And the Nominees are... 2014 Oscar Nominations.

So if some of you are living somewhere under the rock and still don’t know about it, Oscar nominations for this year were announced yesterday night. I have done similar posts for Oscar nominations for the past two years but this was the first time when I got to sit myself comfortably on the couch and watch them on my TV at normal human timings. Being in India has it perks, after all! I have mostly been absent from awards talk this season since I literally had not seen anything. But interesting thing is I have seen more movies nominated yesterday in last 16 days than the rest of awards season put together. So, that I am sort of up to the speed now, here is what I think of the nominations announced yesterday. As usual, I am not commenting on anything besides top 8(acting, directing, film and writing) and foreign film because, well because, I don’t know shit about them.

Best Picture:

American Hustle

12 Years a Slave

Gravity

The Wolf of Wall Street

Captain Phillips

Her

Nebraska

Dallas Buyers Club

Philomena

So there will be 9 variable nominees every year. Right, Academy? Did I do the math right or am I missing something? No real surprises here but it officially makes Philomena and Nebraska two films at the top of my 2013 watch list. If I can catch them before ceremony, this will be the second year in row I would have seen all the nominees before Oscars. And I wasn’t lying about having seen more nominated films this year than the rest of year. Just in this category, there are 5 I have seen in last two weeks as opposed to 2 I had seen in 2013.

Best Director:

Steve McQueen for 12 years a Slave

David O. Russell for American Hustle

Alphonso Cuaron for Gravity

Alexander Payne for Nebraska

Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street

I haven’t yet seen Nebraska and going by Payne’s track record, I might easily love that film. But I am still sort of surprised to see Greengrass missing the cut. I won’t call it a snub just yet but that was unexpected. And this is really only one for Nebraska that wasn’t expected but with it, it suddenly seems very well represented. Great to see Scorsese being there!

Best Actor in Lead Role:

Leonardo DiCaprio for The Wolf of Wall Street

Christian Bale for American Hustle

Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club

Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave

Bruce Dern for Nebraska

You have no idea how much it hurt to take out Hanks' name out of this list. How can he not get nominated? As good as everyone in this category is, this category is just not complete without him. That has to be the biggest shock of this year. Great to see DiCaprio getting the nom. I Know lot of people must be very relieved to finally have him nominated.

Best Actress in Lead Role:

Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine

Judi Dench for Philomena

Sandra Bullock for Gravity

Amy Adams for American Hustle
Meryl Streep for August: Osage County

So while most of the rest of the world had their hands crossed for DiCaprio, I was anxious for Amy Adams. I really wanted her to be nominated and I am not even sure why? I mean, how is 5 time Oscar nominee any different than 4 time nominee? But still, I am so glad for her first leading nomination; did not expect Emma Thompson to make way for her though.

Best Actor in Supporting Role:

Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club

Jonah Hill for The Wolf of Wall Street

Barkhad Abdi for Captain Phillips

Michael Fassbender for 12 Years a Slave

Bradley Cooper for American Hustle

Remember 2012, Guys? When “Jonah Hill, an Oscar nominee” was the biggest punch line of that year’s nominations? I know I am going to go a special version of hell just for reminding this but whatever happened to it? I am not his fan in general but I think he did a great job in both films he has been nominated for. Fassbender finally got nominated. How about that? And Barkhad Abdi – He is the Captain now!

Best Actress in Supporting Role:

Sally Hawkins for Blue Jasmine

Junn Squibb for Nebraska

Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years a Slave

Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle

Julia Roberts for August: Osage County

So next time a movie gets nominated for all the acting awards, I would be saying “meh, even Hustle did it”. Way to ruin something spectacular, Academy! I don’t hate that film(but I don’t like it either) but if Adams can’t win for it, no one else should! I am cursing them to lose in all four acting categories. And I will be really pissed if Lawrence wins here for the team, which looking at the nominations has a realistic chance.

Best Original Screenplay:

Woody Allen for Blue Jasmine

Bob Nelson for Nebraska

Spike Jonze for Her

David O. Russell and Eric Singer for American Hustle

Craig Borten and Melisa Wallace for Dallas Buyers Club

Again, I don’t hate American Hustle but all these nominations are making me do it! Worst is this one, even though it was completely expected. Screenplay was easily the worst thing about this movie that all the actors kept afloat. And didn’t O. Russell say something like “I don’t care about the fucking plot. I care about characters”? How do you get best original screenplay out of something that doesn’t care about the plot?

