Golden Globes Wrapup

Since the Golden Globes were on Sunday, I thought I would do a kind of random talk about what surprises there were, good and bad, and what these wins can tells us (or not tell us) about the Oscars.

Let me start off by saying: I absolutely missed Ricky Gervais this year. Yes, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey did a good job, but they didn’t bring the crass kind of humor that I love from Gervais. The best joke of the night, in my opinion, was when they said "When it comes to torture, I trust the lady who was married to James Cameron for 3 years,” about Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow. Other than that, they were decent hosts. Nothing special. Two highlights of the night for me were: Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell presenting Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical and Robert Downey Jr. presenting the Cecille B. Demille Award to Jodie Foster.

Now about those awards. None of the winners really shocked me, as no award category had a clear winner in any of them (save for Best Actor in a Drama and Best Supporting Actress.) That being said, some of the winners were pleasant surprises.

Best Supporting Actor

This category is loaded with phenomenal performances, so it was really hard to predict who was going to win. Most people had Alan Arkin or Tommy Lee Jones down to win this one, but everyone was a viable candidate to win. I, personally, wanted to see Arkin or Waltz win, and lucky for me, I did! Waltz pulled out a win that most did not predict. This gives him huge momentum going into the Oscars, with a real chance to claim his second Best Supporting Actor statue.

Best Supporting Actress

Unlike Best Supporting Actor, this category was already locked for Anne Hathaway to win. If anyone else had won, it would have shocked everyone around the world. I’ve heard maybe one or two people say that Amy Adams could have won, but let’s be seriously for a second: the HFPA had a huge boner for Les Miserables (just like the Academy seems to have a huge boner for Silver Linings Playbook.) So, there was no way she was gonna lose.

Best Screenplay

Probably the biggest surprise of the night was the Best Screenplay award. A lot of people expected either Chris Terrio or Tony Kushner to take home the award for Argo and Lincoln, respectively. As someone who has always loved Tarantino and was a huge fan of the script for Django Unchained, I was pulling for a surprise win here. I fully expected Terrio to win, and wouldn’t have been upset if he had, but I was ecstatic when they announced Tarantino’s name. This was a well deserved win, and could mean an upset going into the Oscars. As everyone expects Mark Boal to take home his second statue for Zero Dark Thirty, I would much rather see Tarantino take his second ever Oscar. Sadly, I don’t think the Globes win will give him enough momentum, since there is so much controversy around the film.

Best Actress

I think both of these categories were near locks. Jessica Chastain has been raking in all of the awards this season, and looks like she is on her way to her first Oscar win. She was virtually “running unopposed” here. If anyone else had won, it would have been a HUGE injustice. And I’m saying this having loved Naomi Watts in The Impossible. I think that says a lot about how great Chastain really was.

Like Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence has a bunch of awards this year for Silver Linings Playbook. In fact, most of the awards she lost were to Chastain. Lawrence was up against absolutely no competition this year. I mean, Streep was only nominated because she is Meryl Streep. The rest were just...alright. Nothing near as amazing as Lawrence. And it definitely makes sense that she one, seeing as how she is the only one of the five nominated for an Oscar.

These two wins were absolutely expected, and tell us nothing about who is going to win the Oscar. If Watts had upset Chastain, I could say that means something. But no, all we know going into the Oscars is that these two are in a deadlock, and it’s impossible to predict who will win. It’s essentially a coin toss.

Best Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis. I think that’s all I really need to say about the drama category. There was no way he was losing this year (as he has so many times at the Globes.) This was his year to shine, and he did. I fully expect him to take the Oscar too, just as everyone else does (except those few who think Joaquin Phoenix will upset him.)

The Comedy/Musical category, on the other hand, was a close call. Most people were split between Jackman and Cooper for Les Miserables and Silver Linings Playbook, respectively. I was a staunch supporter of Cooper, who gave a truly remarkable performance in this film. I really never expected to love him enough to say he deserved an award (yea, he’s funny in Wedding Crashers and The Hangover, but he’s never been anything special.) Now, I’m not saying Jackson wasn’t excellent. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved him and was so glad he got an Oscar nod, but I really didn’t think he was better than Cooper. Maybe that’s just me and I’m crazy. Whatever.

