Category Archives: Features

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Inside Film at the Oscars

Pictures is the actress Jennifer Lawrence attempting to steal the Oscar for Best Actress from the winner, Lupita N'yongo
Pictures is the actress Jennifer Lawrence attempting to steal the Oscar for Best Actress from the winner, Lupita N'yongo

Image via: news.softpedia.com

The 86th Academy Awards ceremony marks the end of this years awards season and it was certainly a fitting end. If you didn’t happen to watch our entertaining liveblog covering all the events as and when they happened, we’ve got a recap of all the nominations and winners of the night.

The nominations and winners for each category at the Oscars are as follows:

Best Picture
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years a Slave – Winner
The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Christian Bale, American Hustle
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club – Winner

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine – Winner
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Philips
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club – Winner

Best Supporting Actress
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Lupita Ny’ongo, 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County – Winner

Best Director
David O. Russell, American Hustle
Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity – Winner
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Original Screenplay
American Hustle, Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine, Woody Allen
Dallas Buyers Club, Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack
Her, Spike Jonze – Winner
Nebraska, Bob Nelson

Best Adapted Screenplay
Before Midnight, Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
Captain Phillips, Billy Ray
Philomena, Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
12 Years a Slave, John Ridley – Winner
The Wolf of Wall Street, Terence Winter

Best Animated Feature Film
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Ernest & Celestine
The Wind Rises
Frozen – Winner

Best Foreign Language Film
The Broken Circle Breakdown 
The Great Beauty – Winner
The Hunt
The Missing Picture
Omar

Best Visual Effects
Gravity – Winner
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Cinematography
The Grandmaster
Gravity – Winner
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
Prisoners

Best Costume Design
American Hustle, Michael Wilkinson
The Grandmaster, William Chang Suk Ping
The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin – Winner
The Invisible Woman, Michael O’ Connor
12 Years a Slave, Patricia Norris

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Dallas Buyers Club, Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews – Winner
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, Stephen Prouty
The Lone Ranger, Joel Harlow, Gloria Pasqua-Casny

Best Original Score
The Book Thief, John Williams
Gravity, Steven Price – Winner
Her, William Butler, Owen Pallett
Philomena, Alexandre Desplat
Saving Mr. Banks, Thomas Newman

Best Original Song
“Happy”, Despicable Me 2
“Let it Go”, Frozen – Winner
“The Moon Song”, Her
“Ordinary love”, Mandela: Long Walk to freedom 

Best Sound Editing
All is Lost, Steve Boeddeker, Richard Hymns
Captain Philips, Oliver Tarney
Gravity, Glenn Freemantle – Winner
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Brent Burge, Chris Ward
Lone Survivor, Wylie Stateman

Best Sound Mixing
Captain Philips, Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael and Semanick
Gravity, Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro – Winner
Inside Llewyn Davis, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
Lone Survivor, Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow

Best Production Design
American Hustle, Judy Becker
Gravity, Andy Nicholson
The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin – Winner
Her, K.K. Barrett
12 Years a Slave, Adam Stockhausen

Best Film Editing
American Hustle, Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten
Captain Phillips, Christopher Rouse
Dallas Buyers Club, John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa
Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger – Winner
12 Years a Slave, Joe Walker

Best Animated Short Film
Feral
Get a Horse!
Mr. Hublot – Winner
Possessions
Room o

Best Live Action Short Film
Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)
Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything)
Helium – Winner
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa (Do I Have To Take Care Of Everything?)
The Voorman problem

Best Documentary Feature
The Act of Killing
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
The Square
20 Feet from Stardom – Winner

Best Documentary Short
CaveDigger
Facing Fear
Karama Has No Walls
The Lady in Number 6: The Music Saved My Life – Winner
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

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What you didn’t know about the Oscar statuette.

The Oscar Statuette, a gold man holding a sword set on top of a black base.

The Oscar Statuette

Arguably, the most recognised award in the world, the Oscar statuette has stood on the mantels of the greatest filmmakers since 1929.

The Oscar Statuette, a gold man holding a sword set on top of a black base.

