Oscars Recap

Just like Christmas, all the hype builds for months and in one night it was done. This year’s Oscar ceremony was quite the show! Seth MacFarlane did a wonderful job his first time as host of the ceremony. He brought a refreshing, sometimes offensive, comedic style to the show. Personally, I loved it. It was a huge turn around from last year’s dud. A few things stood out to me this year making the show great.

I really loved Seth’s opening. I think it would have been flawless if not for William Shatner’s appearance. MacFarlane is said to be a trekkie, so I guess he wanted to showcase the original James T. Kirk. I never knew Seth MacFarlane could sing and I instantly fell in love with him after his musical-filled opening. Overall the show paid homage to the great musicals.

John Travolta came out as the representation of the music revival in film with Saturday Night Fever. Since then, the Academy has recognized great musicals in the past decade.  I cannot believe Catherine Zeta-Jones can still move like that! She reprised her role of Velma Kelly in Chicago to do a live musical number. Followed by the always-stunning Jennifer Hudson who brought to the audience to their feet with her performance. She won the Oscar in 2007 for her role as Effie White. Then the cast of LesMiserable joined together to sing my favorite song from the film, “One Day More,” plus Anne Hathaway thrown in there as Fantine. Music played a huge part of this show.

I absolutely loved the James Bond tribute. For fifty years, Bond has made our hearts race. Dame Shirley Bassey sang “Goldfinger” as part of the tribute. I was really hoping she would sing “Diamonds Are Forever,” my favorite Bond song, at least until “Skyfall.” Adele continued the night of Bond with taking home the Oscar for Best Original Song. Though, it was no surprise she won.

The major awards were pretty predictable this year. Pixar continued its dominance of the Best Animated Feature category, beating out Wreck-It Ralph to take home the award for Brave. I still whole-heartedly believe that Ralph was a better-animated film with a much better story while still visually stunning. One thing that definitely did throw me was the tie for sound editing. From the gasps of the audience, I know I was not the only one taken aback by this news. This is only the fifth time in Oscar history that this has happened. It’s definitely something for the record books.

Jennifer Lawrence secured her spot as one of my favorite human beings with her fall on the stairs as she was accepting her award for Best Actress. As she took the mic, she joked with the audience about it, “You’re just standing up for me because I fell and that’s really embarrassing.” She is one of the classiest actresses in Hollywood and carries herself with the maturity of someone much older. The video of her falling is very funny but I do want to congratulate on winning.

Argo took home of the award for best picture. One of the producers, Grant Heslov, was not subtle about his displeasure for Ben Affleck’s snub. He continuously congratulated him on directing the show. Ben handled it with grace, as I’m sure he wanted to take the mic and shout “Argo fuck yourself.” I was glad to see Argo get the appreciation it deserved.

Overall, I thought this was one of the best shows in the recent years. The pacing was perfect. I didn’t notice the show was going so long. Seth MacFarlane certainly did with his numerous jokes about the time. However, it was worth waiting until the end to see his final musical number with the great Kristen Chenoweth consoling the losers of the night. He was an absolutely delightful host. I hope to see him host the Oscars again. 

Complete List of Oscar Winners

Here is the complete list of winners from the 55th Annual Academy Awards:

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Animated Short Film: Paperman

Best Animated Feature Film: Brave

Achievement in Cinematography: Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda

Achievement in Visual Effects: Life of Pi

Achievement in Costume Design: Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran

Achievement in Makeup & Hairstyling: Les Miserables

Best Live-Action Short Film: Curfew

Best Documentary Short Subject: Inocente

Best Documentary Feature: Searching for a Sugar Man

Best Foreign-Language Film: Amour (Austria)

Achievement in Sound Mixing: Les Miserables

Achievement in Sound Editing: Zero Dark Thirty & Skyfall

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserable

Achievement in Film Editing: Argo

Achievement in Production Direction: Lincoln

Original Score: Life of Pi, Mychael Danna

Original Song: "Skyfall," Adele & Paul Epworth; Skyfall

Adapted Screenplay: Argo, Chris Terrio

Original Screenplay: Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino

Achievement in Directing: Ang Lee, Life of Pi

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Motion Picture: Argo

Thank you to the Academy of Motion Pictures Art and Sciences for another great award show!