Best Director

This is my favorite category this year. Favorite because the right person won and got to give the metaphorical finger to the Academy for snubbing him. Yes, you heard me right, Ben Affleck deserved this honor. I was shocked at how many people were surprised at him winning. This definitely has implications, but not for the Oscars (obviously.) I think the win at the Globes, coupled with his win at the Critic’s Choice Awards means that Affleck is the frontrunner for the DGA Award. And if he wins, which is looking more and more likely, he will join Ron Howard as the only director to win the DGA Award and not be nominated for the Oscar.

Best Picture

Let’s start with drama, once again. This category was filled with worthy films. Any of them could have won and it wouldn’t have been that much of a surprise. Honestly, I would have been shocked if Life of Pi had won, but many people wouldn’t have been. I ruled out Django Unchained and Zero Dark Thirty as winner, purely based off of all the controversy around both films. Usually movies like that don’t do great during award season. In my eyes, that narrowed it down to Argo and Lincoln. Now, of those two, most people would say that Lincoln was the better film. Hell, it may have had a more effective cast (not to say Argo wasn’t well cast) but I wouldn’t consider it a better film (probably why Argo made number 3 on my top 20 over Lincoln which was at number 5.) I really wanted Argo to win, and even though it was a slight underdog, it pulled it off. I was so pleased, and I hope that win gives it the push it needed to win the Oscar for Best Picture. I think it was definitely good enough, and it would really stick it to the Academy for not nominating Affleck for the award that he deserved to win.

Best Comedy/Musical went to Les Miserables, and while I loved the movie, I really didn’t think it deserved the win. I can’t really complain about the script, since it was virtually a carbon copy of the musical, but I have a lot to complain about. First off: Russell Crowe. Need I go on? Fine. That man was absolutely abysmal. He butchered some of my favorite songs in the entire show. Sure, he can play the character of Javert well, but when that idiot opens his mouth, it is jarring. I wish he had tried talk-singing, like any sane person would have. Then he could have just been a badass, without making me bleed from the ears. Then there was Tom Hooper’s direction. Let me first say that I loved his direction in The King’s Speech. That being said, he fucking blew it here. He decided that the only way to show emotion in a scene is to do extreme close-ups of everyone’s face (I’m sorry, I know I’m repeating myself from another post.) If not for the phenomenal performances from Jackman and Hathaway, I think he could have ruined this movie. All on his own (oh, and maybe with Crowe’s help.) When you compare that with what David O. Russell made, it really should be a no brainer. Silver Linings Playbook had, no only an excellent script, but a perfect ensemble of actors, each better than the last. And David O. Russell’s direction in this film was spot on. Yes, there were a few issues with this movie, like pacing, and predictability. But it was fun and funny and just plain amazing. I expected it to come down to these two movies, but I really didn’t think Les Miserables should win. Sadly, it did. I guess I’ll just have to be happy knowing it won’t win many Oscars (other than Hathaway.)

Django Unchained Review

I just saw Django Unchained for the second time this weekend with a friend of mine, and since I ranked it as my number one film of 2012, I thought I should write a full review to explain just why I loved it so much, and why you should too.

I don't really know where to begin, so I might as well just start from the top: the script. As always, Quentin Tarantino put together a new exquisitely written script. The entire script flow very smoothly, not only during scenes, but also in scene transitions. All of the dialogue either developed the plot or gave us great insight into the characters. One of my favorite scenes in the movie was the scene with the KKK, not only because of the acting, but because the dialogue was just so hilarious. I also love all of the shots that are clearly homages to the old Spaghetti Westerns that Tarantino is a huge fan of. The quick zooms/pans and the long shots of people riding through the desert are absolutely spot on. They really add to the feeling of the movie and show just how much he loves film in general.

To continue my praise for Tarantino, let's talk about the direction. Just like all of his films before this, he makes even the most mundane thing look beautiful. For example, towards the beginning of the film, Dr. Schultz is filling two glasses of beer, and somehow Tarantino made me so interested in it! And the flashback scenes to Django and Broomhilda are beautifully stylized. As always, Tarantino nailed it.

