Awards Season 2022: The 94th Academy Awards

Well... that was certainly something...

Did anyone have "angry actor smacks award host for insulting his wife, then proceeds to win an Oscar" on their Oscar bingo? No? Nor did I. But that's one of the things about live events: anything can happen. 

The telecast began with a spectacular performance of Best Original Song nominee "Be Alive" from King Richard by Beyoncé from the Compton tennis courts where Venus and Serena Williams practiced when they were growing up. Talk about starting with a bang!

This was the first time in three years that the Oscars had a host and, if I'm honest, I really didn't feel that having a host (or hosts) added anything to the evening. And to be honest, that's nothing to do with who they had as hosts: it was always going to be a poisoned chalice for whoever took the job and Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall didn't do too badly. Let's put it this way: they were more Jimmy Kimmel than James Franco & Anne Hathaway. 

The three-act structure seemed to have gone by the wayside, with all three hosts periodically popping up throughout; the providers of the music changed each hour, but that was about it. There were a couple of funny lines (Amy Schumer referring to herself as "Melissa McCarthy said no" raised a chuckle, as did her "Did I miss anything?" when she reappeared after the Smith-Rock debacle; the not-so-subtle two fingers up to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill was also a joy), but generally the skits felt clunky and unfunny- Regina Hall playing up to being the thirsty singleton went on too long, and somehow we were meant to be OK with her feeling up Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa when you just know that if a male host tried to do the same with (for example) Helen Mirren and Zendaya, people would be frothing at the mouth.   

I actually didn't necessarily mind how they edited in the eight awards that were given out in the hour before the telecast began (although perhaps the irony of having the Best Achievement in Editing as one of the eight whilst relying on editors to seamlessly put that footage into the live show was lost on them). I did mind the utterly haphazard manner in which they interspersed them throughout, and I further minded that a lot of the material that was added in lieu of those eight awards were irrelevant puff.

The much vaunted performance of Encanto's "We Don't Talk About Bruno" was not, in fact, a full performance of the song. It started out as a performance, but then metamorphosed into this rap-heavy mishmash of "Celebrating The Oscars". That was one of a couple of utterly baffling decisions made throughout the night: why have three extreme sportsmen to host the 60 Years Of Bond montage? And why not immediately follow that montage with the live performance of "No Time To Die"? 

The whole "Oscars Cheer" moment- which, apparently, was The Flash entering speed force in Zack Snyder's Justice League- added nothing, and neither did the Fan Favourite Award (which armies of Snyder fans hijacked with Army Of The Dead after the four-hour Justice League cut was deemed ineligible as it was a re-release). I found the choice of music for the In Memoriam section to be a bit odd, but I did like the individual tributes to Sidney Poitier, Ivan Reitman, and Betty White. 

The guest hosts varied from funny to excruciating- Shang-Chi's Simu Liu and Tiffany Haddish fell into the latter camp (mostly because of Haddish's increasingly erratic behaviour), although I did like having a trio of live-action Disney princesses (Cinderella's Lily James, Aladdin's Naomi Scott, and The Little Mermaid's Halle Bailey) to announce Best Animated Feature.  

But the big talking point of the night is going to be what happened when Chris Rock presented the Best Documentary Feature award. Will Smith stormed the stage and smacked Rock in the face after Rock made a "GI Jane 2" crack about Jada Pinkett Smith (Pinkett Smith has alopecia and has been very honest and open about her struggles with the condition, and looked ever-so-slightly pissed off at Rock's remark). On Sky Cinema, the censors weren't quick enough to catch either of Smith's f-bombs, or Rock's dazed "Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me". Initially, I wasn't sure whether it was a bit, but it soon became clear that it wasn't. Smith's tearful speech as he returned to the stage to claim the Best Actor Oscar featured an apology, but to the Academy and fellow nominees. 

Onto the awards themselves.

Six out of six for the first time in a long time. Ariana DeBose, Troy Kotsur, and Jessica Chastain all gave very emotional acceptance speeches, all touching on themes of acceptance and finding your place in the world. I was also pleased that "No Time To Die" won Best Original Song, and I was chuffed that Kenneth Branagh- who has been nominated in seven different categories- won his first Oscar, for the screenplay of Belfast. I was also over the moon that CODA won Best Picture. It was a real feel-good end to a rocky show.  

This Oscars featured a number of firsts: we saw the first openly queer woman of colour (Ariana DeBose) win an acting award; the first Deaf actor (Troy Kotsur) win an acting award; this is the first time consecutive Best Director Oscars have been won by female directors (Chloé Zhao and Jane Campion), and it's the first time a film distributed on a streaming platform (CODA, via Apple TV+) has won Best Picture.