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Julie Depy, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater for Before Midnight

Billy Ray for Captain Phillips

Terence Winter for The Wolf of Wall Street

John Ridley for 12 Years a Slave

Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope for Philomena

This is probably one and only category in this year’s nominations that has no surprises but still gets everything right. 4 phenomenal screenplays that deserve every mention they get capped with one that I haven’t seen yet.

Best Foreign Film:

The Broken Circle Breakdown(Belgium)

The Missing Picture(Cambodia)

The Hunt(Denmark)

The Great Beauty(Italy)

Omar(Palestine)

Tell me why The Past didn’t make the cut again? I have only seen two here but if The Past would have been here, 3 of top 5 movies of the year so far would have been nominated in this category. Imagine that! And I am glad The Grandmasters didn’t make the cut since then bottom 10 movies of the year would have also had the representation here.

So what did you think of these nominations?  

20 Favourite First-watches of 2013

I saw 256 films in 2013. 21 of them were re-watches. 49 of them were 2013 films and 20 from 2012 which I saw in first two months. 2012 movies got their due when I did my 'Best of' lists in March. 2013 movies will get theirs in this March. That leaves me with 166 films released previously that I watched for the first time this year. These are 20 of them that I liked the most:

20. The Breakfast Club(1985): A movie that is often called the best teenage film made ever. I don't know if I will call it best but it certainly was good one. First of all, I love the idea of choosing five characters from 5 different groups in high school giving representation to almost everyone in them. Secondly, and probably most important thing, there is nothing inorganic about the rest of the day these 5 completely different personalities spend with each other.

19. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind(1984): Film that helped Miyazaki launch Studio Ghibli and for that I will be forever indebted to this film. It also helps that I really like it too. You can easily see a lot of themes - Miyazaki's focus on environmentalist message, strong female protagonist, antagonist with redeeming qualities - that would go on to be trademark Studio Ghibli making this film just as great as what followed it.

18. True Romance(1993): I have seen all the films Tarantino directed already but I haven't seen any of those he just wrote. I still haven't got to the other two but this was a hell of a start. I am not much of a Tony Scott expert but if I didn't know QT just wrote this, I never would've known since QT is all over it. To Scott's credit, even though he had bunch of amazing characters, he assembled hell of a cast and got great performances out of them too.

17. Sweet Smell of Success(1957): This must have been the most quotable film I have seen last year. I knew about most of the popular ones before but my favourite was the one I had not heard before - "What do you think of the capital punishment, Senator? Because someone's just been sentenced to death". Overall, I actually didn't like it very much at first but it stuck with me for quite a while and more I thought about it, more I appreciated it.

16. Z(1969): I love political thrillers; they draw me in instantly. Z had an added advantage of it mirroring real events, another natural draw for me but it turned out to one of the best I have seen. What I like about it is sort of staged documentary feel of it. It doesn't add any melodrama to it but at the same time manages to keep viewer interested. It also doesn't muddle available data nor does it try to force it's own view.

15. The Long Goodbye(1973): It wasn't my first Altman(I had seen Gosford Park(2001) before) but it certainly was the one that made me go looking for his other films. I have been watching at least one film/month since then religiously. I haven't seen many noirs but it's got to be one of the best I have seen. Altman style almost makes it all look like he is taking a dig at it but at the same time being respectful by staying within the genre. And it all works!

14. It Happened One Night(1934): First and one of only three to win big five at Oscars. The more I think about this film, more I respect it. I mean, this movie is a simple, straight forward romantic comedy about two people on road who don't really want to be together. That's it! No heavy stuff. No deep implications, no high stakes at the end of line, no existential issues. But it's so good! Prime example of lightweight movie done properly being a good one.

13. From Here to Eternity(1953): It's one of those rare occasions where Academy seems to have got it right. Admittedly, there could have been better films this year though I haven't seen one and at least they didn't choose bad film which we all know that happens every so often. On another note, I have seen Burt Lancaster in 4-5 films and he has been the best part of every single one of them. I might be up to something, I guess!

12. Paris, Texas(1984): Like best films of year, if I did a list of my favourite scenes, Travis and Jane's conversation in her booth would easily top that list. No Contest there! There are very few things I have ever seen which are more beautifully devastating than that conversation. I love this film as a whole, I really do but that one scene has left such an impression on me that I scarcely remember anything else now.

11. The French Connection(1971): Out of 12 films I saw this year for Blind Spot series, 5 made this list. Friedkin's crime-action-thriller is considered one of the best BP winners and I certainly agree. What's more interesting is how many action films have done it since? or even crime films for that matter. Being what's now considered as one of the blockbuster-y films, it's great to see it still holding its candle among more drama oriented films.