Oscar Statuette. Credit ©A.M.P.A.S.®

Official Name – Academy Award® of Merit

Height – 13½ inches

Weight – 8½ pounds

Number Presented – 2,809

Designer – Cedric Gibbons, Chief Art Director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Manufacturing Time – 3-4 Weeks for 50 Statuettes

Fact

  • Once presented with an Oscar, the recipient is encumbered by the requirement that they themselves or their heirs cannot sell the statue without first offering the Academy the option to buy it for US$1. If the recipient refuses this, the Academy keeps the statue.

So don’t expect to see Jennifer Lawrence’s statuette on ebay anytime soon.

  • Director, screenwriter and actor, Emilio Fernandez posed nude to inspire the Oscar design.
  • The Academy theorises that the Oscar nickname derived from academy librarian, Margaret Herrick, who in the 1930s said that award looked like her uncle named Oscar.
  • Depending on the number of nominees and the maximum amount of Oscars that could be won, there are up to 50 statuettes created for each awards ceremony. Those that are left over at the end of the night are stored away in the Academy vault until next year’s ceremony,
  • The Oscar statuette stands on a film reel with five spokes, representing the original branches of The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences; Actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers.

Check out 12 Golden facts about Oscar Statuettes to tell your friends on Mashable.com

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Is Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit too much?

Gandalf walking through a dark cave with his staff lit in front of him.
Gandalf and Radagast talking next to a tree.

Image via: http://apnatimepass.com/

I would most definitely describe myself as a fan of the works of Tolkien. There isn’t a published novel, poem or essay of his that I haven’t read, and I am a true believer of the opinion of the Sunday Times, in that “ the English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and those who are going to read them”.

Back in 1997, Peter Jackson began work on The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of three attempts to convert the epic high fantasy novel of J. R. R. Tolkien into film. I loved these films, but I wish that there had been more. Three films (and yes, I have seen the extended versions) simply wasn’t enough. So much potential was missed out on. The entire chapter In the House of Tom Bombadil was missed, The Council of Elrond made too simple. So when it was announced that The Hobbit was to be given the “Jackson” treatment, I was over the moon. But did he go too far?

The Hobbit has always been intended as a children’s book. A little hard to read for today’s youngest readers perhaps, but nonetheless written for them. At just shy of 300 pages long, it is the perfect length to tell the tale of one Hobbit and his journey. Let’s not forget the true tale of the hobbit – don’t worry yourself with details of Elf/Dwarf love triangles – is Bilbo’s adventure to reclaim The Lonely Mountain, during which he discovers his inner courage. So when I learned that it was to become three films, a nine hour epic, I had one question. Why?

Bilbo stood on a mountain path.

Image via: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/

Now we have something entirely different. We have the original idea of Tolkien, which was to write a book called The Hobbit and have it entirely about said Hobbit. But Peter Jackson wanted more. He wanted a prequel to his Lord of the Rings, which is never a good idea in writing movies (ahem, Star Wars episodes 1-3).

Because of this, we now have multiple plot lines that feel splintered from the main effort – Gandalf’s fight against the Necromancer being a particularly unforgivable example. Here we have a fight that isn’t really built up to that doesn’t make sense if you haven’t seen The Lord of the Rings. This entire scene relies on cheap-feeling film clichés – Gandalf is awesome and Sauron is super evil, let’s make them fight in the ultimate showdown of light vs. dark. How unsubtle. Here’s a fantastic representation of the troll scene. Here’s Radagast playing with a hedgehog.

There were some additions that worked though. In the scene where Bilbo attacks the baby spider, then realises he did it because of the Ring, he is mortified. It is a perfectly-wordless moment where it shows more of the character. The interrogation scene between Tranduil and Thorin was another great moment. This was extended from the same scene in the book, however it gives the character of Thranduil more exposure and this sets up a very important character for the next film.

So, Peter. Yes I love The Lord of the Rings. Yes I love both of your Hobbit film, and yes I will love the next. But Tolkien kept the story of Sauron out of The Hobbit because it belongs in a different book. And yes it is a prelude to The Lord of the Rings, but it is very much its own story, its own entity, and it deserves that treatment.

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Blue Jasmine wins at the Costume Design Guild Awards.

