by Amos Semien
The San Francisco Film Critics Circle chose 12 Years a Slave as the "Best Picture" of 2013, one of three awards the group gave to the film. American Hustle and Gravity were also big winners.
The San Francisco Film Critics Circle (SFFCC) was founded in 2002 and is comprised of critics from Bay Area publications. Its membership includes film journalists from the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, the Oakland Tribune, the Contra Costa Times, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, SF Weekly, the East Bay Express, KRON-TV, Variety, and RottenTomatoes.com, among others.
2013 SAN FRANCISCO FILM CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS:
Best Picture
AMERICAN HUSTLE
GRAVITY
NEBRASKA
WINNER – 12 YEARS A SLAVE
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
Best Director
WINNER – Alfonso Cuaron, GRAVITY
Spike Jonze, HER
Steve McQueen, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
David O. Russell, AMERICAN HUSTLE
Martin Scorsese, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
Best Actor
Bruce Dern, NEBRASKA
Leonardo DiCaprio, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
WINNER – Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Matthew McConaughey, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
Robert Redford, ALL IS LOST
Best Actress
WINNER – Cate Blanchett, BLUE JASMINE
Sandra Bullock, GRAVITY
Judi Dench, PHILOMENA
Adele Exarchopolous, BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
Brie Larson, SHORT TERM 12
Meryl Streep, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
Michael Fassbender, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Harrison Ford, 42
Will Forte, NEBRASKA
WINNER – James Franco, SPRING BREAKERS
Jared Leto, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
Best Supporting Actress
WINNER – Jennifer Lawrence, AMERICAN HUSTLE
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Lea Seydoux, BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
Octavia Spencer, FRUITVALE STATION
June Squibb, NEBRASKA
Best Screenplay, Original
WINNER – AMERICAN HUSTLE, Eric Singer and David O. Russell
GRAVITY, Alfonso and Jonas Cuaron
HER, Spike Jonze
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, Joel and Ethan Coen
NEBRASKA, Bob Nelson
Best Screenplay, Adapted
BEFORE MIDNIGHT, Richard Linklater; Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke
PHILOMENA, Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
THE SPECTACULAR NOW, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
WINNER – 12 YEARS A SLAVE, John Ridley
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, Terence Winter
Best Cinematography
WINNER – GRAVITY, Emmanuel Lubezki
HER, Hoyte Van Hoytema
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, Bruno Delbonnel
NEBRASKA, Phedon Papamichael
12 YEARS A SLAVE, Sean Bobbitt
Best Production Design
AMERICAN HUSTLE, Judy Becker
WINNER – GRAVITY, Andy Nicholson
HER, K. K. Barrett
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, Jess Gonchor
12 YEARS A SLAVE, Adam Stockhausen
Best Editing
ALL IS LOST, Pete Beaudreau
AMERICAN HUSTLE, Alan Baumgarten; Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, Christopher Rouse
WINNER – GRAVITY, Alfonso Cuaron and Mark Sanger
12 YEARS A SLAVE, Joe Walker
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, Thelma Schoonmaker
Best Animated Feature
THE CROODS
DESPICABLE ME
WINNER – FROZEN
MONSTERS UNIVERSITY
THE WIND RISES
Best Foreign Language Picture
WINNER – BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
A HIJACKING
THE HUNT
THE PAST
WADJDA
Best Documentary
WINNER – THE ACT OF KILLING
THE ARMSTRONG LIE
BLACKFISH
STORIES WE TELL
TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM
(6 nominations in a category indicates a tie)
Marlon Riggs Award for courage & vision in the Bay Area film community:
Ryan Coogler for putting a human face to murder victim Oscar Grant in FRUITVALE STATION and to former Roxie Theater executive director Christopher Statton for putting the Roxie onto more solid ground by transforming it into a nonprofit enterprise.
Special Citation for under-appreciated independent cinema:
COMPUTER CHESS, Andrew Bujalski’s comedy merges documentary techniques and old video technologies to make light of the ’80s race to build a winning computer-chess program.
END
Showing posts with label Chiwetel Ejiofor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chiwetel Ejiofor. Show all posts
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
"12 Years a Slave" Best Film of 2013 Sez Chicago Film Critics
by Amos Semien
The film, 12 Years a Slave, owned the 2013 Chicago Film Critics Awards, winning the “Best Picture” award. This film is based on a true story: Solomon Northup’s 1853 memoir of being a once-free black man from the North, kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South in the years leading up to Civil War.
The Chicago Film Critics Association gave the film five awards: Best Director to Steve McQueen, Best Actor to Chiwetel Ejiofor, Best Supporting Actress to newcomer Luptia Nyong'o, Adapted Screenplay to John Ridley, as well as Best Picture.
Director Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity was the runner-up with three awards: Best Cinematography to Emmanuel Lubezki, Best Art Direction/Production Design to Mark Scruton and Andy Nicholson and Best Editing to Cuaron and Mark Sanger.
The CFCA awards were announced at a ceremony held on Monday, December 16, 2013.
2013 Chicago Film Critics Awards winners:
BEST PICTURE
12 Years A Slave
BEST DIRECTOR
Steve McQueen--12 Years A Slave
BEST ACTOR
Chiwetel Ejiofor--12 Years A Slave
BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett--Blue Jasmine
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jared Leto--Dallas Buyers Club
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lupita Nyong'o--12 Years A Slave
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Spike Jonze--Her
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
John Ridley--12 Years A Slave
BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Act of Killing
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
The Act of Killing
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wind Rises
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Her--Arcade Fire
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Gravity--Emmanuel Lubezki
BEST EDITING
Gravity--Alfonso Cuaron & Mark Sanger
BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
Gravity--Mark Scruton/Andy Nicolson
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Adele Exarchopoulos--Blue is the Warmest Color
MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER
Destin Cretton--Short Term 12
http://www.chicagofilmcritics.org/
END
The film, 12 Years a Slave, owned the 2013 Chicago Film Critics Awards, winning the “Best Picture” award. This film is based on a true story: Solomon Northup’s 1853 memoir of being a once-free black man from the North, kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South in the years leading up to Civil War.
