Oscars 2013: Recap of Winners and my Thoughts

Last night, the 85th annual Academy Awards aired on ABC and for the most part, I was extremely pleased with the results of the ceremony. Everyone I wanted to see win did take home their respective awards however there was some suprises spinkled here and there throughout the night. But before I get into my thoughts of the big winners of the night, let me talk about some of the other big moments of the night.

First, I might as well give my thoughts on Seth MacFarlane's hosting this year. For being a first time host, I thought he killed it. He was entertaining, confident, and pretty damn funny. I will admit though that while I did like his opening monologue and the fact that he made fun of potentitally being "the worst host ever" (James Franco holds that one), I will admit it could have been cut down a little bit some of it was unnecessary. And I could not believe some of the jokes they let him get away with, some were funny (his shots at the Academy such as snubbing Ben Affleck and commenting that Jean DuJardin has gone nowhere sinc The Artist were pretty amusing) and then some were just sort of like "he said what?"(Chris Brown and Rihanna's date movie is Django Unchained.....yeah I was surprised he got away with that). But for the most part, I loved Seth as host I would not mind seeing him again somwhere down the road.

Another big thing I was looking forward to was the James Bond tribute the Academy had planned. I had heard a rumor that all actors who had played Bond were going to be on stage and I was hoping it would be true. Plus, you had Shirley Bassey and Adele perfoming how could you go wrong with that? Well, other than a rousing performance by Bassey, who can still hit that high note, the tribute itself was massively underwhelming. All that it was was a montage and then Bassey's performance, with Adele singing later in the broadcast. I mean why couldn't they have all the Bonds come out on stage together for the first time? I know Sean Connery especially would have difficulty getting to stage but it would have been fantastic to see them all together.

But now let's get down to the big winners of the night, starting with the Best Supporting categories (the winners will be in Bold)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

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

I was extremely happy with this win. I thought Waltz's performance was fantastic in Django. Quite honestly, I thought that Tommy Lee Jones or even Alan Arkin might come in and surprise everyone by winning the award for the night but I am happy with this win overall. Plus, Waltz had a excellent speech, very charming.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

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

This win came as absolute no surprise to me. As I said in my predictions post, Hathaway had this one in the bag so there was no real surprise to her winning this category. I thought her speech was nice, she was grateful. It's just nice to see someone who starred in a Disney rom com go from that to winning an Oscar.


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:Wreck-It Ralph
Frankenweenie
Brave
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Damn I was upset with this category. To me, I honestly thought that Wreck-It Ralph, ParaNorman, or even Frankenweenie deserved to win in this category. I never thought Brave was at any all that particulary good (and I'm not just saying that because it didn't hold up to other standards of Pixar movies). For me, while the mother-daughter relationship is explored very well, something about the second half threw me off. Maybe it was because I thought the whole movie would go into one direction for me (and it looked like it would in the first 40 minutes) but then I was surprised to see it go in an entirely different direction. I don't know but for me, I wasn't too pleased with this one


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Michael Haneke – Amour
Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
John Gatins – Flight

Tarantino baby! I was absolutely ecstatic with him winning this award. Out of all the nominees, I think he honestly deserved it. If not him, then it should have been Moonrise Kingdom. However, Tarantino definitely earned this one, as Django's script had some of THE best dialogue I've heard in years. Also, his acceptance speech about how writers are the main component of a film.....one of the highlights of the whole evening.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
Chris Terrio – Argo
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
David Magee – Life of Pi
Lucy Alibar, Behn Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild

In my Oscar predictions post, I mentioned that I would like to see Argo win. While I am happy that it won in this category,  in the back of my mind, I was kind of rooting for Silver Linings Playbook for the win. That film, as anyone who read my review knows, made me walk out of that film happy and most of that was in part to the chemistry between the characters and the dialogue between each other, which I thought was excellent. But regardless, I was happy with Argo's win.

