Tomorrow is Oscars day! Left it a little late to see many of the Oscars films but I've had a late run at it today and what I haven't seen I'm going to piece together from "the buzz".
Here are my predictions of who will walk away with the gold statue tomorrow:
Best Picture
I have seen 7 of the 9 movies nominated in this category. Only Philomena and Captain Phillips are the ones I've missed but I don't think either of those is in the running. This is a tough one as several of the movies are really worthy of winning. Having just watched Dallas Buyers' Club I think I'd rate that as the winner but it is probably just a little too niche so I'm going with the popular sentiment here and saying that "12 Years a Slave" will win.
Best Actor
Another tough call on this one as I've seen all of these performances and all are great. Chiwetel Ejiofor does a great job of both the despair and strength of a free man enslaved. I'm tempted to say he can get there, but Hollywood does love a good redemption and so I think Matthew McConaughey will just take this one out.
Best Actress
Not a lot of point conjecturing about this one - Cate Blanchett seems to have it all wrapped up. Finally we have discovered what can beat Meryl.
Best Supporting Actor
Michael Fassbender gives the most complex performance in this group, and Jonah Hill the least. Again I'm tempted to go with Fassbender as I do like him and he has provided a real thought-provoking role, but this one is probably going to go to Jared Leto. As the waiting to transition transvestite with AIDS who brings some understanding to the homophobic Ron in Dallas Buyers Club, he is beautiful and tragic.
Best Supporting Actress
Only seen 3 of the 5 in this category but this is the real tight race where you don't know where it will go. I enjoyed Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle and June Squibb in Nebraska, but newcomer Lupita Nyong'o had me in tears in 12 Years a Slave with her portrayal of someone with no hope for the future.
Animated Feature Film
Haven't seen any of these but I'd guess that Disney's return to traditional song-based film with a hint of feminism is going to beat the rest. Would have been great to see "The Wind Rises" take it out since it's the last movie for legend Hayao Miyazaki.
Best Director
While Steve McQueen (not the actor) has a real chance for 12 Years a Slave, it has got to be Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity in this category. The film was an absolute technical marvel and whole new level.
Best Cinematography & Best Visual Effects
I'm giving both of these to Gravity as well.
Best Costuming
American Hustle has got to have this one all sewn up - boom boom! Although the Great Gatsby stuff was beautiful, Hustle had the more, ahem, eye-catching approach.
Best Documentary
The film that absolutely should win this category is The Square. One of my top 10 films of last year and one that needs to be seen. However, I'm sad to say that I think "The Act of Killing" is going to be given the award. I hated this movie. However I can see how the voters are going to think that this one is the better documentary for the sheer amount of redemption extracted from the subject matter.
Foreign Film
I haven't seen most of these but I'm going to guess "The Hunt" for this one. On my "must-see" list.
Best Adapted Screenplay
I would have to predict that 12 Years a Slave has the edge in this category.
Best Original Screenplay
Very tough choice here as there are some big movies. But I'm going to go a little left of centre and suggest that "Her" could win this one. It was an amazing original story.
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Movie #6 - The Wolf of Wall Street
Disclaimer: I work in finance. I'm not a stockbroker but our firm does offer stockbroking advice amongst other advice. And the events depicted in this movie are nothing like my work, even back in the 1990s which is the same time period as the setting of this movie. So it was a little hard to watch without any bias.
The Wolf of Wall Street tells a very extreme cautionary tale. It follows and is narrated by Jordan Belfort (Leonardo di Caprio) telling the story of how he came to be extremely rich by ripping off small mum and dad investors across America in the 1990s. Jordan was obsessed with money from a young age and when his first day as a stockbroker on Wall Street goes badly due to the 1987 stock market crash, he ends up applying for a job in a small local firm where his slick New York patter pulls the wool over the eyes of the simple clients of the firm. He is soon running his own firm which grows bigger and bigger through the sale of penny stocks (very low value stocks unlikely to succeed but for which a big commission is paid to the stockbroker). Soon it is a juggernaut making the owners and workers very rich and the clients very poor - it was calculated that Belfort's actions had taken $200,000,000 ($200 million) wealth from their clients. After many complaints the FBI eventually investigated and charged Belfort but I'll let you see the movie to see that part.
