The first film I saw of 2012 was a film starring Mark Wahlberg called Contraband. It was not the way I'd hoped the year would start off and I took it as a sign that 2012 was going to be a bad year for Hollywood. If it was any indication of what the rest of the year was going to hold, I wouldn't have been so happy. Obviously there were the films that we all knew were going to be great like The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises.
I think I gave more A grades to movies in 2012 than in years past. As the year progressed, I found the quality of movies getting better. Heck, the reason I saw The Man With The Iron Fists, the film directed by RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, was that I needed to give something a bad grade. I was worried that I was being too lenient with my grades and liking too many movies. Well, I'm here to tell you that there is NEVER a problem of liking too many movies. And that brings me to the beginning of 2013.
It's award season again. It's that time of year again where we watch all the awards ceremonies that honor the movies that haven't been in theaters for all that long, and some of them, films that not many people have seen nor heard of. While that's been the case in the past, it's not this year.
I've talked to so many people who tell me that the loved movies such as Silver Linings Playbook, Les Miserables, and Argo. Lots of people have been going to the movies lately and seeing all the great films that are out now, which makes me happy. Those three are just a few of my many favorite films of the year. But I've noticed something interesting about this year's nominees for both the Golden Globes and the Oscars.
In years past, I haven't been as happy about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's choices for awards as I have been with the Academy's picks. This year, I'm incredibly pleased with the HFPA's picks and I'm almost angry about the Academy's picks (I'll explain my thoughts more on the Academy's choices in another post). While the Golden Globes honors television shows as well as films, I'm going to focus strictly on the films for this post. I don't watch enough TV to write a decent post for the TV shows.
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Quentin Tarantino won this award for his script for Django Unchained. I thought this was the best pick for the category because of the style of dialogue that he presents. There's a lot of dialogue in this film that seems unnecessary, but adds flavor and fun to the scene. It keeps viewers engaged the whole time in what would normally be an incredibly long and at some points might be kind of boring. Tarantino keeps us interested.
Another good choice for the award would have been Tony Kushner's screenplay of Lincoln. We see an issue that has been perhaps the most defining issue in the entire history of the United States, the issue of slavery. The stakes are higher in that situation because as Abraham Lincoln says in the film, we have "the fate of human dignity in our hands." We see this situation played out in a fashion that looks like today's Congress. The issues may have changed, but the process remains the same.
Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
I think this was the most predictable category of the entire show. Daniel Day-Lewis is clearly the best actor, playing Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. He delivers the best performance of the year in this film. He is, without a doubt, one of, if not the, best actors of our time. He does a magnificent job of humanizing a man who is idolized by this country's history, and many of its people. He makes us realize that while Lincoln did all of these amazing things during his time as President of the United States, he was a human being, but "clothed in immense power."
Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
To play the role of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables is truly a feat of acting ability. This role seems like a tremendously difficult role to even attempt to play, but Hugh Jackman is truly awesome as Jean Valjean. He delivers one of the best performances of the year and it should be an interesting race when it comes time for the Oscars. It will come down to him and Daniel Day-Lewis in the end, and I can't really predict who will win this category because both performances are incredibly good.
Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
The only film I've seen that has been nominated in this category is Silver Linings Playbook in which Jennifer Lawrence is the nominee. All I can say is that she's awesome! She plays a somewhat insane sex addict and delivers a truly fabulous performance and I predict that she is a very strong contender for Best Actress at the Oscars. Perhaps the only actress who may snag the award from her is Jessica Chastain for her performance in Zero Dark Thirty.
Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
The first time I saw Zero Dark Thirty, I wasn't terribly impressed by Jessica Chastain's performance as Maya, the CIA operative who found Osama bin Laden living in a compound in Abottabad, Pakistan. But the second time I saw it, I realized just how good she really is at playing this person who cannot be identified. Director Kathryn Bigelow portrays this woman as bossy at times, but as a woman who knows what's best for getting through the situation and solving problems. Jessica Chastain is almost flawless in her role as Maya and is truly the best pick for this award.
Best Picture - Comedy or Musical
I'm not going to disagree with anybody who gives a prestigious award like this to my favorite film of the year, Les Miserables. Yes, it is my favorite film of the year and I can't recommend it enough to people. You simply must see it and I think you'll agree that through the endless singing it's a really wonderful film. And you can probably imagine that I'd like to see it win Best Picture at the Oscars this year as well. It has its flaws and other things that might have made it a better film, but more importantly, it's the second time Tom Hooper has directed my favorite film of an entire year. He directed The King's Speech which was my favorite film of 2010 and won Best Picture at the Oscars that year. So, enough of this and go see Les Miserables!!! I hope you'll agree with me that it's the best film of the year.
Best Picture - Drama
One of the things I don't like about the Golden Globes is that there are two best picture categories. It's good because two films can be called the best films of the year, but they're two separate categories that can't really be compared. So, how can we have two best pictures of the year?
I'm happy that Argo won this award. I think it's kind of a slap in the face to the Academy who didn't even nominate Ben Affleck for Best Director for his work on Argo. He directs the film in a fashion that keeps us interested and hanging on the edge of our seats all the way from start to finish. Other films like Les Miserables, Django Unchained, and even Lincoln, don't exactly keep us hanging on the edge of our seats for the duration of the film. Argo really is one of the best films of the year.
In conclusion, I'm pleased with the nominations and the results of the Golden Globes this year. Often the Golden Globes serves as a good prediction for what we can expect in the Oscars, but this year, the playing field is quite different for both award ceremonies. So it should be interesting to see the results of this year's Oscars. I have my predictions, and you probably have yours, but we won't know until the awards are given out. And like I said before, most of the time, I think the Academy gets it right, but this year, I think the HFPA made better selections for their nominees and winners.