10. Cool Hand Luke(1968): From the way this movie starts, I never in million years would have expected it to end the way it does. What's even more incredible is it isn't like you took couple of wrong turns and wound up somewhere unexpected. Now that I look back at it, I realize that all along it kept steering me little by little towards that end. But I was caught so unaware that the ending literally blew me.

9. Gentleman’s Agreement(1947): I want to watch every Best Picture winner there has ever been. Those who have already done it can attest to the fact that it means watching a lot of mediocre films, especially when you have seen most of what you really wanted to and are left with 'homework'. I still want to do this because that drive has led me to the discovery of this gem. It rekindled glimmer of hope in me that there could be another, just waiting for me to discover.

8. I Live in Fear(1955): After getting through most of Kurosawa's well known works, I continued getting deeper into his filmography. I still haven't seen a film I don't like but the best part of this exercise by far has been discovering gems like this. Toshiro Mifune is a great actor that often does great job with Kurosawa but he is at entirely different level here playing an old guy who wants his whole family to move to South America because he is paranoid of impending nuclear war.

7. Broadcast News(1987): Couple of years ago, I wasn't even aware of existence of this film and then suddenly I found so many people calling it one of their favourite films. Now that I have seen it, I can certainly see why as I have become one of them. It was pure joy watching this film. I don't remember the last time I had so much fun or felt such an excitement watching any film. Finally, at the risk of sounding little sadist, Holly Hunter crying is the funniest thing ever!

6. Mulholland Drive(2001): Even though I haven't seen most of David Lynch's stuff, I know it isn't up my alley. I've seen two of his most revered works from film and television and absolutely hate it. So it came as a definite surprise to me when I found myself completely engrossed into this one, despite having distinct Lynchian qualities to it. Sure, Naomi Watts giving phenomenal performance going from wide-eyed beauty to drugged up white trash proved a very useful gateway but I even found the story utterly fascinating.

5. Junebug(2005): I might have seen a few films before but Enchanted(2007) was the first film I noticed Amy Adams in. Like I was introduced to her in Enchanted, I am sure Junebug was her introduction to the world. In my books this woman can do no wrong. I love the variety she has brought in her roles ever since and it would be almost impossible for me to choose one role over the other. But if I have to choose, I think her work here is superior than anything she has done since. If anyone have any doubts, they only need to watch her hospital scene.

4. Through a Glass Darkly(1961): The thing with Bergman films is I have seen a good dozen of them and you would think I'd have gotten hang of them now. Truth is, even now I often leave with a feeling that I have seen something great; I just don't know what? If you can get to that 'what', they can be real memorable experiences(I will never forget how I felt after watching Wild Strawberries(1957) the first time). Through a Glass Darkly got very close to that and Harriet Anderson's phenomenal lead turn played significant part in it.

3. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre(1948): Humphrey Bogart was a great actor. He was a great Phillip Marlowe in The Big Sleep(1946), a wisecracking, hard drinking private eye successfully repelling the charms of femme fatales. He was probably even better in his first truly romantic part in Casablanca(1942), the greatest love story of all time. But nothing prepared for me for raw, manic, almost deranged performance he gives in this film. He is spectacular even at his most pathetic and Walter Huston was just a cherry on top.

2. Tokyo Story(1953): This completes the trifecta of films from Blind Spots series last year that made it to the near top of this list. This was my introduction to Ozu and there are not many things that have blown me away like this. What's even more impressive is Ozu does that by being subtle and understated. With that almost bare-bone of a story, he manages to get maximum emotional response out of you. It may not be the most pleasant experience watching this but all I can say is everyone needs to watch this.

1. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days(2007): First time I heard about Cristian Mungiu was after Beyond the Hills(2012) debuted at Cannes in 2012. I saw it earlier this year and quite liked it as well. Then I went back and got hold of his first film soon after. Saying I was even more impressed by that would be an understatement of the year! There is so much intensity in every frame of this film that it almost suffocates the viewer as much as the characters we see on screen are suffocating. I thought Anamaria Marinca was utterly fascinating in that role and would absolutely LOVE to see more of her work. And then there is that one image in this film that I desperately want to un-see. If ever you could do that!

Here is to hoping that 2014 will bring many more great discoveries just like those on this list!!

Wrapping it up: November

Another month, another wrap-up post full of this month's viewings. I started a new job this month and at one point it threatened to derail my monthly viewings. To some extent even succeeded in it, even forced me to stay 2 and 1/2 weeks away from this blog. But then, there were weekends! You will see that this is the month that I am shifting gears to get into 2013 mode, the one I hope to remain in for most of the next few months. We will see how that goes but this is how this month went!