Unsurprisingly, Dune was the biggest winner of the evening, taking home six awards (four of which were won before the telecast started). CODA won three Oscars, winning each category it was nominated in, as did The Eyes Of Tammy Faye which won in both its categories. 

Despite multiple nominations, Don't Look Up, Nightmare Alley, Being The Ricardos, Flee, Licorice Pizza, The Lost Daughter and The Tragedy Of Macbeth all went away empty-handed. 

Below is the full list of winners at the 94th Academy Awards (the eight categories marked with the asterisks were given out ahead of time):

Best Motion Picture of the Year: CODA

Best Actor: Will Smith (King Richard)

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain (The Eyes Of Tammy Faye)

Best Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur (CODA)

Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)

Best Director: Jane Campion (The Power Of The Dog)

Best Original Screenplay: Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Siân Heder (CODA)

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Encanto

Best International Feature Film of the Year: Drive My Car

Best Cinematography: Dune

* Best Film Editing: Dune

* Best Production Design: Dune

Best Costume Design: Cruella

* Best Makeup and Hairstyling: The Eyes Of Tammy Faye

* Best Original Score: Dune

Best Original Song: "No Time To Die" (No Time To Die)

* Best Sound: Dune

Best Visual Effects: Dune

Best Documentary (Feature): Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

* Best Documentary (Short Subject): The Queen Of Basketball

* Best Animated Short Film: The Windshield Wiper

* Best Live Action Short Film: The Long Goodbye

Congratulations to all winners!

Well, that is awards season done and dusted for another year. Thank you for coming with me on this journey. Tonight certainly hasn't been boring, that's for sure.

Until next time.

Awards Season 2022: Tez's Official Oscar Predictions

Tonight, the great and good of Hollywood will convene to celebrate the best of film-making in 2021 at the 94th Academy Awards.

For the first time in three years, the Oscars will have a host. Well, actually, it'll have three. The ceremony will be structured into three "acts" with a different host overseeing each act. The three hosts will be Amy Schumer (Trainwreck, I Feel Pretty), Regina Hall (Scary Movie, Girls Trip), and Wanda Sykes (Monster-In-Law, Evan Almighty). Great choices to oversee what is likely to be a fairly controversial ceremony.

I will reserve judgement to see how it's handled in the telecast, but I think that the decision that the producers have made to give nearly a third of the awards- the three short subject awards, Make-Up and Hairstyling, Production Design, Editing, Sound, and Original Score- out an hour before the telecast begins and editing in the winners' acceptance speeches throughout the main ceremony is a short-sighted and fairly disrespectful one, especially since it seems to have come at the behest of broadcaster ABC in an attempt to bring the runtime of the telecast down and provide "more time for comedy, film clips and musical numbers" (i.e. try and get the viewership up, hence the cynical inclusion of a live performance of Encanto break-out song and TikTok favourite "We Don't Talk About Bruno"). We'll see how seamless this is tonight. 

Nonetheless, it has become a tradition for me to predict the nominations and the winners in the main six categories (the four acting categories, Best Director and Best Picture). I've done this since 2003 with varying degrees of success. Last year, I got 4 out of 6 (choosing Chadwick Boseman and Carey Mulligan in the lead acting categories, instead of Anthony Hopkins and Frances McDormand).

So, without further ado, here are my predictions for who will win.

Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)

Wins at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, SAG Awards, and BAFTA, it's as certain as it can get that Ariana DeBose will be picking up the Oscar. And it will be well deserved. 

DeBose's performance as Anita is fearless, fiery, and flirtatious. She absolutely owns the screen in her two big musical numbers ("America" and "A Boy Like That") and makes the role her own, rather than an imitation of the inimitable Rita Moreno. She has a sisterly care for the young and lovestruck Maria (Rachel Zegler) and has no qualms in standing up to Bernardo (David Alvarez) if she thinks he's wrong. It's a powerful and commanding performance, made the more extraordinary for it being only her third substantial film role. 

I've a feeling that this role will do for DeBose what it did for Moreno, and she is at the start of a stellar career. An Oscar win certainly wouldn't hurt that.  

Best Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur (CODA)

Initially, I thought that this award would be going to Kodi Smit-McPhee for his sensitive turn in The Power Of The Dog, but- much as with Ariana DeBose above- it feels as certain as these things can get that Troy Kotsur will be making history as the first Deaf actor to win a competitive acting Oscar.

His performance as Massachusetts fisherman Frank Rossi in Sian Heder's understated and quite beautiful family drama CODA is superb. He imbues the character with an Everyman likeability and a lot of the humour of the film comes from his dislike of the port authorities. There's one particular moment where he transitions from signing "testicle" to "hand grenade" which is just brilliant.  

His scenes with Emilia Jones (who plays Ruby, the hearing Child of Deaf Adults) as he realises what singing means to her are very emotional, especially when he asks her to sing for him and he touches her vocal chords to feel the song. Of the other nominated performances, I think only Smit-McPhee has the chance of taking the award from him. 