You might think this sounds extremely boring and dull if you are not into finance but director Martin Scorcese has been very canny in his approach whereby you only see the story from Jordan's point of view and the victims of his crimes are never seen, and the level of glamour and debauchery is set to 'very high'. The film has been accused of glorifying the lifestyle of these people but in my opinion any sane person watching it would have to be thinking what awful people these people are, how awful their lives are and how they deserved their comeuppance. Well I definitely did. As a person who has never used any drugs, this movie made me very glad of that and never ever want to try it if that's what it's really like. This film is extremely graphic in its depiction of drug use, sex and other general debauchery so don't go if you're going to be offended by that.
Leo puts in a commanding force as the obsessed force of nature - just check out the scene of him on Quaaludes (a 70s drug prescribed regularly to calm down housewives until it was found that drug users were abusing it and it was banned). Jonah Hill's role I was less impressed with but I guess his character as Jordan's closest offsider and sycophant Donnie was meant to be annoying. Aussie girl Margot Robbie bursts onto the world stage with her performance as Jordan's second wife - she is great in an again unlikeable role. The supporting cast are reasonable but this is Leo's show and his partnerings with Scorcese always seem to work some magic.
For me I felt the movie did not really show the depth of suffering that Belfort caused to many people, but it definitely was an entertaining look at how you can cause so much suffering to yourself under the guise of enjoying yourself. While the movie is really long, it has a lot of humourous moments so a little different to your usual serious Scorcese drama and it just keeps the momentum going. I'd give this a 3.5 out of 5 stars. Just don't walk out thinking that your local stockbroker's firm would be doing anything like this at lunchtime or after work, because it is so not like that! Trust me!
The Wolf of Wall Street tells a very extreme cautionary tale. It follows and is narrated by Jordan Belfort (Leonardo di Caprio) telling the story of how he came to be extremely rich by ripping off small mum and dad investors across America in the 1990s. Jordan was obsessed with money from a young age and when his first day as a stockbroker on Wall Street goes badly due to the 1987 stock market crash, he ends up applying for a job in a small local firm where his slick New York patter pulls the wool over the eyes of the simple clients of the firm. He is soon running his own firm which grows bigger and bigger through the sale of penny stocks (very low value stocks unlikely to succeed but for which a big commission is paid to the stockbroker). Soon it is a juggernaut making the owners and workers very rich and the clients very poor - it was calculated that Belfort's actions had taken $200,000,000 ($200 million) wealth from their clients. After many complaints the FBI eventually investigated and charged Belfort but I'll let you see the movie to see that part.
You might think this sounds extremely boring and dull if you are not into finance but director Martin Scorcese has been very canny in his approach whereby you only see the story from Jordan's point of view and the victims of his crimes are never seen, and the level of glamour and debauchery is set to 'very high'. The film has been accused of glorifying the lifestyle of these people but in my opinion any sane person watching it would have to be thinking what awful people these people are, how awful their lives are and how they deserved their comeuppance. Well I definitely did. As a person who has never used any drugs, this movie made me very glad of that and never ever want to try it if that's what it's really like. This film is extremely graphic in its depiction of drug use, sex and other general debauchery so don't go if you're going to be offended by that.
Leo puts in a commanding force as the obsessed force of nature - just check out the scene of him on Quaaludes (a 70s drug prescribed regularly to calm down housewives until it was found that drug users were abusing it and it was banned). Jonah Hill's role I was less impressed with but I guess his character as Jordan's closest offsider and sycophant Donnie was meant to be annoying. Aussie girl Margot Robbie bursts onto the world stage with her performance as Jordan's second wife - she is great in an again unlikeable role. The supporting cast are reasonable but this is Leo's show and his partnerings with Scorcese always seem to work some magic.
For me I felt the movie did not really show the depth of suffering that Belfort caused to many people, but it definitely was an entertaining look at how you can cause so much suffering to yourself under the guise of enjoying yourself. While the movie is really long, it has a lot of humourous moments so a little different to your usual serious Scorcese drama and it just keeps the momentum going. I'd give this a 3.5 out of 5 stars. Just don't walk out thinking that your local stockbroker's firm would be doing anything like this at lunchtime or after work, because it is so not like that! Trust me!
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