In the Mood for Podcast: Episode 38

Episode 38 features reaction to Sunday's Oscar wins, and reviews of "Mama" "Cloud Atlas," "Lore," "Song for Marion" and "I Wish." We also talk about Andrei Tarkovsky and our favourite collaborative director projects.

Head on over to the new site and listen!

Final Oscar Predictions 3/3 [The Big Six]

Best Picture:

“Amour”
“Argo”
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“Django Unchained”
“Les Miserables”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Silver Linings Playbook”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Prediction: “Argo”
My preference: “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

When a film wins support from the producers’, directors’, actors’, and writers’ guilds you can pretty much call it over. Affleck’s director snub has definitely helped the film, but probably only to solidify its appeal as a mainstream crowd-pleaser, unlikely to be looked upon fondly in years to come, but nevertheless easy to anoint as a winner of the 2012 crop.

Best Director:

Michael Haneke, “Amour”
Ang Lee, “Life of Pi”
David O. Russell, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Steven Spielberg, “Lincoln”
Benh Zeitlin, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Prediction: Michael Haneke, “Amour”
My preference: Benh Zeitlin, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

It’s probably foolhardy to choose Haneke over Spielberg, Lee, or Russell, who seem to have stronger films. The lack of a particular frontrunner helps the Austrian, who you can imagine people who don’t even love “Amour” might still vote for, as a ‘cool’ alternative pick, and as he’s the most auteurial of the five men. That’s how I see it, anyway.

Best Actress in a Leading Role:

Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Emmanuelle Riva, “Amour”
Quvenzhane Wallis, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Naomi Watts, “The Impossible”

Prediction: Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”
My preference: Emmanuelle Riva, “Amour”

Wishful thinking makes me want to predict Riva, who I suspect is close but will likely lose out to the familiar ‘star is born’ narrative surrounding Jennifer Lawrence. If Lawrence does win it’ll be a shame, since she can and will do so much better in the future, with a character she has a stronger handle on than Tiffany in “Silver Linings Playbook.”

Best Actor in a Leading Role:

Bradley Cooper, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”
Hugh Jackman, “Les Miserables”
Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master”
Denzel Washington, “Flight”

Prediction: Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”
My preference, Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

Amy Adams, “The Master”
Sally Field, “Lincoln”
Anne Hathaway, “Les Miserables”
Helen Hunt, “The Sessions”
Jacki Weaver, “Silver Linings Playbook”

Prediction: Anne Hathaway, “Les Miserables”
My preference: Helen Hunt, “The Sessions”

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

Alan Arkin, “Argo”
Robert De Niro, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”
Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln”
Christoph Waltz, “Django Unchained”

Prediction: Christoph Waltz, “Django Unchained”
My preference: Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln”

I feel as if “Lincoln” has very little momentum, and Christoph Waltz has the best role of the five men here. A leading one, but since when have the Academy cared about category fraud? There is an outside chance that they’ll give Robert De Niro the Oscar, as a reward for finally doing something worthwhile, but the amount of lame comedic films he’s been in recently leads me to believe that when he does win a third Oscar it’ll be for a dramatic performance.

Final Oscar Predictions 2/3 [Screenplays & Techs]

Best Original Screenplay:

“Amour”
“Django Unchained”
“Flight”
“Moonrise Kingdom”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Prediction: “Django Unchained”
My preference: “Moonrise Kingdom”

As much as dialogue is an important aspect of a screenplay, it isn’t the be-all-and-end-all; If Tarantino wins this award it will be for writing engaging, twisty monologues, and crafting very little out of them. It’s a more impressionable, obvious script than its nominees, which is why I think it's going the way of “Django Unchained,” but it’s also possible that this could be the category where Michael Haneke is personally rewarded, or that WGA victor Mark Boal (is “Zero Dark Thirty” in danger of going home empty-handed on Sunday?!) could pull off a victory.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

“Argo”
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Silver Linings Playbook”

Prediction: “Argo”
My preference: “Lincoln”

I accept that this is going to be an evening of spreading the wealth between a number of films, but if you’re assuming that “Argo” is going to win Best Picture (after internal debate, I have) then you also have to view it as a very strong contender for the Screenplay Oscar, too. It seemed unthinkable that Tony Kushner would lose this prize a month or so ago, but now it’s definitely looking that way. I actually think that Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook” script has a better chance of toppling Terrio at this point, as ‘comedic’ films are more likely to be rewarded in the screenplay category than any other.

Best Cinematography:

“Anna Karenina”
“Django Unchained”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Skyfall”

Prediction: “Life of Pi”
My preference: “Life of Pi”

Despite the goodwill for Roger Deakins after his long winless streak with Oscar, that trend is going to continue. When voters look for cinematography they look for big, flashy visuals, and “Life of Pi” provides them spectacularly.