November

The Dark Knight(2008)(Re-watch): Every time I watch it, it brings back the memories of first time I watched it. This time I watched it for n-th time and still I like it as much as I did the first time; only difference is I didn't understand everything that went down then, now I know all the dialogues by heart. I am still in awe of neck-breaking speed of this film but I had never seen anything so relentless, something that would have me grasping for breath then. This was one of the first films of Chris Nolan I saw and one of the films that had a lot of influence in making me a cinephile I am today.

Before Midnight(2013): The trilogy is finally complete. I remember being not convinced about it when they announced they are going ahead with this but I am glad to be proven wrong. There is so much to talk about here. I LOVED Delpy's Bimbo and all I could think of during that dinner conversation, which by far was the best scene I have seen this year, was how many cameras did he have on? It is phenomenal. I know a lot of people didn't want to see the most romanticized couple fighting and tearing each other down to pieces. I am not sure if I was either but I guess, C'est la vie. I kind of like the fact that they went there.  

Stories We Tell(2013): I have known about this movie for more than a year now but I still can not believe Polley made such a movie. Not only the subject matter is so different, so personal, the way she treats this whole thing is amazingly professional. I love the fact that despite being such an integral part of this movie, time and again she sort of steps into the filmmaker's shoes and let everyone else take the stage. The kind of reactions she's been able to get out of everyone from her family is simply astonishing. More here.

McCabe and Mrs. Miller(1971): After watching The Long Goodbye(1973), Altman has become third director that I am making a deliberate effort to see more of. First two being Ang Lee and Akira Kurosawa. I am not sure how deep I will go in his filmography but these are still early days - this is only the 4th film I have seen. Julie Christy continues to amaze me by the incredible diversity of her roles and so did Beatty in his sort of dumb, spineless character. But one thing I'll never forget is the way Altman orchestrated that entire final sequence. All that snow and multiple things happening at the same time; the way he shot it was mesmerizing!

Quiz Show(1994): I am not exactly sure but this might be the first non-Coen brother film that I have seen John Turturo in or at least first one I worth remembering(Looking at you, Transformers(2007)). It might have been a big scandal in the '50s but I think now we kind of expect everything to be fixed. It might just be the cynic in me and I don't want to take anything away from the film because I thought it was really good but everything is run like a business now a days. Nobody wants to leave anything to chance. Look at Hollywood!

The Bling Ring(2013): I think I like this film a lot more than the overall consensus. I like that it shows the materialistic nature of lives of those involved. I like the way it pokes fun at the celebrity culture that is so much prevalent now and shows the dirty side of it despite all the glitz and glamour surrounding it and who else to show it than one of Hollywood's own royalties? Lack of depth to it was main complaint about it but given the shallowness of those involved, it does justice to them. The ending is once again a bit jarring but I can live with that.

Gravity(2013): I know I am extremely late to the party but I am glad that at least I got to see it in the theater. Everyone who said that this is as close to being in space as we can get is absolutely right. Lubezki's work is absolute genius, something we have never seen before. Even in the acting department it's uniformly solid. But, unfortunately, even those who said script has issues are right as well and some of them, I am thinking of certain someone's death in particular, are pretty egregious. I'll never call it a bad film, in fact I think it has a good chance of making into my top 10 of the year, but more I think about these issues, little less I like the film.

Much Ado About Nothing(2013): I have also seen the Branagh-Thompson 1993 version a year ago. While I loved it otherwise, I had two problems with it - language felt laborious and off course, Keanu Reeves and Denzel Washington were little ridiculous half-brothers. Like, duh! For some reason, this time around I had fun with that same language. Off course, it looked absolutely delightful in black and white. Amy Acker was stunning, dare I say even better than Thompson. Everyone else fit perfectly in their parts as well and Nathan Filion! Always nice to see familiar faces pop up.

West Side Story(1961): 65th Best Picture Winner knocked off the list. I didn't know much about it except it was about two gangs fighting against each other and involved a love story. Maybe it was just an opening sequence or maybe it just took some time to settle but I did not get into it right away; though by the end it certainly lured me in. It was charming, delightful and by the end even heart-wrenching. Maybe I did know it being a Romeo and Juliet adaptation but I forgot all about it until Anita delivers a message. I think the best compliment I can give it is knowing that did not make it any less sad.

Bombay Talkies(2013)(Hindi): Anthology film released earlier this year to celebrate 100 years on Indian cinema. It brought 4 contemporary directors together, each directing about 30 minute short about the way cinema influences our day-to-day lives. I LOVED one of the shorts, another one was really good as well. Didn't really cared for the third and fourth was actually good; I just didn't think it had much to do with what these films were supposed to do. I am hoping to write a regular post on it so you'll have to wait to find out which is which.

