Oscar Winners 2014

BEST PICTURE:
12 Years a Slave - WINNER
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club - WINNER
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine - WINNER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club - WINNER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave - WINNER
BEST DIRECTOR:
Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity - WINNER
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Great Gatsby - WINNER
BEST MAKE-UP & HAIRSTYLING:
Dallas Buyers Club - WINNER
BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED):
Mr Hublot - WINNER
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
Frozen - WINNER
BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION):
Helium - WINNER
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT:
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life - WINNER
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
20 Feet from Stardom - WINNER
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
The Great Beauty (Italy) - WINNER
BEST SOUND MIXING:
Gravity - WINNER
BEST SOUND EDITING:
Gravity - WINNER
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
Gravity - WINNER
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Gravity - WINNER
BEST FILM EDITING:
Gravity - WINNER
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:
The Great Gatsby - WINNER
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Gravity - WINNER
BEST ORIGINAL SONG:
Let It Go - Frozen - WINNER
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
John Ridley - 12 Years a Slave - WINNER
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Spike Jonze - Her - WINNER

My Oscar Winner Predictions

Always fun to make predictions and see how catastrophically wrong you got it after the event. I will be staying up to watch the Oscars on Sunday night so can watch first hand it all unfold and will post the results as soon as we have the full list. So here we go:

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave. America is obsessed with slavery

Best Director: Alfonso Cuáron (Gravity). For the special effects

Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club). Its going to happen and then he'll win an Emmy for True Detective completing the set.

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine). If anyone else wins Ill be pissed.

Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club). Academy loves people who lose lots of weight

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle). June Squibb should win for Nebraska but the academy loves J-Law.

Best Original Screenplay: American Hustle. Funny with great characters will see it through.

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Wolf of Wall Street. They'll find a way to give something to Scorcese's movie.

Best Documentary: The Act of Killing. Stunning documentary by all accounts.

Film Review: All is Lost

Director: J.C. Chandor

A 2013 survival film is the second feature film from new director J.C. Chandor whose first was the sublime Margin Call, which won The Rolling Picture Award for Best Picture in 2012 which I'm sure he was delighted about. Robert Redford was brought on board by Chandor after his first film was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011, from there the film was shot at studios in Rosarito Beach in Mexico.

A un-named man (Robert Redford) wakes up to see his boat is leaking water after it collided with a shipping container that was floating in the Indian Ocean. He manages to force the container free by using a sea anchor and then driving the boat away before going to work on patching up the hole so it doesn't continue to leak water. As he tries to use the broken radio to communicate for assistance he realises a big tropical storm is coming his way and that his problems might just be beginning.

The storm prepares to batter the Virginia Jean

The film itself is almost a silent movie with Robert Redford the only soul onboard carrying the film himself so naturally there is little conversation with no-one to talk to. Its a hugely demanding role not just in the physical sense but to be able to carry an entire movie by yourself and very little script so it needed a veteran actor of Redford's experience. To have that confidence to be able to carry off this sort of film is imperative and Redford is certainly not short of that.

Redford's character is hit by one catastrophe after another reminiscent of the film The Perfect Storm but in a film like this you never get the threat of danger until the film act, they can hardly kill off the only character in the whole film after 30mins. This is the polar opposite of Titanic, a stripped down catastrophe inflicted to one lone man in a film that is surprisingly devoid of emotions. Chandor keeps his distance to survey his leading man from afar without seeing closeups of his face conveying his emotions which was a surprising twist. A bold but solid second film for Chandor leaves me intrigued to see how his next film A Most Violent Year will go.

2.5/4 Engaging but sparse aquatic drama

This week's releases

The Book Thief: Based on the popular novel, during the horrors of World War Two Germany we see young Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) steal books and share them with others. Whilst at home they have a Jewish refugee seeking refuge from the Nazi's. Naturally no-one speaks German despite the obvious setting although the Nazi officers speak German to each other, not the first film to work in this hugely odd manner with language.

Non-Stop: Hot off the success of Taken and the not so popular Taken 2, Liam Neeson returns into action as Bill Marks who is an air marshal on a flight that is at risk unless the airline transfers $150 million to an off-shore bank account. So naturally only one man can save the passengers and stop the evil guys from escaping with the money.

Ride Along: Fast-talking security guard Ben (Kevin Hart) joins his cop brother-in-law James (Ice Cube) on a 24-hour patrol of Atlanta in order to prove himself worthy of marrying Angela, James' sister. Very much a comedy version of the film Training Day. 

Film Review: Crazy, Stupid, Love

Director: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

A romantic comedy from 2011 that elevates itself above the usual dross genre of rom-coms with a clever dose of comedy and a distinct lack of predictability over the affairs of love. From the impressive cast, Ryan Gosling was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a musical or comedy but unsurprisingly he lost out to Jean Dujardin in The Artist. 