The Chicago Film Critics Association gave the film five awards: Best Director to Steve McQueen, Best Actor to Chiwetel Ejiofor, Best Supporting Actress to newcomer Luptia Nyong'o, Adapted Screenplay to John Ridley, as well as Best Picture.
Director Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity was the runner-up with three awards: Best Cinematography to Emmanuel Lubezki, Best Art Direction/Production Design to Mark Scruton and Andy Nicholson and Best Editing to Cuaron and Mark Sanger.
The CFCA awards were announced at a ceremony held on Monday, December 16, 2013.
2013 Chicago Film Critics Awards winners:
BEST PICTURE
12 Years A Slave
BEST DIRECTOR
Steve McQueen--12 Years A Slave
BEST ACTOR
Chiwetel Ejiofor--12 Years A Slave
BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett--Blue Jasmine
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jared Leto--Dallas Buyers Club
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lupita Nyong'o--12 Years A Slave
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Spike Jonze--Her
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
John Ridley--12 Years A Slave
BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Act of Killing
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
The Act of Killing
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wind Rises
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Her--Arcade Fire
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Gravity--Emmanuel Lubezki
BEST EDITING
Gravity--Alfonso Cuaron & Mark Sanger
BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
Gravity--Mark Scruton/Andy Nicolson
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Adele Exarchopoulos--Blue is the Warmest Color
MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER
Destin Cretton--Short Term 12
http://www.chicagofilmcritics.org/
END
"12 Years a Slave" 2013's Best Picture Sez Online Film Critics Society
by Amos Semien
The Online Film Critics Society announced the recipients of the 17th annual OFCS awards for excellence in film. Over 250 members voted in this year’s awards.
Director Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave was the standout with five wins. The film is based on Solomon Northup’s 1853 memoir about his life after being kidnapped into slavery. It earned recognitions for “Best Picture,” “Best Actor” (Chiwetel Ejiofor), “Best Supporting Actor” (Michael Fassbender), “Best Supporting Actress” (Lupita Nyong’o), and “Best Adapted Screenplay” (John Ridley). McQueen lost “Best Director” to Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity.
The Online Film Critics Society 2013 Film Awards Winners:
Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave
Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises
Best Film Not in the English Language: Blue Is the Warmest Color
Best Documentary: The Act of Killing
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity
Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
Best Original Screenplay: Her
Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave
Best Editing: Gravity
Best Cinematography: Gravity
Special Awards:
Best Sound Design and Best Visual Effects to Gravity
To Roger Ebert, for inspiring so many of our members
Top Ten films Without a U.S. Release:
Closed Curtain
Gloria
Like Father, Like Son
Our Sunhi
R100
The Rocket
Stranger By the Lake
We Are the Best!
Le Weekend
Why Don’t You Play in Hell?
http://www.ofcs.org/
END
The Online Film Critics Society announced the recipients of the 17th annual OFCS awards for excellence in film. Over 250 members voted in this year’s awards.
Director Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave was the standout with five wins. The film is based on Solomon Northup’s 1853 memoir about his life after being kidnapped into slavery. It earned recognitions for “Best Picture,” “Best Actor” (Chiwetel Ejiofor), “Best Supporting Actor” (Michael Fassbender), “Best Supporting Actress” (Lupita Nyong’o), and “Best Adapted Screenplay” (John Ridley). McQueen lost “Best Director” to Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity.
The Online Film Critics Society 2013 Film Awards Winners:
Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave
Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises
Best Film Not in the English Language: Blue Is the Warmest Color
Best Documentary: The Act of Killing
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity
Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
Best Original Screenplay: Her
Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave
Best Editing: Gravity
Best Cinematography: Gravity
Special Awards:
Best Sound Design and Best Visual Effects to Gravity
To Roger Ebert, for inspiring so many of our members
Top Ten films Without a U.S. Release:
Closed Curtain
Gloria
Like Father, Like Son
Our Sunhi
R100
The Rocket
Stranger By the Lake
We Are the Best!
Le Weekend
Why Don’t You Play in Hell?
http://www.ofcs.org/
END
Monday, December 16, 2013
Boston Online Film Critics Declare "12 Years a Slave" Best Pic of 2013
by Amos Semien
The Boston Online Film Critics Association named 12 Years a Slave "Best Picture" of 2013. That was one of six awards the critics group bestowed upon director Steve McQueen's film; that included notices for McQueen as "Best Director" and Chiwetel Ejiofor ("Best Actor") and Lupita Nyong' o ("Best Supporting Actress").
The Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA) was founded in May 2012. According to the group, BOFCA fosters a community of web-based film critics and provides them with a supportive group of colleagues and a professional platform for their voices to be heard. They collect and link to their reviews every week at a website that also features original content by members, including filmmaker interviews and spotlights on Boston’s vital repertory film scene.
By widening professional membership to writers working in new media, BOFCA aims to encourage more diverse opinions in the field. The Boston Online Film Critics Association has gathered together critics writing for publications that collectively receive over 15 million impressions/page views per month. BOFCA is present on social media year-round with members’ film articles and essays.