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain (The Eyes Of Tammy Faye)

Like last year, this year's Best Actress race has been very open with various people winning throughout. The only performance I've not been able to see was Penélope Cruz in Parallel Mothers, but I have caught the other four. 

Taking the lead of the SAG Awards and the Critics Choice, I think Jessica Chastain will be taking home the gold. It would have been very easy to have done a mere impersonation of disgraced televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker- she's been endlessly parodied since the 1970s- but Chastain finds the heart and soul of the woman beneath the layers of make-up and glitz, disappearing under (at first, subtle) prosthetics to give a truly captivating performance. 

Chastain also does her own singing of Tammy Faye's songs as well, and if there are things the Academy likes, it's a) real-life people, b) good make-up/prosthetic work and c) multi-talented performances. Chastain is 3 for 3 on these. Nicole Kidman might nip in and take it for her enchanting performance of Lucille Ball in Being The Ricardos, but I think Chastain will be thanking Tammy Faye tonight. 

Best Actor: Will Smith (King Richard)

Whilst I have several issues with the film- such as the downplaying of the Williams sisters' talent- and despite liking or connecting with other Best Actor performances more, it seems likely that it'll be third time the charm for Will Smith. 

As Richard Williams, father and coach to future tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams, he gives a very un-Will-Smith-like performance, disappearing into a character that's occasionally pushy, often overbearing and overprotective, but utterly determined to have the girls reach their dreams (and crucially, they are their dreams). 

It is, I think, his best and most rounded character performance on-screen since Ali and- if he is going to win an Oscar- this would be the role for him to do it. Although, if Andrew Garfield's name gets announced, I'd be ecstatic.   

Best Director: Jane Campion (The Power Of The Dog)

With wins at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, BAFTA, and- crucially- the DGA, I will be absolutely shocked if any other name than Campion's comes up here. 

Her direction is crisp and clear, there are moments of true menace and beauty throughout, and she gets career-best performances from her four main actors. There's one particularly memorable scene where Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) torments Rose (Kirsten Dunst) by quickly mastering a piece of music on the banjo whilst she struggles to play it on the piano; the entire thing is done without dialogue, but it's absolutely thrilling. 

Her recent ill-judged comments about the Williams sisters may have blotted her copybook somewhat, but her response to Sam Elliott's narrowminded critique of the film will have also won her some fans. It certainly feels like it's hers to lose, if you see what I mean. And if she does win, it'll be the first time that consecutive Best Director winners will be female. Imagine that. Only taken over 90 years...

Best Film: CODA

I've a feeling I'm going to be wrong here. It seems silly to fly in the face of three major awards bodies (BAFTA, Golden Globes, and Critics Choice) but my gut feeling is that CODA is going to pull off a surprise Best Picture win (or is it wishful thinking?) If The Power Of The Dog does win, I'm not exactly going to be mad about it (as a film, it's certainly got its positives) but CODA would be a worthy winner- and its surprise win at the Producers' Guild Awards shouldn't be discounted. 

In a different year, I think Emilia Jones and Marlee Matlin would have been joining Troy Kotsur in the acting categories for their powerful performances; Jones, especially, should be heading for the stratosphere after this. The script is tight and heartfelt, shot through with humour perfectly balancing the drama; the direction is unfussy and clean (it's beautifully shot throughout); the casting of Deaf actors to play Deaf characters and the frequent use of American Sign Language is a huge step forward for representation on-screen. 

It's poignant without ever being mawkish or sentimental or twee; it highlights issues without ever feeling like a polemic (or falling into TV-movie-of-the-week clichés). It is a real feel-good film and for it to take the biggest prize of the night would be a real feel-good ending to this awards season.

These aren't official predictions, but I'd like to see Belfast and CODA win the Original and Adapted Screenplay categories, Ari Wegner win Best Cinematography for The Power Of The Dog (making her the first female cinematographer to win, after becoming only the second woman to be nominated for the award), and "No Time To Die" to win Best Original Song. That said, I won't be mad if "Dos Oruguitas" from Encanto takes it, as that means Lin-Manuel Miranda will complete the EGOT. 

I've a feeling Dune will be taking home the most awards (I think it'll do well in the craft awards) and I'd love to see Flee win something, but I think that Summer Of Soul, Encanto, and Drive My Car will take the relevant categories. 

I'll be watching the Oscars broadcast tonight (well, early hours of Monday morning) and will update with my thoughts on the ceremony and all the winners as soon as I can once it finishes.

Awards Season 2022: Directors' Guild Awards (DGA) Winners, BAFTA Film Awards Winners, and Critics Choice Awards Winners

 

Amazing, isn't it? You wait a week for some awards news and then- like buses- three lots turn up at once! Our awards cup metaphorically (and potentially physically) runneth over...