I think I gave more A grades to movies in 2012 than in years past. As the year progressed, I found the quality of movies getting better. Heck, the reason I saw The Man With The Iron Fists, the film directed by RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, was that I needed to give something a bad grade. I was worried that I was being too lenient with my grades and liking too many movies. Well, I'm here to tell you that there is NEVER a problem of liking too many movies. And that brings me to the beginning of 2013.
It's award season again. It's that time of year again where we watch all the awards ceremonies that honor the movies that haven't been in theaters for all that long, and some of them, films that not many people have seen nor heard of. While that's been the case in the past, it's not this year.
I've talked to so many people who tell me that the loved movies such as Silver Linings Playbook, Les Miserables, and Argo. Lots of people have been going to the movies lately and seeing all the great films that are out now, which makes me happy. Those three are just a few of my many favorite films of the year. But I've noticed something interesting about this year's nominees for both the Golden Globes and the Oscars.
In years past, I haven't been as happy about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's choices for awards as I have been with the Academy's picks. This year, I'm incredibly pleased with the HFPA's picks and I'm almost angry about the Academy's picks (I'll explain my thoughts more on the Academy's choices in another post). While the Golden Globes honors television shows as well as films, I'm going to focus strictly on the films for this post. I don't watch enough TV to write a decent post for the TV shows.
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Quentin Tarantino won this award for his script for Django Unchained. I thought this was the best pick for the category because of the style of dialogue that he presents. There's a lot of dialogue in this film that seems unnecessary, but adds flavor and fun to the scene. It keeps viewers engaged the whole time in what would normally be an incredibly long and at some points might be kind of boring. Tarantino keeps us interested.
Another good choice for the award would have been Tony Kushner's screenplay of Lincoln. We see an issue that has been perhaps the most defining issue in the entire history of the United States, the issue of slavery. The stakes are higher in that situation because as Abraham Lincoln says in the film, we have "the fate of human dignity in our hands." We see this situation played out in a fashion that looks like today's Congress. The issues may have changed, but the process remains the same.
Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
I think this was the most predictable category of the entire show. Daniel Day-Lewis is clearly the best actor, playing Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. He delivers the best performance of the year in this film. He is, without a doubt, one of, if not the, best actors of our time. He does a magnificent job of humanizing a man who is idolized by this country's history, and many of its people. He makes us realize that while Lincoln did all of these amazing things during his time as President of the United States, he was a human being, but "clothed in immense power."
Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
To play the role of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables is truly a feat of acting ability. This role seems like a tremendously difficult role to even attempt to play, but Hugh Jackman is truly awesome as Jean Valjean. He delivers one of the best performances of the year and it should be an interesting race when it comes time for the Oscars. It will come down to him and Daniel Day-Lewis in the end, and I can't really predict who will win this category because both performances are incredibly good.
Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
The only film I've seen that has been nominated in this category is Silver Linings Playbook in which Jennifer Lawrence is the nominee. All I can say is that she's awesome! She plays a somewhat insane sex addict and delivers a truly fabulous performance and I predict that she is a very strong contender for Best Actress at the Oscars. Perhaps the only actress who may snag the award from her is Jessica Chastain for her performance in Zero Dark Thirty.
Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
The first time I saw Zero Dark Thirty, I wasn't terribly impressed by Jessica Chastain's performance as Maya, the CIA operative who found Osama bin Laden living in a compound in Abottabad, Pakistan. But the second time I saw it, I realized just how good she really is at playing this person who cannot be identified. Director Kathryn Bigelow portrays this woman as bossy at times, but as a woman who knows what's best for getting through the situation and solving problems. Jessica Chastain is almost flawless in her role as Maya and is truly the best pick for this award.
Best Picture - Comedy or Musical
I'm not going to disagree with anybody who gives a prestigious award like this to my favorite film of the year, Les Miserables. Yes, it is my favorite film of the year and I can't recommend it enough to people. You simply must see it and I think you'll agree that through the endless singing it's a really wonderful film. And you can probably imagine that I'd like to see it win Best Picture at the Oscars this year as well. It has its flaws and other things that might have made it a better film, but more importantly, it's the second time Tom Hooper has directed my favorite film of an entire year. He directed The King's Speech which was my favorite film of 2010 and won Best Picture at the Oscars that year. So, enough of this and go see Les Miserables!!! I hope you'll agree with me that it's the best film of the year.
Best Picture - Drama
One of the things I don't like about the Golden Globes is that there are two best picture categories. It's good because two films can be called the best films of the year, but they're two separate categories that can't really be compared. So, how can we have two best pictures of the year?
I'm happy that Argo won this award. I think it's kind of a slap in the face to the Academy who didn't even nominate Ben Affleck for Best Director for his work on Argo. He directs the film in a fashion that keeps us interested and hanging on the edge of our seats all the way from start to finish. Other films like Les Miserables, Django Unchained, and even Lincoln, don't exactly keep us hanging on the edge of our seats for the duration of the film. Argo really is one of the best films of the year.
In conclusion, I'm pleased with the nominations and the results of the Golden Globes this year. Often the Golden Globes serves as a good prediction for what we can expect in the Oscars, but this year, the playing field is quite different for both award ceremonies. So it should be interesting to see the results of this year's Oscars. I have my predictions, and you probably have yours, but we won't know until the awards are given out. And like I said before, most of the time, I think the Academy gets it right, but this year, I think the HFPA made better selections for their nominees and winners.
Comments
Post a Comment