BEST ACTOR
Denzel Washington – Flight
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

This win did not come a surprise this was the only guaranteed lock of the whole evening. Whenever Daniel Day-Lewis is nominated, he's essentially guaranteed to win. However, his speech was hilarious. He's usually known for being a serious actor and who knew he could be really funny? I loved the speech and after this, does anyone else want to see Daniel Day-Lewis do a comedy just to see how that would turn out?

[Speaking of Lincoln: Seth MacFarlane's joke about John Wilkes Booth and Abraham Lincoln was the best joke of the whole night.]

BEST ACTRESS:
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
Out of all the acting categories of the night, this was the one I was incredibly happy with. While I thought Jessica Chastain was going to take home the award for the night, I was pleasantly surprised when Lawrence's name was called. I loved Lawrence's performance, she could go from witty to angry in a matter of 2.5 seconds it was incredible. I am very happy with her winning this award she fully deserves it.

Oh and before I forget: Yes, she fell up the stairs getting her award. We know, it happened. Let's move on from it.

BEST DIRECTOR:

Ang Lee – Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook
Michael Haneke – Amour
Behn Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild

I honestly would have thought Spielberg would have taken home the directing prize for Lincoln, but nope, it went to Ang Lee for Life of Pi. I can't say if Ang Lee deserves to win for this award because I never got around to seeing Life of Pi before Oscar night unfortunately. So I can't comment on whether he deserves it or not.

BEST PICTURE:

ArgoAmour
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Argo fully deserves its Best Picture win. I was happy when it started winning awards left and right at the Director's Guild, Screen Actors Guild, Producers Guild, Golden Globes, and the BAFTAs. It's just nice to see Ben Affleck come so far after his career slump back in the early 2000s and to now see him win a Best Picture Oscar is inspiring.

So that's my thoughts on the big winners on Oscar night. Overall, the show was one of the best I've seen in a while and I'm happy with most of the winners.

Trailer Roundup: Super Bowl Edition

The Super Bowl is once again upon us and once again it is time for movie studios to unleash TV spots for their upcoming spring/summer blockbusters during the Big Game. And man did studios show off a pretty good haul of what's to come in the coming months. Below is the TV spots that aired during the big game along with my thoughts on them.

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL-March 8

 

 

 

Oz the Great and Powerful is a film I have mixed feelings on. On one hand, it's from director Sam Rami, the man who directed the Spider-Man and Evil Dead trilogies. I'm interested to see what he does with a straight up fantasy movie. I'm also curious to see how it ties into the original Wizard of Oz. I know the plot revolves around the Wizard arriving in Oz and meeting the three witches but I'm curious as to see what specific aspects tie in to the original story.

 

However, the one thing that really bugs me is how similar the film looks to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Burton didn't produce this, but when you watch the trailer, you have to wonder if maybe he did.

 

The Super Bowl spot here does not offer anything new. It's the same footage that we've seen from the two trailers that have been released. Overall, a bit of a letdown but I'll still most likely check it out when it hits theaters.

 

 

 

WORLD WAR Z- June 21

 

 

World War Z is a film that interests me greatly. I have read the book by Max Brooks upon which this film is based and I am curious to see just how it will translate to film. The book is comprised of multiple stories detailing survivors' experience with the zombie apocalypse. In the film, we follow Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), a U.N. employee who goes around conducting interviews with survivors. It makes me wonder: will the filmmakers do stories from the book or will they create entirely new stories? Either way, I'm extremely curious to see how the film stays to the source material.

As for the TV spot, it's all footage from the trailer, though it does a pretty good job of teasing exactly what happened.  I'm definitely intrigued by how this will all play out.

 

 

 

THE LONE RANGER-July 3

 

 

 

When I saw the first trailer for The Lone Ranger, I had no interest whatsoever after watching this. It just looked like a dumb, goofy Western action film and we all know what happened the last time this kind of film came out (coughWild Wild Westcough). Now, after seeing this Super Bowl spot, it looks slightly better but I still have my doubts. The action in this movie does look like it will be entertaining and Arnie Hammer looks like he'll be pretty good as the Lone Ranger. Also, I like how they seem to be exploring the spirtual and supernatural side to the Ranger as to how he came back from the dead.