House of Cards

Netflix shocked the entertainment industry with their declaration that they would be creating original content. Many questioned how the online streaming company would be at developing their own material. House of Cards, the second “Netflix Original” series, was released a few weeks ago. So far, I was able to watch half the series and I’m immediately hooked. I can’t wait to see where the show will go with the amazing cast and extremely well written story. The show attracted some very big names in the film industry and made headlines with its $100 million cost for thirteen episodes. All the hype for the show leading up to its online release was great at grabbing audiences’ attention.

House of Cards is based off a book and British mini-series of the same name. This adaptation switches from the House of Parliament to the House of Congress. Francis Underwood is passed up to be the next Secretary of State. This sets him off to take down the new administration. House of Cards is a look into the dirty political world and the plots to further oneself.

The teams of producers behind House of Cards create high expectations for the show before an episode is even watched. David Fincher takes the helm with Beau Willimon and Eric Roth. These three are known for their critically acclaimed films: The Social Network, The Idesof March, and Forrest Gump, respectively. Their expertise creates on of the most beautifully shot shows I’ve seen in a long time. In fact, I often forget that I’m watching mini-series and not a cinematic masterpiece.

The acting in this show is stellar. I absolutely adore Kevin Spacey as Francis Underwood, the conniving Majority Whip from South Carolina. He is ruthless, backstabbing, and cunning but I still genuinely like the character and loathe his actions. Underwood is perfectly offset by his wife, Claire, played by Robin Wright. Claire is right behind all of Francis’s schemes while maintaining the illusion of a perfect political wife. Kate Mara, who I was not familiar with before, plays Zoe Barnes. She is a young reporter who teams up with Underwood to take down major political players.  Corey Stoll rounds out the main cast as Congressman Paul Russo, who is under the control of Underwood. This is one the best ensemble casts I’ve seen. I cannot find a weak link among them.

House of Cards is going to present an interesting scenario when it comes to awards. This is a mini-series, yet does not fit into any of the traditional categories through the Emmy’s, Golden Globes, or Oscars. House of Cards is so well made that it could sweep award shows in a variety of categories from acting to writing and directing. I’m interested to see how House of Cards will play into the award shows. How do you think it will work?

Django Unchained

Django Unchained caught the cinematic world by surprised with it’s numerous nominations at the biggest award shows. Truthfully, that is when I first thought about seeing Django Unchained. This weekend I went to see what the hype was about. Django started off strong, but quickly lost its luster. Quentin Tarantino returned to the big screen to release his idealistic dream of an American slave extracting his revenge. In Tarantino fashion the film has extreme gore, more than logically possible for the human body.

Django is about a German bounty hunter, Dr. Schultz, who buys a slave, Django, to help him track down slave owners. Django works with Dr. Schultz to buy his freedom and rescue his wife from some vicious slave owners. While this is the simple plot of Django Unchained, the film goes much further than this. Django dragged on through three acts. There is something to be said about leaving things to the imagination, which Tarantino ignores. There are three places I would have ended the movie, but Tarantino disregards the basic rule of screenwriting to add plot points. Django was an epic, much like Kill Bill, but released as one film.

While I thought the film went on for far to long, I did love the cast. Django was phenomenally acted with great chemistry, though I do not believe it was award worthy from any of the actors. Christoph Waltz (Dr. Schultz) already won the Golden Globe for actor in a supporting role. He played the same character he did in Inglourious Basterds, though this time he was likable. Jamie Foxx played the title role of Django. Leonardo DiCaprio actually surprised me with his portrayal of Calvin Candie. He stood out to me the most in this film. His bi-polar attitude came across believable. KerryWashington and Samuel L. Jackson rounded out the cast as slaves on Candie’s farm. I don’t think any of the acting was particularly award-worthy, I do think it was one of the best ensemble casts this year. They were very strong on playing off of each other.

My favorite part of Django Unchained was the original sound track. The original songs were a combination of mo-town with a western feel. Throughout the film, the score contained western music, unfitting for it’s southern setting. Tarantino wanted to convey the western feel while on the southern plantations. This was the most creative part of the movie. It certainly changed the overall feel of the film.

Overall, I would not suggest seeing Django Unchained. While it does have its strong points, it is not worth seeing in theaters. I recommend renting Django Unchained.