Jacob Palmer (Gosling) with Cal Weaver (Carell)

Cal Weaver (Carrell) has been told that his wife (Julianne Moore) wants a divorce and that she had an affair with another man. Cal is obviously shocked and drinking heavily in a local bar he runs into Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling) who says the reason his wife left him is because he lost sight of who he is as a man. They finally agree to meet the next day so Jacob can help him dress and act accordingly to be a man who women would be interested in. Elsewhere Hannah (Emma Stone) is hoping to pass the bar to become a lawyer and has possibly been promised the offer of an engagement by her boyfriend Richard (Josh Groban) if she does.

The film has a cynical edge at its heart which separates it from the genre that it currently dwells within. The divorce between Cal and Emily Weaver feels very real with a direct effect on their kids, especially Robbie (Jonah Bobo) who has his own love problems with his babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton) which produces its own strand of laughs. Its a film that starts off incredibly strongly and manages to save itself at the end from what is a pretty average middle act, save for one clever plot twist.

Hannah (Emma Stone) with her opinionated friend Liz (Liza Lapira)

The early jokes mostly stem from the conversations between the swarve Jacob and the Dad type Cal. This is arguably the funniest section of the movie as the jokes and put downs are often well observed and witty. Whilst the second half does descend slightly into the more slapstick and crude jokes that are much easier to reach, which is a shame but not so prevalent that it will put you off entirely. Ryan Gosling is impressive as the quick witted Jacob whilst Steve Carell plays the sort of character he really excels at, a more straight character rather than the annoyingly over the top Brick Tamland type we saw in Anchorman 2. 

3/4 Fresh and funny romantic comedy

Film Review: Her

Director: Spike Jonze

Released in the last few weeks in the UK meant it was ineligible for any nominations at the recently awarded BAFTA's but its American release date meant it was in contention at the Golden Globes and the Oscars, with most nominations going to Joaquin Phoenix as the lead and Spike Jonze for the screenplay. Although it did create some debate around Scarlett Johansson's performance as the voice of Samantha about whether someone could be nominated for purely lending their voice to a role, it almost created the same debate that Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) has in the film regarding Samantha.

Theodore at the beach with Samantha

Theodore is a lonely man living in Los Angeles and working at a company that writes romantic letters on behalf people to their other halves who either dont have the time or the ability to do so. He's currently in the middle of a divorce to Catherine (Rooney Mara) and has his friend Amy (Amy Adams) trying to set him up on dates. Theodore lives a quiet existence more intrigued with playing computer games and wallowing in his loneliness before he buys a new artificially intelligent operating system called Samantha (Scarlett Johansson) who changes his outlook on life entirely.

"Falling in love is a crazy thing to do, its like a socially acceptable form of insanity" is a powerhouse of a line from Amy Adams when discussing Theodore falling in love with a computer. Is this the next step in the evolution of humans to be able to disconnect from each other as people and have relationships with intelligent pieces of software? This Pygmalion story for the 21st century openly questions the validity of this relationship, Theodore's ex-wife cuttingly criticizes it and stating that he's only chosen this because he can't deal with the hassle of a human relationship.

Theodore on his blind date with Amelia (Olivia "Thirteen" Wilde)

Her opens with some funny moments, the best of which being Theodore's attempts for middle of the night cybersex with another woman who can't sleep which goes tragically wrong, but as it develops it becomes a more straight-laced melodrama. As inevitable in all relationships the honeymoon period ends and with that the laughs are replaced with more serious moments and conversations about what two people want. Theodore's huge desire not to commit after the failure of his marriage is the main stumbling block for him being happy with someone. But the other more subtle question at the heart of this movie is whether he really wants to be happy or whether he prefers living in wallowing self pity?

The supporting cast are actually anonymous for large parts of the film as the focus is solely put on Theodore and Samantha as we share their most intimate moments, although the screen is black for their attempt at cybersex. Joaquin Phoenix has proven in the past that he can carry a movie as the lead and he once again does so here, Scarlett Johansson's husky tones do bring Samantha to life but the film loses its focus and direction through the final act. Spike Jonze appears unsure where to go with the film before the story is wrapped in a slight surprising yet baffling way. Maybe all those old sci-fi movies were correct and the machines will take over but in a slightly less apocalyptic manner.

3.5/4 Thoughtful yet bittersweet journey through one mans loneliness

This week's releases

Nymphomaniac: The latest Lars von Trier movie which is currently clocking in at around the 4 hour mark for both volumes I and II (the directors cut presumably saved for DVD is a whopping 330mins). The film follows a self diagnosed nymphomaniac as she recounts her erotic sexual experiences over the years and since its von Trier probably has some horrible degrading experiences.

A Winter's Tale: Colin Farrell stars as a a burglar who falls in love with a rich heiress (Jessica Brown Findlay) as she dies in his arms against the backdrop of a dark and snowy New York City. But can the gift of re-incarnation bring his love back to life?