The acting in this film was absolutely amazing. As expected, Chrisoph Waltz was perfect as bounty hunter Dr. Schultz. It reminded me a lot of his performance in Inglourious Basterds as The Jew Hunter. He was perfectly cast, and I couldn't imagine anyone else playing the role this well. On the other hand, I was not sure about how well Leonardo DiCaprio would do as the slave owner Calvin Candie. Needless to say, this character was much different than anything he's ever done before, and he surprised me with how beautifully he played this fucking psychopath. When these two guys were on the screen, I couldn't take my eyes away.

If I was forced to say one bad thing about this movie, it would be Jamie Foxx's performance as Django. Now, I'm not saying he was bad, per se, just that he didn't live up to my expectations, not did he even come close to matching the other performances in the film. After seeing him give such great performances in films like Ray, Collateral, and Dreamgirls, I expected him to knock this one out of the park. He didn't wow me, but he definitely played the role well, and had he not been overshadowed by Waltz and DiCaprio, I would be writing a much different review.

Tarantino's films have always been known for two things: gratuitous violence and excellent music accompaniment. This movie, as expected, delivered in both departments. I'll skip over the violence for now, because it's better to just see it, but the music in this film was so perfectly chosen. Ever song accurately captured and enhanced the feeling of the scene it was used in. Even if you don't like Tarantino's style or writing, you have to appreciate his acute sense for musical choices. He is always spot on.

I know I've already talked a lot about the acting, but I'm not done. I really wanted to touch on just how great Samuel L Jackson was in the role of Steven. He plays a very similar role to a lot of his previous work, but unlike most movies, in this one he is an antagonist. I can only really equate it to his character in Unbreakable. He's such a great actor, and it was awesome to see him nail an abnormal role for him.

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To sum it up, Django Unchained is an excellent addition to Quentin Tarantino's already impressive resume. I'm hesitant to say that it is my favorite of his films, but I think it is one of the best written, and maybe the most well rounded film that he has ever made. Anyone who is a fan of his should definitely see this movie, and even I'd you aren't a huge fan of movies like Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction, I would still suggest giving this one a shot, because it is too good to miss.

Writing: 10/10

Directing: 9.5/10

Acting: 9.5/10

Pacing: 9/10

Rewatchability: 9/10

Score: 9.4/10

Sound of My Voice Review

I know I'm late to the party on this one, but I just got around to seeing this movie a few nights ago! This movie is about a couple, Peter and Lorna, who embark on an investigative journalism project where they infiltrate a small cult. Their goal is to prove that Maggie, the leader of the cult, is a fraud.

At a mere 85 minutes, Sound of My Voice manages to suck you into the lives of these two faux-cultists and show you the mental strain that comes with, not only investigative reporting, but also being in a cult. The movie was really well written and has some phenomenal dialogue. So many scenes come to mind, but I really don't want to spoil this movie for anyone. Let's just say that Maggie has some great monologues.

The direction in this film was absolutely key, since it mostly takes place in a white room with nothing special to look at. All of the scenes were really well framed and close-ups were used in just the right way to make them pop (Tom Hooper could learn a thing or two from this film.) I was really impressed with how well this movie was shot. It was surprisingly beautiful, especially for an indie film like this.

The best part of this movie, though, was the performance by Brit Marling as Maggie. This was the first time I had ever seen her in a movie (and even heard of her, for that matter) and I was caught off guard by her. After watching this movie, I almost wanted to join her cult; she was that convincing. She blew me away, and I can't wait to see her in more films!

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I can't say enough about how much I loved this film. It was the perfect length (which to me, is a huge thing nowadays), as well as an excellent script, great director, and one of the best performances of the year. I would highly suggest not watching any trailers or doing any research before seeing this movie. Just go see it and enjoy it for what it is. I can't recommend this movie more highly.

Writing: 8/10

Directing: 8/10

Acting: 8.5/10

Pacing: 8/10

Rewatchability: 9/10

Score: 8.3/10