Full list of 2013 BOFCA winners:
BEST PICTURE: 12 YEARS A SLAVE
BEST DIRECTOR: Steve McQueen, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
BEST ACTOR: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
BEST ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, BLUE JASMINE
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Jared Leto, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
BEST SCREENPLAY: BEFORE MIDNIGHT
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
BEST DOCUMENTARY: THE ACT OF KILLING
BEST ANIMATED FILM: THE WIND RISES and FROZEN (tie)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
BEST EDITING: 12 YEARS A SLAVE
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: 12 YEARS A SLAVE
BEST ENSEMBLE: 12 YEARS A SLAVE
THE TEN BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR:
1. 12 YEARS A SLAVE
2. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
3. THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
4. GRAVITY
5. BEFORE MIDNIGHT
6. THE SPECTACULAR NOW
7. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
8. SPRING BREAKERS
9. THE WORLD’S END
10. FRUITVALE STATION
http://bofca.com/
END
The Boston Online Film Critics Association named 12 Years a Slave "Best Picture" of 2013. That was one of six awards the critics group bestowed upon director Steve McQueen's film; that included notices for McQueen as "Best Director" and Chiwetel Ejiofor ("Best Actor") and Lupita Nyong' o ("Best Supporting Actress").
The Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA) was founded in May 2012. According to the group, BOFCA fosters a community of web-based film critics and provides them with a supportive group of colleagues and a professional platform for their voices to be heard. They collect and link to their reviews every week at a website that also features original content by members, including filmmaker interviews and spotlights on Boston’s vital repertory film scene.
By widening professional membership to writers working in new media, BOFCA aims to encourage more diverse opinions in the field. The Boston Online Film Critics Association has gathered together critics writing for publications that collectively receive over 15 million impressions/page views per month. BOFCA is present on social media year-round with members’ film articles and essays.
Full list of 2013 BOFCA winners:
BEST PICTURE: 12 YEARS A SLAVE
BEST DIRECTOR: Steve McQueen, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
BEST ACTOR: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
BEST ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, BLUE JASMINE
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Jared Leto, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
BEST SCREENPLAY: BEFORE MIDNIGHT
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
BEST DOCUMENTARY: THE ACT OF KILLING
BEST ANIMATED FILM: THE WIND RISES and FROZEN (tie)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
BEST EDITING: 12 YEARS A SLAVE
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: 12 YEARS A SLAVE
BEST ENSEMBLE: 12 YEARS A SLAVE
THE TEN BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR:
1. 12 YEARS A SLAVE
2. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
3. THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
4. GRAVITY
5. BEFORE MIDNIGHT
6. THE SPECTACULAR NOW
7. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
8. SPRING BREAKERS
9. THE WORLD’S END
10. FRUITVALE STATION
http://bofca.com/
END
Sunday, December 15, 2013
"12 Years a Slave" Leads Chicago Film Critics Awards Nominations
by Amos Semien
The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit organization that hands out the Chicago Film Critics Awards, hold critics roundtables, and takes on industry and artists’ rights issues. The parent association was founded in 1990 by film critic Sue Kiner after the successful launch of the Chicago Film Critics Awards in 1989.
The nominations for the 2013 Chicago Film Critics Awards were recently announced. Director Steven McQueen's 12 Years a Slave led all contenders for the group’s annual awards with a stunning 11 nominations. The highly acclaimed drama is a harrowing adaptation of the memoir of a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the pre-Civil War era Deep South. Tying for second place with seven nominations each are the films, Gravity and Her.
The Chicago Film Critics Association will announce its winners in a ceremony to be held on the evening of Monday, December 16, 2013.
2013 Chicago Film Critics Awards nominees:
BEST PICTURE
12 Years A Slave
American Hustle
Gravity
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
BEST DIRECTOR
Joel & Ethan Coen--Inside Llewyn Davis
Alfonso Cuaron--Gravity
Spike Jonze--Her
Steve McQueen--12 Years A Slave
David O. Russell--American Hustle
BEST ACTOR
Bruce Dern--Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor--12 Years A Slave
Oscar Isaac--Inside Llewyn Davis
Matthew McConaughey--Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford--All Is Lost
BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett--Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock--Gravity
Adele Exarchopoulos--Blue is the Warmest Color
Brie Larson--Short Term 12
Meryl Streep--August: Osage County
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi--Captain Phillips
Michael Fassbender--12 Years A Slave
James Franco--Spring Breakers
James Gandolfini--Enough Said
Jared Leto--Dallas Buyers Club
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Scarlett Johansson--Her
Jennifer Lawrence--American Hustle
Lupita Nyong'o--12 Years A Slave
Lea Seydoux--Blue is the Warmest Color
June Squibb--Nebraska
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
American Hustle--Eric SInger & David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine--Woody Allen
Her--Spike Jonze
Inside Llewyn Davis--Joel & Ethan Coen
Nebraska--Bob Nelson
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
12 Years A Slave--John Ridley
August: Osage County--Tracey Letts
Before Midnight--Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke
Philomena--Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope
The Wolf of Wall Street--Terrence Winter
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
The Act of Killing
Blue is the Warmest Color
The Hunt
Wadjda
The Wind Rises
BEST DOCUMENTARY
20 Feet from Stardom
The Act of Killing
The Armstrong Lie
Blackfish
Stories We Tell
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Croods
From Up on Poppy Hill
Frozen
Monsters University
The Wind Rises
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
12 Years A Slave--Sean Bobbitt
Gravity--Emmanuel Lubezki
Her--Hoyte Van Hoytema
Inside Llewyn Davis--Bruno Delbonnel
Prisoners--Roger Deakins
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
12 Years A Slave--Hans Zimmer
Blancanieves--Alfonso de Vilallongo
Gravity--Steven Price
Her--Arcade Fire
Spring Breakers--Cliff Martinez and Skrillex
BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
12 Years A Slave
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
BEST EDITING
12 Years A Slave--Joe Walker
American Hustle--Alan Baumgarten, Jay Cassidy & Crispin Struthers
Gravity--Alfonso Cuaron & Mark Sanger
Upstream Color--Shane Carruth & David Lowery
The Wolf of Wall Street--Thelma Schoonmaker
MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER
Lake Bell--In A World
Ryan Coogler--Fruitvale Station
Destin Cretton--Short Term 12
Joseph Gordon-Levitt--Don Jon
Joshua Oppenheimer--The Act of Killing
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Barkhad Abdi--Captain Phillips
Chadwick Boseman--42
Adele Exarchopoulos--Blue is the Warmest Color
Lupita Nyong'o--12 Years A Slave
Tye Sheridan--Mud
http://www.chicagofilmcritics.org/
END
The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit organization that hands out the Chicago Film Critics Awards, hold critics roundtables, and takes on industry and artists’ rights issues. The parent association was founded in 1990 by film critic Sue Kiner after the successful launch of the Chicago Film Critics Awards in 1989.