Yep, lots of awards goodness for y'all today, so let's jump in!

DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS

On Saturday (12th March), the Directors' Guild Awards (DGA) were handed out. The film winners are:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Films: Jane Campion (The Power Of The Dog)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Miniseries: Barry Jenkins (The Underground Railroad)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary: Stanley Nelson (Attica)

Campion becomes the third female director to win the DGA, and is surely odds-on favourite to win the Oscar. [Spoiler alert: this isn't Campion's first Best Director win of the weekend.] This year also marks the first time that female directors have won both the Feature Film and First-Time Feature Film awards. 

BAFTA FILM AWARDS

Yesterday evening (13th March 2022), at the Royal Albert Hall, the 75th British Academy Film Awards were given out in a star-studded ceremony, hosted for the first time by Rebel Wilson. 

Lady Gaga, Salma Hayek, Stephen Graham, Troy Kotsur, Ariana DeBose, Joanna Scanlan, Caitriona Balfe, Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh, Rachel Zegler, Benedict Cumberbatch, Lashana Lynch, Tom Hiddleston, and Kodi Smith-McPhee were among some of the stars in attendance to celebrate the best in film in a very different ceremony to the two-day, socially-distanced, and Zoom-heavy event held in 2021.

Here's a full list of BAFTA winners.

Best Film: The Power of the Dog

Outstanding British Film: Belfast

Leading Actor: Will Smith (King Richard)

Leading Actress: Joanna Scanlan (After Love)

Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur (CODA)

Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)

Director: Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)

Original Screenplay: Licorice Pizza

Adapted Screenplay: CODA

Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer: Jeymes Samuel (writer/director) (The Harder They Fall) 

Animated Film: Encanto

Documentary: Summer of Soul (Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Film Not In The English Language: Drive My Car

Cinematography: Dune

Costume Design: Cruella

Editing: No Time To Die

Make Up And Hair: The Eyes Of Tammy Faye

Original Music: Dune

Production Design: Dune

Sound: Dune

Special Visual Effects: Dune

Casting: West Side Story

Short Animation: Do Not Feed The Pigeons

Short Film: The Black Cop

Rising Star: Lashana Lynch

Dune was the big winner of the night, taking home five Baftas. West Side Story, CODA, and The Power Of The Dog all took home two apiece. 

Despite multiple nominations, there was no love for Passing, House Of Gucci, Don't Look Up, Cyrano, or The French Dispatch. 

A couple of surprises in the BAFTA results: one bloody lovely one with Joanna Scanlan taking home Best Actress (and, yes, whilst the BAFTAs do tend to skew towards British talent, it's still a remarkable achievement). By that same token, I was surprised that Will Smith won Best Actor, as I was expecting it to go to Benedict Cumberbatch. Dune's dominance in the craft awards wasn't so much of a surprise, and it's something I would think will carry through to the Oscars. 

CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS

Also yesterday (13th March 2022), the 27th Critics Choice Awards were handed out. Taye Diggs returned for a fourth consecutive time as host, joined by Nicole Byer (Nailed It!, Brooklyn Nine-Nine). 

These were originally due to be given out at the start of January but the ceremony was delayed due to COVID-related concerns. It just so happened that the new date coincided with the BAFTAs. Awkward...

Here are a full list of the Critics' Choice Awards movie winners: 

Best Picture: The Power Of The Dog

Best Actor: Will Smith (King Richard)

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain (The Eyes Of Tammy Faye)

Best Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur (CODA)

Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)

Best Acting Ensemble: Belfast

Best Director: Jane Campion (The Power Of The Dog)

Best Original Screenplay: Belfast

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Power Of The Dog

Best Comedy: Licorice Pizza

Best Foreign Language Film: Drive My Car

Best Animated Feature: The Mitchells Vs. The Machines

Best Score: Dune

Best Song: "No Time To Die" (No Time To Die)

Best Production Design: Dune

Best Editing: West Side Story

Best Costume Design: Cruella

Best Hair & Makeup: The Eyes Of Tammy Faye

Best Visual Effects: Dune

Best Cinematography: The Power Of The Dog

Best Young Actor/Actress: Jude Hill (Belfast)

The Power Of The Dog was the big winner, with four awards. Belfast and Dune have three apiece. 

So where does all of this leave the Oscars race? Honestly, anything can happen and it's not a done deal until you hear "And the Oscar goes to..." (although even then it's not always guaranteed; hi, La La Land). That said, I would say Will Smith, Troy Kotsur, Ariana DeBose, and Jane Campion wouldn't be overly presumptuous to clear some space on the mantelpiece for a certain statuette. The big variable is Best Actress; unlike the other acting categories, there hasn't been a runaway winner (although Chastain's win here, coupled with the SAG Award, potentially boosts her chances). As it stands, I've only seen two of the five Best Actress nominees so I can't really judge at the moment. Definitely have a bit of catching up to do...