Best Film Editing:

“Argo”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Silver Linings Playbook”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Prediction: “Argo”
My preference: “Silver Linings Playbook”

In recent years the Academy has shown flexibility with the Editing category, handing the prize to non-Best Picture nominees “Black Hawk Down,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” This year all of the nominees are Best Picture nominees, so it makes sense to go for the assumed most popular, “Argo,” which has the added benefit of an international story with shifting settings.

Best Production Design:

“Anna Karenina”
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
“Les Miserables”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”

Prediction: “Life of Pi”
My preference: “Lincoln”

This one could go a number of ways but going back through this category’s recent history has illuminated the fact that CGI is becoming melded with production design, the win for “Avatar” an unthinkably bold shift towards technological design. That’s why I’m picking “Life of Pi,” which might just get this prize off the back of looking great overall.

Best Costume Design:

“Anna Karenina”
“Les Miserables”
“Lincoln”
“Mirror Mirror”
“Snow White and the Huntsman”

Prediction: “Anna Karenina”
My preference: “Mirror Mirror”

Best Make Up:

“Hitchcock”
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
“Les Miserables”

Prediction: “Les Miserables”
My preference: “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”

I’ve been back and forth on this one since ‘The Hobbit’ seems so clearly the film with the most technical make up (the cosmetics in ‘Les Mis’ are fine, but hardly groundbreaking) but it just feels right to go for the Best Picture nominee of the three, and they did at least do a good job of making Hathaway look dreadful.

Best Sound Mixing:

“Argo”
“Les Miserables”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Skyfall”

Prediction: “Les Miserables”
My preference: “Life of Pi”

Best Sound Editing:

“Argo”
“Django Unchained”
“Life of Pi”
“Skyfall”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Prediction: “Skyfall”
My preference: “Zero Dark Thirty”

I intended to go with “Skyfall” for both sound awards, thinking specifically of when “The Bourne Identity” took both prizes home a few years ago. But if even “Dreamgirls” won Sound Mixing without a ton of support from the Academy then you’ve got to figure that “Les Miserables” has this one sewn up, despite the Sound Mixing in that film being questionable at best.

Best Visual Effects:

“The Avengers”
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
“Life of Pi”
“Prometheus”
“Snow White and the Huntsman”

Prediction: “Life of Pi”
My preference: “Life of Pi”

Final Oscar Predictions 1/3 (Music; Shorts; Misc.)

Best Original Score:

“Anna Karenina”
“Argo”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Skyfall”

Prediction: “Life of Pi”
My preference: “Life of Pi”

Mychael Danna has done better work in the past, but in a fairly weak year for the category (they should have nominated “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Cloud Atlas!”) I find myself rooting for “Life of Pi” here. It feels as if John Williams’ next win will have to be on the coat-tails of a sweeping Best Picture winner, and Thomas Newman’s “Skyfall” is hardly a revelation deserving of recognition. If the Academy really take to “Argo” then Desplat may finally get an Oscar, but I feel very comfortable about predicting Danna to take this one home.

Best Original Song:

“Chasing Ice”
“Les Miserables”
“Life of Pi”
“Skyfall”
“Ted”

Prediction: “Skyfall”
My preference: “Chasing Ice”

Yes, that’s right; If I had a ballot I wouldn’t be voting for Adele, despite liking the song a ton. I am continually moved by “Before My Time” but I concede that it doesn’t have a hope of snagging this Oscar, the only possible challenger to global superstar Adele’s Bond hit the mopey, uninspiring “Suddenly,” from” Les Miserables,” which contributes little to the film overall. This one’s going to the Londoner.

 
Best Animated Feature:

“Brave”
“Frankenweenie”
“Paranorman”
“Pirates: Band of Misfits”
“Wreck-It Ralph”

Prediction: “Wreck-It Ralph”
My preference: “Frankenweenie”

This is looking like a three-horse race, with ‘Ralph’ and “Brave” duking it out at the front of the pack, and the hugely-respected Tim Burton’s “Frankenweenie” clinging onto hope of an upset. I have been concerned that the video game aspects of ‘Ralph’ will put some voters off, its commerciality and often garish animation making it the less graceful counterpart to the accomplished palette of Pixar’s “Brave.” The problem for Pixar is that nobody thinks that “Brave” even comes close to its finer achievements in the past decade, and – considering the gender balance of the Academy – I don’t think it helps that this particular film focuses on the issues of a teenage girl.

Best Documentary Feature:

“5 Broken Cameras”
“The Gatekeepers”
“How to Survive a Plague”
“The Invisible War”
“Searching for Sugar Man”

Prediction: “Searching for Sugar Man”
My preference: “5 Broken Cameras”

Having altered voting for this category to encompass the whole of the academy, it’s unclear whether voters will see all of the films, and it sadly feels as if they’d be more inclined to watch ‘Sugar Man’ than any of the others. I rather liked the film, but it’s a more personal story without a heavy issue to burden the audience, and feels like somewhat of a trifle having seen its competition. I don’t think “How to Survive a Plague” is out of it yet, and “The Invisible War” packs a serious punch, too, but will enough folks rally behind one of them to cause an upset? It seems unlikely.