The nominations for the 2013 Chicago Film Critics Awards were recently announced. Director Steven McQueen's 12 Years a Slave led all contenders for the group’s annual awards with a stunning 11 nominations. The highly acclaimed drama is a harrowing adaptation of the memoir of a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the pre-Civil War era Deep South. Tying for second place with seven nominations each are the films, Gravity and Her.
The Chicago Film Critics Association will announce its winners in a ceremony to be held on the evening of Monday, December 16, 2013.
2013 Chicago Film Critics Awards nominees:
BEST PICTURE
12 Years A Slave
American Hustle
Gravity
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
BEST DIRECTOR
Joel & Ethan Coen--Inside Llewyn Davis
Alfonso Cuaron--Gravity
Spike Jonze--Her
Steve McQueen--12 Years A Slave
David O. Russell--American Hustle
BEST ACTOR
Bruce Dern--Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor--12 Years A Slave
Oscar Isaac--Inside Llewyn Davis
Matthew McConaughey--Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford--All Is Lost
BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett--Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock--Gravity
Adele Exarchopoulos--Blue is the Warmest Color
Brie Larson--Short Term 12
Meryl Streep--August: Osage County
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi--Captain Phillips
Michael Fassbender--12 Years A Slave
James Franco--Spring Breakers
James Gandolfini--Enough Said
Jared Leto--Dallas Buyers Club
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Scarlett Johansson--Her
Jennifer Lawrence--American Hustle
Lupita Nyong'o--12 Years A Slave
Lea Seydoux--Blue is the Warmest Color
June Squibb--Nebraska
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
American Hustle--Eric SInger & David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine--Woody Allen
Her--Spike Jonze
Inside Llewyn Davis--Joel & Ethan Coen
Nebraska--Bob Nelson
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
12 Years A Slave--John Ridley
August: Osage County--Tracey Letts
Before Midnight--Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke
Philomena--Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope
The Wolf of Wall Street--Terrence Winter
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
The Act of Killing
Blue is the Warmest Color
The Hunt
Wadjda
The Wind Rises
BEST DOCUMENTARY
20 Feet from Stardom
The Act of Killing
The Armstrong Lie
Blackfish
Stories We Tell
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Croods
From Up on Poppy Hill
Frozen
Monsters University
The Wind Rises
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
12 Years A Slave--Sean Bobbitt
Gravity--Emmanuel Lubezki
Her--Hoyte Van Hoytema
Inside Llewyn Davis--Bruno Delbonnel
Prisoners--Roger Deakins
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
12 Years A Slave--Hans Zimmer
Blancanieves--Alfonso de Vilallongo
Gravity--Steven Price
Her--Arcade Fire
Spring Breakers--Cliff Martinez and Skrillex
BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
12 Years A Slave
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
BEST EDITING
12 Years A Slave--Joe Walker
American Hustle--Alan Baumgarten, Jay Cassidy & Crispin Struthers
Gravity--Alfonso Cuaron & Mark Sanger
Upstream Color--Shane Carruth & David Lowery
The Wolf of Wall Street--Thelma Schoonmaker
MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER
Lake Bell--In A World
Ryan Coogler--Fruitvale Station
Destin Cretton--Short Term 12
Joseph Gordon-Levitt--Don Jon
Joshua Oppenheimer--The Act of Killing
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Barkhad Abdi--Captain Phillips
Chadwick Boseman--42
Adele Exarchopoulos--Blue is the Warmest Color
Lupita Nyong'o--12 Years A Slave
Tye Sheridan--Mud
http://www.chicagofilmcritics.org/
END
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Washington DC Film Critics Choose "12 Years a Slave"
by Amos Semien
The Washington DC Area Film Critics Association named director 12 Years a Slave the "Best Film" of 2013. Steve McQueen's acclaimed film led all films with 11 nominations and ultimately won six, including "Best Actor" for Chiwetel Ejiofor and "Best Supporting Actress" for Lupita Nyong'o.
Founded in 2002, The Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) is comprised of professional DC-based film critics with affiliations in television, radio, print and the internet. As of 2013, WAFCA has grown to include 58 dedicated members from the District, Maryland and Virginia.
THE 2013 WAFCA AWARD WINNERS:
Best Film:
12 Years a Slave
Best Director:
Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)
Best Actor:
Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Supporting Actor:
Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Supporting Actress:
Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Best Acting Ensemble:
12 Years a Slave
Best Youth Performance:
Tye Sheridan (Mud)
Best Adapted Screenplay:
John Ridley (12 Years a Slave)
Best Original Screenplay:
Spike Jonze (Her)
Best Animated Feature:
Frozen
Best Documentary:
Blackfish
Best Foreign Language Film:
The Broken Circle Breakdown
Best Art Direction:
Production Designer: Catherine Martin, Set Decorator: Beverley Dunn (The Great Gatsby)
Best Cinematography:
Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, A.M.C. (Gravity)
Best Editing:
Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger (Gravity)
Best Original Score:
Hans Zimmer (12 Years a Slave)
The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC:
Lee Daniels' The Butler
http://www.wafca.com/index.htm
END
The Washington DC Area Film Critics Association named director 12 Years a Slave the "Best Film" of 2013. Steve McQueen's acclaimed film led all films with 11 nominations and ultimately won six, including "Best Actor" for Chiwetel Ejiofor and "Best Supporting Actress" for Lupita Nyong'o.