Congratulations to all winners!

We are getting to the sharp end of the 2022 awards season, with just two weeks until the 94th Academy Awards. But before we get there, next weekend (19th/20th March) will see the other major guilds- the Producers' Guild and the Writers' Guild- announce the winners of their respective awards. 

You can rest assured the update about those will be a damn sight shorter than this one!

Awards Season 2022: Screen Actors' Guild (SAG) Awards Winners

Just a quick update for you today, to let you know the film winners from the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards, held last night (Sunday 27th February) at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

CODA

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Will Smith (King Richard)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Jessica Chastain (The Eyes Of Tammy Faye)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Troy Kotsur (CODA)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

No Time To Die

It's always nice when awards bodies shake things up and make it feel less like a coronation and more of a competition.

Whilst Troy Kotsur's performance has been nominated multiple times throughout this awards season, this is his first win (with Oscar frontrunner Kodi Smit-McPhee previously winning the Golden Globe for his turn in The Power Of The Dog). CODA's Best Cast win seemed to come as a big surprise to a lot of people, not least actress Marlee Matlin (who plays Kotsur's wife). 

Whilst we're on the subject of shaking things up, Chastain's win for playing disgraced televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker has also put the metaphorical cat amongst the pigeons, especially as a) Nicole Kidman won the Golden Globe, and b) none of the Best Actress Oscar nominees were also nominated for a BAFTA. It'll be interesting to see how things pan out over the next few weeks.  

Helen Mirren was this year's recipient of the SAG Life Achievement Award, following in the footsteps of such figures as Betty White, Rita Moreno, Julie Andrews, and Lily Tomlin. 

In the television categories, Korean action drama Squid Game took home three awards whilst Ted Lasso won two, and Kate Winslet was awarded Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series for Mare Of Easttown. 

Congratulations to all winners!

Next stop with awards season is this Sunday (6th March) with the Independent Spirit Awards, bucking tradition and being handed out weeks before the Oscars rather than the day before. 

[For the handful of people who may care, this is to let you know that there might be a delay with the blog featuring the Spirit Awards winners as Awards Guru (TM) Tez- i.e. the only one of the Watchers who is actually bothered about this frippery- is on holiday next week, and the results might not be available before he goes. He'll make every attempt to get the post sorted before he heads off, but- if he's not able to- he'll discuss the results when he's back on Friday 11th March] 

Review: Molly's Game (UK Cert 15)

Molly Bloom has had an extraordinary life- she was an Olympic-standard skiier who was accepted to law school, and- whilst working in an office- she got introduced to the world of high-stakes poker. She eventually ran exclusive poker games in Los Angeles and New York, before being arrested by the FBI. All this happened by the age of 35. Now, the story of this extraordinary life has been made into a film, starring Jessica Chastain as Molly. 

I think that it's only a matter of time  before Jessica Chastain gets an Oscar. She's a fantastic actress and she really gets under the skin of this fascinating, flawed character here. Fiercely determined to be the best at whatever she does, Molly takes the opportunity to learn all she can whilst arranging the poker nights for her entitled arsehole of a boss and when she finally usurps him and takes over the game herself- in a real punch-the-air moment, after he jealously fires her- she uses her charisma and contacts to elevate the game from a scuzzy backroom in a Hollywood bar to suites at the most exclusive hotels. How the wheels come off the business and she ends up indicted by the FBI is told in flashback as she prepares to stand trial. It's a truly powerful performance by Chastain who- even when Molly is at her lowest ebb- stands tall. 

Idris Elba is great as lawyer Charles Jaffey, who initially seeks to represent Molly at the arraignment hearing only but ends up taking her case (in a witty yet powerful sequence where he asks her bodyguard to switch places several times so he can get some answers). Jaffey is a principled man, eager to untie the knots around the case, and his exchanges with Molly really spark. He also gets an absolutely barnstorming speech towards the end of the film where he rips into the prosecuting attorneys on Molly's behalf. 
  
Other great performances come from Jeremy Strong as Molly's former boss who introduces her to the world of poker and gives a performance of deliciously entitled arrogance, and there's an intriguing cameo from Michael Cera who plays a slimy Hollywood star known as 'Player X' (widely thought to be based on Tobey Maguire). It's Player X's mocking phonecall after he selfishly dismantles Molly's Los Angeles game that inspires her move to New York, where her downfall begins.  

