. He is the master of thrillers, especially psychological ones. 

3.) Christopher Nolan
Chris Nolan only has 10 films under his directors belt, but so far he has made some amazing, mind-bending films that leave us wondering how his mind works. Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige, Inception, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises. Just take a moment to remember how amazing these films are and you will then understand why Mr. Nolan has made it to #3. What he did for Super Hero movies will never be forgotten. 
Check out my review for The Dark Knight Rises HERE

2.) Steven Spielberg
There simply cannot be a best directors list without Steven Spielberg. Spielberg is definitely the most famous director of all time, and I think that makes sense. The films that he has created are always big productions, and you know that you won't be bored or let down when you go into the theater to see them. Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, A.I (Artificial Intelligence), Indiana Jones Trilogy, Saving Private Ryan, Lincoln, War of the Worlds, Catch Me If You Can, Jurassic Park, and most famously ET. While writing this list I've realized how much his films have actually impacted my life. I'm so glad that my Dad showed me so many of these in my childhood. Indiana Jones shaped my love of history and adventure, A.I opened my eyes to amazing film and morality, and Schindler's List showed me how horrible the world can be, and how we need good people to survive. Bravo Mr. Spielberg. Bravo.

1.) Martin Scorcese
Scorcese is an absolute master at what he does. He has mastered crime films, and just thrillers in general. I want to live in his mind for a day to see where he gets the ideas for his films. We can thank him for films such as Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, The Departed, Shutter Island, Raging Bull, Cape Fear, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and so many more. He creates films and characters that give the actors the incredible opportunity to showcase their amazing acting abilities. His films have entertained us for 4 decades, and I can't see him slowing down anytime soon. I think he impressed me the most when he showed that he could even conquer the genre of feel good family films when he released Hugo in 2011. That film fully solidified himself as my favorite director  and proved that he could really do anything. 


Check out my Top 10 Films of All Time list HERE to see where I rank the products of some of these amazing directors.

Honourable Mentions: Peter Jackson, Stanley Kubirck, Alfred Hitchcock, Kevin Smith, James Cameron, Oliver Stone, Darren Aronofsky, JJ Abrams, John Hughes, Frances Ford 
Coppola,