Founded in 2002, The Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) is comprised of professional DC-based film critics with affiliations in television, radio, print and the internet. As of 2013, WAFCA has grown to include 58 dedicated members from the District, Maryland and Virginia.
THE 2013 WAFCA AWARD WINNERS:
Best Film:
12 Years a Slave
Best Director:
Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)
Best Actor:
Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Supporting Actor:
Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Supporting Actress:
Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Best Acting Ensemble:
12 Years a Slave
Best Youth Performance:
Tye Sheridan (Mud)
Best Adapted Screenplay:
John Ridley (12 Years a Slave)
Best Original Screenplay:
Spike Jonze (Her)
Best Animated Feature:
Frozen
Best Documentary:
Blackfish
Best Foreign Language Film:
The Broken Circle Breakdown
Best Art Direction:
Production Designer: Catherine Martin, Set Decorator: Beverley Dunn (The Great Gatsby)
Best Cinematography:
Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, A.M.C. (Gravity)
Best Editing:
Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger (Gravity)
Best Original Score:
Hans Zimmer (12 Years a Slave)
The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC:
Lee Daniels' The Butler
http://www.wafca.com/index.htm
END
Friday, December 13, 2013
2014 Golden Globe Awards Nominations - Television Categories List
The 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards nominees: TELEVISION CATEGORIES – complete list:
Best TV Series - Comedy/Musical
"Big Bang Theory"
"Brooklyn Nine Nine"
"Girls"
"Modern Family"
"Parks & Recreation"
Best Miniseries Or Motion Picture Made For Television
"American Horror Story: Coven"
"Behind The Candelabra"
"Dancing On The Edge
"Top Of The Lake"
"The White Queen"
Best TV Drama
"Breaking Bad"
"Downton Abbey"
"The Good Wife"
"House Of Cards"
"Masters Of Sex"
Best Actress - Drama TV Series
Julianna Marguiles - "The Good Wife"
Tatiana Maslany - "Orphan Black"
Taylor Schilling - "Orange Is The New Black"
Kerry Washington - "Scandal"
Robin Wright - "House Of Cards"
Best Actor - TV Drama
Bryan Cranston - "Breaking Bad"
Liev Schreiber - "Ray Donovan"
Michael Sheen - "Masters Of Sex"
Kevin Spacey - "House Of Cards"
James Spader - "The Blacklist"
Best Actress - Miniseries
Helena Bonham-Carter - "Burton & Taylor"
Rebecca Ferguson - "The White Queen"
Jessica Lange - "American Horror Story: Coven"
Helen Mirren - "Phil Spector"
Elisabeth Moss - "Top Of The Lake"
Best Actor - Miniseries
Matt Damon - "Behind The Candelabra"
Michael Douglas - "Behind The Candelabra"
Chiwetel Ejiofor - "Dancing On The Edge"
Idris Elba - "Luther"
Al Pacino - "Phil Spector"
Best Actress - Comedy TV Series
Zooey Deschanel - "New Girl"
Lena Dunham - "Girls"
Edie Falco - "Nurse Jackie"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - "Veep"
Amy Poehler - "Parks & Recreation"
Best Actor - Comedy TV Series
Jason Bateman - "Arrested Development"
Don Cheadle - "House Of Lies"
Michael J Fox - "The Michael J Fox Show"
Jim Parsons - "The Big Bang Theory"
Andy Samberg - "Brooklyn Nine Nine"
Best Supporting Actor - TV
Josh Charles - "The Good Wife"
Rob Lowe - "Behind The Candelabra"
Aaron Paul - "Breaking Bad"
Corey Stoll - "House Of Cards"
Jon Voight - "Ray Donovan"
Best Supporting Actress - TV
Jacqueline Bisset - "Dancing On The Edge"
Janet McTeer - "The White Queen"
Hayden Panetierre - "Nashville"
Monica Potter - "Parenthood"
Sofia Vergara - "Modern Family"
END
Best TV Series - Comedy/Musical
"Big Bang Theory"
"Brooklyn Nine Nine"
"Girls"
"Modern Family"
"Parks & Recreation"
Best Miniseries Or Motion Picture Made For Television
"American Horror Story: Coven"
"Behind The Candelabra"
"Dancing On The Edge
"Top Of The Lake"
"The White Queen"
Best TV Drama
"Breaking Bad"
"Downton Abbey"
"The Good Wife"
"House Of Cards"
"Masters Of Sex"
Best Actress - Drama TV Series
Julianna Marguiles - "The Good Wife"
Tatiana Maslany - "Orphan Black"
Taylor Schilling - "Orange Is The New Black"
Kerry Washington - "Scandal"
Robin Wright - "House Of Cards"
Best Actor - TV Drama
Bryan Cranston - "Breaking Bad"
Liev Schreiber - "Ray Donovan"
Michael Sheen - "Masters Of Sex"
Kevin Spacey - "House Of Cards"
James Spader - "The Blacklist"
Best Actress - Miniseries
Helena Bonham-Carter - "Burton & Taylor"
Rebecca Ferguson - "The White Queen"
Jessica Lange - "American Horror Story: Coven"
Helen Mirren - "Phil Spector"
Elisabeth Moss - "Top Of The Lake"
Best Actor - Miniseries
Matt Damon - "Behind The Candelabra"
Michael Douglas - "Behind The Candelabra"
Chiwetel Ejiofor - "Dancing On The Edge"
Idris Elba - "Luther"
Al Pacino - "Phil Spector"
Best Actress - Comedy TV Series
Zooey Deschanel - "New Girl"
Lena Dunham - "Girls"
Edie Falco - "Nurse Jackie"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - "Veep"
Amy Poehler - "Parks & Recreation"
Best Actor - Comedy TV Series
Jason Bateman - "Arrested Development"
Don Cheadle - "House Of Lies"
Michael J Fox - "The Michael J Fox Show"
Jim Parsons - "The Big Bang Theory"
Andy Samberg - "Brooklyn Nine Nine"
Best Supporting Actor - TV
Josh Charles - "The Good Wife"
Rob Lowe - "Behind The Candelabra"
Aaron Paul - "Breaking Bad"
Corey Stoll - "House Of Cards"
Jon Voight - "Ray Donovan"
Best Supporting Actress - TV
Jacqueline Bisset - "Dancing On The Edge"
Janet McTeer - "The White Queen"
Hayden Panetierre - "Nashville"
Monica Potter - "Parenthood"
Sofia Vergara - "Modern Family"
END
Thursday, December 12, 2013
2014 Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominations - Film Categories List
by Amos Semien
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is an American labor union that represents film and television performers worldwide. Most people probably know SAG for the various actors’ strikes or for the Screen Actors Guild Award, which SAG uses to honor outstanding performances by its members. The first SAG Awards ceremony was held in February 1995 (for films released in 1994).