Cate Blanchett on the red carpet.
An image of Cate Blanchett star of Blue Jasmine.

Star of Blue Jasmine, Cate Blanchett.

The 16th Annual Costume Designers Guild (CDG) Awards were announced last night and saw films such as Blue Jasmine, 12 Years a Slave and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, walk away with awards.

The Guild which hands out competitive awards in seven categories honoured the five-time Oscar nominee, Amy Adams, with the Lacoste Spotlight Awards.

Suzy Benzinger, costume designer for Blue Jasmine, walked home with the Excellence in Contemporary Film. Relatively new to the business, Suzy has only worked on a few low-budget films.

When she was hired to work on the Woody Allen film, that sees Cate Blanchett grace the screen as the leading actress, Suzy could not believe the budget she had for the film.

She said, “When you do a Woody Allen film you have a very limited budget. How limited? The entire budget for this film was $35,000. Panic set in.”

Suzy explained that once she started name dropping ‘Woody Allen’ and ‘Cate Blanchett’ doors soon began to open.

Often undervalued, the CDG awards are one of the lesser known awards that takes place all over Hollywood in the run up to The Oscars.

Other winners of the night included 12 Years A Slave for Excellence in Period Film and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire for Excellence in Fantasy Film.

Surprisingly, only one of the winners of the night are nominated for an Academy Award on Sunday evening. Patricia Norris for 12 Years a Slave will go up for Best Costume Design against films such as American Hustle, The Great Gatsby and The Invisible Woman.

if you haven’t already, please check out our post-BAFTAs podcast.

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Her: Who did it first?

Written, directed and produced by Spike Jonez, Her proved to be an unsettling, yet enthralling film about a man who develops a loving relationship with a computer operating system.

Receiving widespread critical acclaim for its direction, power and absolute relevancy to our own society, Her is nominated for five Academy Awards at this year’s 89th annual celebration, including Best Film and Best Writing – Original Screenplay.

Compared by critics to the Truman Show, in impact rather than context, Jonez portrays a future not far from our present, stunningly, through Joaquin Phoenix and the voice of Scarlett Johansson. Comparisons are also made between Her and Lost in Translation, with both films providing an uncomfortable yet equally infatuating love affair which compels the watcher throughout.

Described by Empire magazine as “Jonez’s most significant film yet”, Her will leave a lasting impact on all those who watch it. But did Jonez really think of it first?

Introducing, the internet…

As Her continues to receive acclaim for its originality and innovation, loyal fans of the NBC sitcom Community, have been cooking up a storm on Reddit. An adaptation of the Her movie poster has surfaced on the websites Community “Sub-Reddit”, replacing Phoenix with an image of co-star Danny Pudi (Abed), with the caption reading “Community did it first, Abed deserves an Oscar”.image via imgur.com

The mock poster refers to an episode in which the “socially disadvantaged” Abed falls in love with Hilda, a character he meets inside a virtual reality video game. The poster was soon pushed to the Reddit front page and fans discussed how writer Dan Harmon, also acclaimed for his creative story-telling, covered the topic of artificial love a full eighteen months before Jonez, albeit a little more light hearted and fun.

However, the real investigators of our good old internet had more. Robot Chicken, already often disregarded for their Star Wars parody, which Family Guy took their inspiration from (openly mocked by Seth Macfarlane during an episode, for how blatantly he stole their idea), also had a similar storyline back in 2006.

Lisa is a short that focuses on a man developing, and then destroying, a relationship with his satellite navigation system. Not only is the story line very similar to that of Her, the voice of the computer is played by Scarlett Johansson. I know, it makes you feel dirty doesn’t it?

Lisa – Robot Chicken (2006) – (WATCH HERE!)

With the Oscars soon approaching, it is not likely that these revelations are going to have much impact on Her’s award winning credentials. In fact, Jonez and his film are both still very popular within the online world. Lisa is fun and does bear striking resemblance to Her, but it does very little to capture the love and romance between man and machine.

It is hard to answer who thought of the idea first, but we can say this. It wasn’t Spike Jonez.

image via replygif.net

image via replygif.net