Molly's Game is the directorial debut of Aaron Sorkin (writer of The Social Network and Steve Jobs, and who also writes the screenplay here). The film is very stylish and stylised; there's a lot of on-screen visuals added to help with Molly's explanations of things (in the opening skiing section, for instance, or in one particularly important hand of poker). This isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if- like me- you're not massively au fait with poker. To be honest, you don't really need to be: anything important is explained (such as any of the terminology used). 

The script is tight, full of the usual Sorkin whipsmart rat-a-tat exchanges. It falls down in a couple of places- I had a nagging feeling towards the end that the film tries to pin Molly's actions (albeit subconsciously) down to 'daddy issues'. Molly has a fractious and combative relationship with her authoritarian psychologist father (a strong supporting performance by Kevin Costner) but the final confrontation between the two- where Molly has 'three years of therapy in three minutes' just before she has decide whether she's pleading guilty or not- felt to me like an attempt to wrap things up nicely. Despite this, both Costner and Chastain knock it out of the park with emotionally authentic performances. There's also a heavy reliance on Molly's voiceover to discuss people or scenes which sometimes feels a little laboured. Show, don't tell is the cardinal rule. The film is also long- at nearly two and a half hours- but no part feels like padding. 

That said, these niggles weren't enough to derail my enjoyment of and enthusiasm for the film. Take a seat at Molly's game; you won't regret it.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tez

Awards Season 2015: Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

And so it starts.

Awards season has begun, folks. I apologise to the vast majority of our readers who probably have absolutely no interest whatsoever in this ridiculous pageant of backslapping and smug self-congratulation, but I like it. 

So the Film Independent Spirit Awards announced their nominations today. They virtually bookend the awards season as a whole- they are the first nominations to be announced and the awards ceremony is traditionally the day before the Oscars (so they will be handed out on Saturday 21st February).

The Film Independent Spirit Awards, as the name suggests, honours films made outside the major Hollywood studio system. Here are a selection of this year's nominees:

Best Film

Birdman

Boyhood

Love Is Strange

Selma

Whiplash

Best Director

Damien Chazelle (Whiplash)

Ava DuVernay (Selma)

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

David Zellner (Kumiko The Treasure Hunter)

Best Actor

Andre Benjamin (All Is By My Side)

Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)

Michael Keaton (Birdman)

John Lithgow (Love Is Strange)

David Oyelowo (Selma)

Best Actress

Marion Cotillard (The Immigrant)

Rinko Kikuchi (Kumiko The Treasure Hunter)

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Jenny Slate (Obvious Child)

Tilda Swinton (Only Lovers Left Alive)

Best Supporting Actor

Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler)

Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)

Alfred Molina (Love Is Strange)

Edward Norton (Birdman)

J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)

Carmen Ejogo (Selma)

Emma Stone (Birdman)

Andrea Suarez Paz (Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors)

There's been a fair bit of overlap between these and the mainstream awards over the last few years, so they can act as a good barometer to see which way the land lies (at least early on). Last year, 12 Years A Slave (the eventual Best Picture Oscar winner) featured heavily in these awards and both Cate Blanchett and Matthew McConaughey were nominated for Blue Jasmine and Dallas Buyers Club. 

Birdman, about a washed-up actor (Keaton) who once played an iconic superhero, leads with six nominations, whilst Boyhood, Nightcrawler and Selma (about the Civil Rights movement with Oyelowo as Martin Luther King) all have five.

Congratulations to all nominees! (and commiserations to readers who don't give a monkey's about awards season, cause there'll be articles about it from now til the end of February!)

Tez

Review: Interstellar (UK Cert: 12A)

Back at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, Christopher Nolan and Matthew McConaughey gave a press conference that was a masterclass in promoting your film, but telling you nothing about it. That’s the best way to go and see Nolan’s latest multi-million dollar epic; the less you know, the more you’ll enjoy it.

The plot starts off simple enough. In the near future, earth is dying, and food sources are dwindling. Ex-astronaut Cooper (McConaughey) is sent on a mission to save mankind; to search an unexplored galaxy for a planet where the human race can live on. Not only is Cooper concerned with saving our species, he also wants to return home so he can see his family again. That’s all straightforward; then Christopher and Jonathan Nolan (who both wrote the script) throw all sorts of smart, original, occasionally genuinely bonkers scenes at you.

If you search the online reviews for Interstellar, a number of them suggest that Nolan has stolen from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. While some of the space exploration is definitely influenced by Kubrick’s masterpiece, Interstellar has a beating heart underneath the push the envelope visuals. In many ways, Nolan’s latest project is a throwback to the eighties, films such as E.T., The Goonies, Raiders of the Lost Ark, where the world and the skies above were to be explored: outside your front door, there’s an adventure waiting. Considering Nolan gave us the downbeat, real-world superhero Dark Knight trilogy, Interstellar feels like it came from a more innocent, less complicated time. In Interstellar’s world, you either grow up to be a farmer or the gifted and talented become scientists. Children are taught that the moon landings never happened, just an elaborate hoax to bankrupt the Russians. NASA has been shut down for decades; planet earth has neither the time nor the money to spend on space missions. No one looks up at the skies any more, instead they shuffle round, surviving instead of living. McConaughey’s Cooper is your traditional hero, the same mould as Raiders’ Indiana Jones, or The Goonies’ Mikey. Cooper is a Texan rebel, refusing to be told what to do or have decisions made for him; he was never meant to live an ordinary life, working nine-to-five, only seeing the wonders of the world and beyond it on a TV screen.