In the theatrical motion picture categories, director Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave led the 20th annual Screen Actors Guild Award nominations with 4 nominations, including a best ensemble nomination and three nominations in the acting categories: Chiwetel Ejiofor (lead), Michael Fassbender (supporting), and Lupita Nyong'o (supporting). Rita Moreno will receive this year's "Life Achievement Award."
Winners will be announced at the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® ceremony. The ceremony will be simulcast live nationally on TNT and TBS on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014 at 8 p.m. (ET)/5 p.m. (PT) from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center.
An encore presentation will air immediately following live telecast on TNT only at 10 p.m. (ET)/7 p.m. (PT). A live stream of the SAG Awards can also be viewed online through the TBS and TNT websites, as well as through the “Watch TBS” and “Watch TNT” apps for iOS or Android. Apparently, viewers who want to use these apps must sign in using their TV provider user name and password in order to view the live stream.
20th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS NOMINATIONS – Full list of nominations:
THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES Categories:
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
BRUCE DERN / Woody Grant – “NEBRASKA” (Paramount Pictures)
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR / Solomon Northup – “12 YEARS A SLAVE” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
TOM HANKS / Capt. Richard Phillips – “CAPTAIN PHILLIPS” (Columbia Pictures)
MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY / Ron Woodroof – “DALLAS BUYERS CLUB” (Focus Features)
FOREST WHITAKER / Cecil Gaines – “LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER” (The Weinstein Company)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
CATE BLANCHETT / Jasmine – “BLUE JASMINE” (Sony Pictures Classics)
SANDRA BULLOCK / Ryan Stone – “GRAVITY” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
JUDI DENCH / Philomena Lee – “PHILOMENA” (The Weinstein Company)
MERYL STREEP / Violet Weston – “AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY” (The Weinstein Company)
EMMA THOMPSON / P.L. Travers – “SAVING MR. BANKS” (Walt Disney Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
BARKHAD ABDI / Muse – “CAPTAIN PHILLIPS” (Columbia Pictures)
DANIEL BRÜHL / Niki Lauda – “RUSH” (Universal Pictures)
MICHAEL FASSBENDER / Edwin Epps – “12 YEARS A SLAVE” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
JAMES GANDOLFINI / Albert – “ENOUGH SAID” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
JARED LETO / Rayon – “DALLAS BUYERS CLUB” (Focus Features)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role:
JENNIFER LAWRENCE / Rosalyn Rosenfeld – “AMERICAN HUSTLE” (Columbia Pictures)
LUPITA NYONG’O / Patsey – “12 YEARS A SLAVE” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
JULIA ROBERTS / Barbara Weston – “AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY” (The Weinstein Company)
JUNE SQUIBB / Kate Grant – “NEBRASKA” (Paramount Pictures)
OPRAH WINFREY / Gloria Gaines – “LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER” (The Weinstein Company)
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture:
12 YEARS A SLAVE (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH / Ford
PAUL DANO / Tibeats
GARRET DILLAHUNT / Armsby
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR / Solomon Northup
MICHAEL FASSBENDER / Edwin Epps
PAUL GIAMATTI / Freeman
SCOOT McNAIRY / Brown
LUPITA NYONG’O / Patsey
ADEPERO ODUYE / Eliza
SARAH PAULSON / Mistress Epps
BRAD PITT / Bass
MICHAEL KENNETH WILLIAMS / Robert
ALFRE WOODARD / Mistress Shaw
AMERICAN HUSTLE (Columbia Pictures)
AMY ADAMS / Sydney Prosser
CHRISTIAN BALE / Irving Rosenfeld
LOUIS C.K. / Stoddard Thorsen
BRADLEY COOPER / Richie DiMaso
PAUL HERMAN / Alfonse Simone
JACK HUSTON / Pete Musane
JENNIFER LAWRENCE / Rosalyn Rosenfeld
ALESSANDRO NIVOLA / Federal Prosecutor
MICHAEL PEÑA / Sheik (Agent Hernandez)
JEREMY RENNER / Mayor Carmine Polito
ELISABETH RÖHM / Dolly Polito
SHEA WHIGHAM / Carl Elway
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (The Weinstein Company)
ABIGAIL BRESLIN / Jean Fordham
CHRIS COOPER / Charles Aiken
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH / “Little” Charles Aiken
JULIETTE LEWIS / Karen Weston
MARGO MARTINDALE / Mattie Fae Aiken
EWAN McGREGOR / Bill Fordham
DERMOT MULRONEY / Steve
JULIANNE NICHOLSON / Ivy Weston
JULIA ROBERTS / Barbara Weston
SAM SHEPARD / Beverly Weston
MERYL STREEP / Violet Weston
MISTY UPHAM / Johnna
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (Focus Features)
JENNIFER GARNER / Dr. Eve Saks
MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY / Ron Woodroof
JARED LETO / Rayon
DENIS O’HARE / Dr. Sevard
DALLAS ROBERTS / David Wayne
STEVE ZAHN / Tucker
LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER (The Weinstein Company)
MARIAH CAREY / Hattie Pearl
JOHN CUSACK / Richard Nixon
JANE FONDA / Nancy Reagan
CUBA GOODING, JR. / Carter Wilson
TERRENCE HOWARD / Howard
LENNY KRAVITZ / James Holloway
JAMES MARSDEN / John F. Kennedy
DAVID OYELOWO / Louis Gaines
ALEX PETTYFER / Thomas Westfall
VANESSA REDGRAVE / Annabeth Westfall
ALAN RICKMAN / Ronald Reagan
LIEV SCHREIBER / Lyndon B. Johnson
FOREST WHITAKER / Cecil Gaines
ROBIN WILLIAMS / Dwight D. Eisenhower
OPRAH WINFREY / Gloria Gaines