World War Z(2013): You might sense a little bit of theme here with a bunch films I saw this month that I had no initial interest in watching but I did because of strong word of mouth. First of all, I was really surprised how quickly it jumps into the whole shitstorm. Within first two minutes, zombie apocalypse has already begun and it keeps on going deeper and deeper. And it might the CGI but those zombies were running super-fast. Even though it was a little down-beat, I also admire the fact that it didn't end with the traditional ending.

This is the End(2013): I kind of do not believe I am saying this myself but I actually liked this film a lot more than I thought I would. Off course, I had zero expectations from it since I have no particular interest in anyone of those involved. I only saw it because I needed something lighter to see and this popped up in my mind. Surprisingly I found it quite hilarious despite all its stupidities! What I liked about it is it knows how ridiculous this whole thing is and never makes any attempt to hide it.

Madras Cafe(2013)(Hindi): I don't know why people did not like this film much. It's not great by any stretch of imagination and there were various departments of it that I would have liked to be more polished. It certainly could have been better but it worked well enough for me, maybe because I usually like political thrillers. The only real problem I have with the film is it starts off with the protagonist feeling he could have saved former PM and after watching it, I really have no idea what else he could have done.

Man of Steel(2013): Because of the involvement of two of my favourite people - Amy Adams and Christopher Nolan - I knew it was only a matter of when will I see it; never will I? For those two, I wanted to like it but unfortunately, I have to agree with the two most frequent complaints about it. One, it is too grim and I kind of don't see the reason for it. Second, it is far too long. Snyder really should have cut solid half hour of it, majority of it could have been from the final battle. 

Pacific Rim(2013): Despite hearing some pretty good comments about it, I did not have a lot of expectations about this film. From the trailers, it looked like more or less like a Michael Bay film. It was certainly more than that but I had few problems with it. I will admit that it was very entertaining, technically brilliant, no complaints there but I think there was not much in it besides that. There was nothing new about story, very predictable, it had all the typical characters you can ask for in such kind of movie, nothing special about acting. A Standard popcorn action entertainer. More here.

War of the Worlds(2005): Don't you feel like there is a little too much of happenstances going around in it? I mean, tripod keeps hitting just about 2 feet behind him in the entire sequence in its first appearance. They close the door just second after fire leaps in their room. I know it happens in every single film but wasn't this a little too much? Because the same thing kept on repeating over and over for whole two hours. How can any person be so damn lucky? And, yes!! I can recognize Morgan Freemon's voice.

Now You See Me(2013): I will freely admit that I wasn't one of those who easily guessed what was happening in it and could see he ending from afar but the reason wasn't because I was watching too closely. It was because I was tuned out of it way earlier than that. It was one of the 10 films I said I was most excited for at the start of the year and it could be the one I am most disappointed by of those 10. It looked something like The Prestige(2006) but extremely superficial script and sub-par acting killed it for me. 

Barry Lyndon(1975): Blind Spot entry for this month. I usually do not write about the movies I don't like. There is already a lot of negativity on the internet, I don't need to contribute my bit to it. The most I will do is here, in this post. When I decided to participate in the blind spot series at the start of this year, one of my concerns was this - what if I didn't like a film and have to write about it? For the first 10 months I somehow managed to avoid falling in that trap. However that streak has been broken. More here. 

Total Count: 18. 17 First Time Watches and 1 Re-watches .

2013 YTD Count

Total Count: 236. 216 First Time Watches and 20 Re-watches.

I started documenting my movie watching with these wrap up posts in February 2012. Since I have been doing this, this month is slowest of them but only by a couple of films. This is so for number of reasons I stated in the last wrap up post and I have every reason to believe this month wouldn't be much different. It wouldn't be one of the slowest though; if I plan properly I might be able to get to the usual pace of about 21 films. It all depends on how much time do I get on weekends!

When it comes to watching new releases, I was never the one to go to theater every week to catch them but I had a decent start to the year this time but my move back to India kind of messed up with my pace in the last 3 months or so. At he start of this month, I was at completely unacceptable 23 films for the year. I am hoping to reach at least somewhere around last year's tally of 70 films before doing the best of the year lists in early March. For that, I have to start early and play a little catch up with 2013 now. With clocking dozen 2013 films this month, I am hoping it will get me there eventually.

So, how was your month? Did you see anything interesting? What do you think of the movies I saw? Any favorites?