As little as four years ago, Matthew McConaughey was the Go-To-Guy for Hollywood’s next lightweight, mediocre film. Drawing a line under his CV and taking lead roles in risky indie flicks such as Killer Joe, The Paperboy, and, more recently, The Dallas Buyers Club, McConaughey is suddenly one of the most talented and surprising actors working today. Once again, McConaughey is on first-rate form here as Cooper. Despite all the science and theories that feature throughout Interstellar, what stands out is its theme of family, how strong the bond is between two people who love and care for each other. McConaughey never squanders this; Cooper might be saving life on earth, but his priority is getting back to his children. It’s not spoiling anything to say that the mission does not go according to plan, and a scene where Cooper is forced to watch the consequences play out in front of him is heart-breaking to sit through. McConaughey has this rare talent of being able to draw you in with a flawlessly judged, absorbing performance, without chewing the scenery or overacting.

As you would expect with a Nolan film, all of the performances are strong, but most deserving of a mention is Jessica Chastain, who plays Cooper’s ten-year-old daughter, Murphy. McConaughey and Chastain’s scenes together are what Interstellar is all about. Murphy is her father’s daughter; unlike her peers, she is obsessed with finding out what our world and the stars have to offer. Chastain is McConaughey’s partner in crime, but she also gives him the dressing down he needs when he goes too far, putting himself in danger. The scene when Cooper tries saying goodbye to his daughter, Murphy refusing to speak to him, pretending he never existed, will have plenty of people welling up at the cinema.

Interstellar needs to be watched on the biggest screen you can find (I saw it on IMAX and it was borderline overwhelming!). Nolan swaps his long-time cinematographer Wally Pfister for Hoyte Van Hoytema (Let The Right One In, Her), Hoytema managing to get the balance just right with visuals that are desolate, but also give a sense of grandeur. Planets made up of skyscraper-sized waves, or frozen clouds, will wow audiences who pine for the summer blockbuster season.

Nolan’s first attempt at science fiction proper just misses the mark of being flawless. Whereas Inception’s dream within a dream rules were carefully and subtly explained, occasionally funny or thrilling to watch, Interstellar bombards you with Stephen Hawking levels of physics and expects you to keep up. Once or twice, I was wishing I had a rewind button so I could go over an explanation one more time. The last hour of the film changes gear and delves into theories such as there being not three, not four, but five dimensions, as well as gravity being a force that can time travel. Personally, I thought the third act was both clever and unpredictable, but I can understand why someone would find it irritating and have no idea what’s going on.

Thankfully, you can overlook the science lesson exposition as it’s all sandwiched between an unashamedly human and touching narrative that will stun die hard Nolan fans. Wormholes, black holes, and the vastness of space all look eerily beautiful (it’s not a rip-off of 2001, it’s 2001 after nearly fifty years of cinematic advances), but Nolan also shows us how family, loving someone and treasuring your memories, can be just as special. For me, my favourite science fiction films are Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, and Duncan Jones’s Moon. I’m adding Interstellar to that list.

5 out of 5

Matt

Review: Zero Dark Thirty (UK Cert 15)

Chronicling the CIA's ten-year manhunt to find Osama Bin Laden, Zero Dark Thirty is a tense, taut thriller by the same writing and directing team behind The Hurt Locker. Director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal had to rewrite their original script when news broke in May 2011 of Bin Laden's death and there have been accusations that they have had improper access to classified information of the raid in which Bin Laden died. Indeed, the film's release was bumped back from October so as not to be used as political propaganda for the 2012 election in America.

The main character, Maya (Jessica Chastain), is allegedly based on a real-life female undercover CIA agent. As a character, Maya remains unknowable, defined entirely by her job and by the hunt for Bin Laden. We know precious little about her life, apart from the fact she was recruited by the CIA straight from high school. Tenacious, brave and dedicated, she remains convinced of the strength of her intelligence even when others doubt it. Evidence of that is her writing the number of days without action on her boss' window which we see creep up and up as the story goes on. The final scene of the film packs an emotional punch and it is to Chastain's credit that this doesn't feel indulgent or sentimental. It's a bravura performance by Chastain throughout; I haven't seen her give a bad performance yet and the chances of her winning the Best Actress Oscar seem incredibly high- it would be well deserved if she did.