SAG AWARDS® HONORS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture:
ALL IS LOST (Lionsgate)
FAST & FURIOUS 6 (Universal Pictures)
LONE SURVIVOR (Universal Pictures)
RUSH (Universal Pictures)
THE WOLVERINE (20th Century Fox)
LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Screen Actors Guild 50th Annual Life Achievement Award: RITA MORENO
http://www.sagawards.org/
END
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is an American labor union that represents film and television performers worldwide. Most people probably know SAG for the various actors’ strikes or for the Screen Actors Guild Award, which SAG uses to honor outstanding performances by its members. The first SAG Awards ceremony was held in February 1995 (for films released in 1994).
In the theatrical motion picture categories, director Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave led the 20th annual Screen Actors Guild Award nominations with 4 nominations, including a best ensemble nomination and three nominations in the acting categories: Chiwetel Ejiofor (lead), Michael Fassbender (supporting), and Lupita Nyong'o (supporting). Rita Moreno will receive this year's "Life Achievement Award."
Winners will be announced at the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® ceremony. The ceremony will be simulcast live nationally on TNT and TBS on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014 at 8 p.m. (ET)/5 p.m. (PT) from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center.
An encore presentation will air immediately following live telecast on TNT only at 10 p.m. (ET)/7 p.m. (PT). A live stream of the SAG Awards can also be viewed online through the TBS and TNT websites, as well as through the “Watch TBS” and “Watch TNT” apps for iOS or Android. Apparently, viewers who want to use these apps must sign in using their TV provider user name and password in order to view the live stream.
20th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS NOMINATIONS – Full list of nominations:
THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES Categories:
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
BRUCE DERN / Woody Grant – “NEBRASKA” (Paramount Pictures)
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR / Solomon Northup – “12 YEARS A SLAVE” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
TOM HANKS / Capt. Richard Phillips – “CAPTAIN PHILLIPS” (Columbia Pictures)
MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY / Ron Woodroof – “DALLAS BUYERS CLUB” (Focus Features)
FOREST WHITAKER / Cecil Gaines – “LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER” (The Weinstein Company)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
CATE BLANCHETT / Jasmine – “BLUE JASMINE” (Sony Pictures Classics)
SANDRA BULLOCK / Ryan Stone – “GRAVITY” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
JUDI DENCH / Philomena Lee – “PHILOMENA” (The Weinstein Company)
MERYL STREEP / Violet Weston – “AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY” (The Weinstein Company)
EMMA THOMPSON / P.L. Travers – “SAVING MR. BANKS” (Walt Disney Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
BARKHAD ABDI / Muse – “CAPTAIN PHILLIPS” (Columbia Pictures)
DANIEL BRÜHL / Niki Lauda – “RUSH” (Universal Pictures)
MICHAEL FASSBENDER / Edwin Epps – “12 YEARS A SLAVE” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
JAMES GANDOLFINI / Albert – “ENOUGH SAID” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
JARED LETO / Rayon – “DALLAS BUYERS CLUB” (Focus Features)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role:
JENNIFER LAWRENCE / Rosalyn Rosenfeld – “AMERICAN HUSTLE” (Columbia Pictures)
LUPITA NYONG’O / Patsey – “12 YEARS A SLAVE” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
JULIA ROBERTS / Barbara Weston – “AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY” (The Weinstein Company)
JUNE SQUIBB / Kate Grant – “NEBRASKA” (Paramount Pictures)
OPRAH WINFREY / Gloria Gaines – “LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER” (The Weinstein Company)
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture:
12 YEARS A SLAVE (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH / Ford
PAUL DANO / Tibeats
GARRET DILLAHUNT / Armsby
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR / Solomon Northup
MICHAEL FASSBENDER / Edwin Epps
PAUL GIAMATTI / Freeman
SCOOT McNAIRY / Brown
LUPITA NYONG’O / Patsey
ADEPERO ODUYE / Eliza
SARAH PAULSON / Mistress Epps
BRAD PITT / Bass
MICHAEL KENNETH WILLIAMS / Robert
ALFRE WOODARD / Mistress Shaw
AMERICAN HUSTLE (Columbia Pictures)
AMY ADAMS / Sydney Prosser
CHRISTIAN BALE / Irving Rosenfeld
LOUIS C.K. / Stoddard Thorsen
BRADLEY COOPER / Richie DiMaso
PAUL HERMAN / Alfonse Simone
JACK HUSTON / Pete Musane
JENNIFER LAWRENCE / Rosalyn Rosenfeld
ALESSANDRO NIVOLA / Federal Prosecutor
MICHAEL PEÑA / Sheik (Agent Hernandez)
JEREMY RENNER / Mayor Carmine Polito
ELISABETH RÖHM / Dolly Polito
SHEA WHIGHAM / Carl Elway
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (The Weinstein Company)
ABIGAIL BRESLIN / Jean Fordham
CHRIS COOPER / Charles Aiken
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH / “Little” Charles Aiken
JULIETTE LEWIS / Karen Weston
MARGO MARTINDALE / Mattie Fae Aiken
EWAN McGREGOR / Bill Fordham
DERMOT MULRONEY / Steve
JULIANNE NICHOLSON / Ivy Weston
JULIA ROBERTS / Barbara Weston
SAM SHEPARD / Beverly Weston
MERYL STREEP / Violet Weston
MISTY UPHAM / Johnna
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (Focus Features)