 

However, I still feel wary on this. I know the film is supposed to look like it might be a fun dumb ridd, but I'm worried it might be TOO dumb. Disney spent $250 milion on this movie and after the flop that was John Carter, they have a lot riding on this one. Also while I love Johnny Depp, he looks like he's doing the whole Jack Sparrow bit again (which would make sense considering that Gore Verbinski made this). I'm still optimisitic about this one, but I have my doubts on it as well.

 

Also, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are in a movie together NOT directed by Tim Burton?? Now that's a surprise.

 

 

 

IRON MAN 3-May 3 

 

 

Now we start getting into the good stuff. I have been greatly anticipating Iron Man 3 ever since the credits on The Avengers started rolling. This time, Jon Favreau passes on the directing torch to Shane Black, who made the criminally underrated Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I think Black is an excellent choice to direct here, because the dialogue will be pretty damn good (he's also writing the screenplay) and the action will be fast paced and intense.

Also, I like how the story is going to deal with the aftermath of what happened in The Avengers. Tony Stark seems to be shaken after the battle in New York that *SPOILER ALERT* ended with him taking a nuclear missle through a portal into another dimension, which honestly would shake most people. This film is also the start of "Phase Two" of Marvel's Cinematic Universe so I'm curious to see what seeds this movie will plant that will appear in future films.

As for the Super Bowl Spots, there are two. One that aired during the Big Game and an extended one premiered exclusively to Facebook. Both of these trailers are awesome I particularly like the trailer that premiered during the Big Game. It doesn't show a whole lot as to what's going on, but it basically says, "Yes, this will actually happen in the movie, how will Tony Stark get out of this situation?" It's short but man is it satisfying. The extended one gives a little bit more footage but not a whole lot more. Still both of these trailers look awesome and I can't wait for this movie to come out.


Here's the spot that aired during the Big Game:

 

 



 

and here's the spot that premiered on Facebook!

 

 

 

 

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS-May 17

 

 

I will admit that I am not a "Trekkie." I am not the biggest fan of the Star Trek franchise (I only casually watch "The Next Generation"). However, I flat out adore J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot. As someone who is not the biggest fan of Star Trek, I love this movie. Which is why I can not wait for this sequel, this movie looks fantastic. Right from the get go, you can see this is going to be a much darker Star Trek film, with the story this time around being the crew of the Enterprise going after Benedict Cumberbatch's character.

 

And that's all we know about the plot because with a J.J. Abrams film, he will keep plot details as close to the chest as he possibly can. And I love that about him, I love when directors don't reveal anything about their film in order to keep the audience surprised.

Also, I am liking Benedict Cumberbatch's turn as John Harrison (that's the name I'm reading though everyone is going nuts over whether he's Khan or Gary Mitchell or not....I may not watch Star Trek, but I know some names). He is absolutely menacing and seems really pissed at the Federation for some unknown reason not yet revealed to us. I can't wait to find out more about this when it comes out.

 

 

FAST AND FURIOUS 6-May 24

 

 

Out of every Super Bowl movie trailer that premiered on Sunday night, this was one of the ones I was looking forward to the most. This is the very first look we got at this movie and my God did it not disappoint. I loved Fast Five that movie completely took me surprise by how entertaining it was. It's easily one of my favorite action movies of all time and this one looks just as entertaining.

 

The story this time around is that Dom (played once again by Vin Diesel) and his crew are rich, but they can't go home. Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) then shows up asking for their help in taking down a team of drivers who's second in command is Dom's thought-to-be dead girlfriend Letty. The team agrees to take the job on the condition they recieve full pardons for their crimes so that they can go home. And then....mayhem and badassery ensues. The film's action in this, like the last film, looks so damn entertaining to watch everyone looks like they're having a blast making this. This was easily one of my favorite spots of the whole Super Bowl and I can't wait to see more.

 

 

Those were the big spots released during the Super Bowl and looking from this roster.....we got a damn fine haul coming in 2013.