Chastain's performance has been garnering much of the attention but the rest of the cast provide equally compelling performances, notably Jason Clarke (last seen in Lawless) as Dan, an agent brought to the edge by the work that he does; Jennifer Ehle as Jennifer, a colleague of Maya's whom she forms a friendship with; Kyle Chandler and Mark Strong are excellent as Maya's bosses, really giving Chastain something to spark off, and the assembled cast of Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt and Taylor Kinney as members of the US Navy SEALs division that carry out the final raid.

A lot has been made of the scenes of torture that are included in the film. In my opinion, it would have been disingenuous in the extreme to not acknowledge that torture was used on suspects. We know it was; to not even mention it would be an arrant weakness. The moral and ethical rights of the use of torture is another argument entirely and it's one I'm not getting into here. From my point of view, the film does not glorify or hold the use of torture up as a good thing; it shows that it happened (in brutal and uncompromising detail) but, crucially, it does not implicitly state that it was because of information gained in torturing captives which led them to the compound.

The raid on the compound in Abbottabad (which makes up the film's final act) is thrilling and tense, even though we know what the outcome will be. The entire film has a grave and slightly grim inevitability to it, as each terrorist attack is shown and the intelligence builds up. It's not an easy watch by any means- the use of real-life telephone calls from the World Trade Center and a devastatingly authentic recreation of the Tavistock Square bus bombing that happened in London in 2005 pack a real gut-punch- and it will provoke fierce debate and make you question your own position on the issues raised. It's a film that has been playing on my mind since I saw it, and I feel it will continue to do so for some time to come.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Tez  

Awards Season 2013: Tez's Official Academy Award Nomination Predictions

On  Tuesday 10th January, at 5:38am PST, in the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills, Emma Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man, Gangster Squad, The Help) and this year's Oscar ceremony host Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, American Dad, Ted) will announce the nominations for the 85th Academy Awards, due to be held on Sunday 24th February. 

Usually, an Oscar-nominated or -winning actor or actress accompanies the current President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to announce the nominations, but they're trying something a little different. Incidentally, this is the first time since 1972 (and only the second time overall) that the Oscar host has been involved in co-announcing the nominations. 

As has been my practice for the last few years, I like to try and predict who will be nominated (this is done for Best Picture, Best Director and the four acting awards). Below is my list of who I think will be named on Tuesday.

NB. Just like last year, the Academy rules state that there could be anywhere between five and ten Best Picture nominees. I have selected ten films. If the total number of films nominated is less than ten, but one of the movies selected is named in my list of ten, I will count it as a successful prediction.

BEST PICTURE

Argo

Beasts Of The Southern Wild

Django Unchained

Les Miserables

Life Of Pi

Lincoln

The Master

Moonrise Kingdom

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

BEST DIRECTOR

Ben Affleck (Argo)

Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)

Tom Hooper (Les Miserables)

Ang Lee (Life Of Pi)

Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)

BEST ACTOR

Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)

Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

John Hawkes (The Sessions)

Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables)

Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)

BEST ACTRESS

Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

Marion Cotillard (Rust And Bone)

Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)

Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)

Naomi Watts (The Impossible)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Alan Arkin (Argo)

Robert de Niro (Silver Linings Playbook)

Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)

Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams (The Master)

Sally Field (Lincoln)

Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)

Helen Hunt (The Sessions)

Nicole Kidman (The Paperboy)

As usual, I think there are some definites, a few maybes and perhaps a couple of WTFs in my predictions.

The Best Director category is wide open with several names vying for the spots- I went with Tom Hooper based on his DGA nomination but we could see Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) or Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master) sneaking in. 

Similarly, the acting nominations are quite open- it's entirely possible that Denzel Washington could get nominated for his lead role in Flight (at the expense of either Bradley Cooper, Hugh Jackman or Joaquin Phoenix; I'd say Daniel Day-Lewis is a cast-iron cert). In Best Actress, there's also the chance that Helen Mirren could sneak it for Hitchcock or nine-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis for Beasts Of The Southern Wild. 

I had the most difficulty selecting the Best Supporting categories this year, with several decent performances all getting recognition by critics circles or one of the other major awards. Waltz's castmate in Django Unchained- Leonardo DiCaprio- could get a Best Supporting Actor nomination, but there's always the chance that Matthew McConaughey could sneak in for Magic Mike or even Javier Bardem for Skyfall. On the subject of Skyfall, it could also be a Best Supporting Actress nod for Judi Dench or recognition for fellow Dame Maggie Smith for her fun turn in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. 

Usually a score of 15 is adequate, but given the fact that there could be anywhere between 5 and 10 Best Picture awards, I'ill be happy with a prediction of 18 or higher. I'll add the official nominations once they're announced on Tuesday afternoon.

Tez