Best Documentary (Short Film):

“Inocente”
“Kings Point”
“Mondays at Racine”
“Open Heart”
“Redemption”

Prediction: “Inocente”
My preference: N/A

Best Foreign Language Film:

“Amour” (Austria)
“Kon-Tiki” (Norway)
“No” (Chile)
“A Royal Affair” (Denmark)
“War Witch” (Canada)

Prediction: “Amour”
My preference: “War Witch”

It appears as if this prize is all sewn up, although I don’t think that “Amour” is traditionally the kind of film that wins in this category. The lack of a clear contender among the other four seals the deal, but will it be the film’s only prize?

Best Short Film (Animation):

“Adam and Dog”
“Fresh Guacamole”
“Head Over Heels”
“Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare”
“Paperman”

Prediction: “Paperman”
My preference: “Fresh Guacamole”

While it’s true that voters have the tendency to surprise when filling out their ballot for the shorts, this is the first time that voting has been opened up to all branches. “Paperman” is surely the most widely viewed of the nominees (everybody who saw “Wreck-It Ralph” at the cinema will have seen this too) and the film does have a sweeping, cutesy charm about it. I’d be very surprised if the Academy chose to give this to one of the other, generally uninspiring nominees.

Best Short Film (Live Action):

“Asad”
“Buzkashi Boys”
“Curfew”
“Death of a Shadow”
“Henry”

Prediction: “Curfew”
My preference: N/A

In the Mood for Podcast: Episode 37

Episode 37 has reviews of "A Good Day to Die Hard," "Beautiful Creatures," Judd Apatow's "This Is 40," and Foreign Language Oscar nominee "No." We're also predicting the winners of Sunday's Academy Awards.

Head on over to the new site and listen!

A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)

A Good Day to Die Hard
Directed by John Moore
Starring: Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Yuliya Snigir, Radivoje Bukvic, Sergei Kolesnikov, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Grade: D+

For those at the helm of this appropriately ‘dying’ franchise it was a good time to start trying hard, but John Moore’s “A Good Day to Die Hard” is sadly as dumb as most action flicks fobbed off to the public, if not dumber. The action set-pieces have clearly swallowed up a sizeable chunk of the budget, a vehicular pile-up which leaves Willis’ John McClane and his estranged son Jack (Courtney) on the same team a sequence bracing enough to grace an installment of the “Mission: Impossible” series. It’s the only thing the filmmakers can be remotely proud of, every other element of “A Good Day to Die Hard” as lazily conceived as even the most routine actioners.

The plot involving Russian politicians is a laughably cartoonish hark back to the days of Cold War propaganda, while Skip Woods’ script attempts to inject an angst-ridden through-line narrative involving the father and son’s tattered relationship mending itself through comradeship and bloodthirsty identification with one another. The father-son bond is wholly unconvincing, both because Bruce Willis – clearly scrimping around for any buck he can get at the moment – is as bemused with this story as half the audience I saw the film with, and also because Jai Courtney is too old, and too much of a leading presence, to be saddled with the role of Understudy.  As if it wasn't enough to consign Eastern-European politics to a series of sneering, bearded men grandstanding in bare ashen rooms, the film dredges up the Chernobyl disaster to frame the murky motivations of its villain, before McClane Sr. and McClane Jr. somehow manage to leave the nuclear wasteland in a worse condition than they found it. What sort of botched idea of heroism is that?

Beautiful Creatures (2013)

Beautiful Creatures
Directed by Richard LaGravenese
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum, Dame Eileen Atkins, Margo Martindale
Grade: B

What is being billed as a potential new franchise aimed primarily at teen audiences – in the vein of “The Hunger Games” or “Twilight” – “Beautiful Creatures,” adapted from a novel by Kami Garcia, shows no signs of limiting itself to romantic young minds.  While this story of love and magic will likely appeal to a target demographic, surrounding the young central couple of Ehrenreich and Englert with a host of reputable actors, from Viola Davis to Dame Eileen Atkins, ensures that the film is more accessible to an older audience. Of course, it helps that LaGravenese’s deft script gives these actors so much to do, the dynamic between the spell-casting members of the mysterious Ravenwood family fascinatingly volatile, Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson’s bristling standoff in a church allowing both actors to flex their acting muscle in ways we haven’t seen in a while, and Emmy Rossum an electric presence as the film's catty villain.

As the young lead of the film, Ehrenreich exerts such charm and charisma, elitist in the way that he observes the narrow-minded members of his small town, itching for an alien form of excitement he gratefully receives. He and Englert have a winning chemistry together, and it’s somewhat of a relief that the strength of their romance isn’t diluted by the overkill of the obstacles and constraints which come between them. Nevertheless, “Beautiful Creatures” has its problems: An excellent first hour is undone by some convoluted plot twists in the second, and its finale strangely appears to betray the already-established mechanics of its world. But once it has you in its stranglehold “Beautiful Creatures” won’t let go, beautifully nostalgic with its horror elements and lovingly new-age in its impression of star-crossed lovers separated by supernature.