JENNIFER GARNER / Dr. Eve Saks
MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY / Ron Woodroof
JARED LETO / Rayon
DENIS O’HARE / Dr. Sevard
DALLAS ROBERTS / David Wayne
STEVE ZAHN / Tucker
LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER (The Weinstein Company)
MARIAH CAREY / Hattie Pearl
JOHN CUSACK / Richard Nixon
JANE FONDA / Nancy Reagan
CUBA GOODING, JR. / Carter Wilson
TERRENCE HOWARD / Howard
LENNY KRAVITZ / James Holloway
JAMES MARSDEN / John F. Kennedy
DAVID OYELOWO / Louis Gaines
ALEX PETTYFER / Thomas Westfall
VANESSA REDGRAVE / Annabeth Westfall
ALAN RICKMAN / Ronald Reagan
LIEV SCHREIBER / Lyndon B. Johnson
FOREST WHITAKER / Cecil Gaines
ROBIN WILLIAMS / Dwight D. Eisenhower
OPRAH WINFREY / Gloria Gaines
SAG AWARDS® HONORS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture:
ALL IS LOST (Lionsgate)
FAST & FURIOUS 6 (Universal Pictures)
LONE SURVIVOR (Universal Pictures)
RUSH (Universal Pictures)
THE WOLVERINE (20th Century Fox)
LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Screen Actors Guild 50th Annual Life Achievement Award: RITA MORENO
http://www.sagawards.org/
END
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
New York Critics Online Name "12 Years a Slave" Best Picture of 2013
by Amos Semien
Over the past weekend, The New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO) was the second film critics organization to award 12 Years a Slave "Best Picture" of 2013. It was one of three NYFCO awards for the film, including "Best Actor" (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and "Best Supporting Actress" (Lupita Nyong’o).
The New York Film Critics Online is a group of Internet film critics based in New York City that meets once a year, in December, for voting on its annual NYFCO Awards.
A complete list of 2013 honorees follows:
Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Best Debut Director: Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station
Best Ensemble Cast: American Hustle
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years A Slave
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years A Slave
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Foreign Language Film: Blue Is The Warmest Color
Best Documentary: The Act Of Killing
Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises
Best Use Of Music: Inside Llewyn Davis
Best Screenplay: Spike Jonze, Her
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, Gravity
Best Breakthrough Performance: Adele Exarchopoulos, Blue Is The Warmest Color
nyfco.proboards.com
END
Over the past weekend, The New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO) was the second film critics organization to award 12 Years a Slave "Best Picture" of 2013. It was one of three NYFCO awards for the film, including "Best Actor" (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and "Best Supporting Actress" (Lupita Nyong’o).
The New York Film Critics Online is a group of Internet film critics based in New York City that meets once a year, in December, for voting on its annual NYFCO Awards.
A complete list of 2013 honorees follows:
Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Best Debut Director: Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station
Best Ensemble Cast: American Hustle
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years A Slave
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years A Slave
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Foreign Language Film: Blue Is The Warmest Color
Best Documentary: The Act Of Killing
Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises
Best Use Of Music: Inside Llewyn Davis
Best Screenplay: Spike Jonze, Her
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, Gravity
Best Breakthrough Performance: Adele Exarchopoulos, Blue Is The Warmest Color
nyfco.proboards.com
END
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Boston Film Critics Choose "12 Years a Slave" as Best Picture of 2013
by Amos Semien
The Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC) named 12 Years a Slave the "Best Picture" of 2013, one of two best picture awards the film received from film critics societies over this past weekend. 12 Years a Slave also earned BSFC Awards for "Best Director" (Steve McQueen) and "Best Actor" (Chiwetel Ejiofor) The society chose Hiyao Miyazaki's final film, The Wind Rises, "Best Animated Film."
The Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC) was formed in 1981. The group claims that its mission is to make “Boston's unique critical perspective heard on a national and international level by awarding commendations to the best of the year's films and filmmakers and local film theaters and film societies that offer outstanding film programming.” One of the society’s members, Wesley Morris, won 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
2013 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Winners:
Best Picture - 12 Years a Slave
Best Actor - Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave
Best Actress - Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine
Best Supporting Actor - James Gandolfini for Enough Said
Best Supporting Actress - June Squibb for Nebraska
Best Director - Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave
Best Screenplay - Nicole Holofcener for Enough Said
Best Cinematography - Emmanuel Lubezki for Gravity
Best Documentary - The Act of Killing
Best Foreign-Language Film - Wadjda
Best Animated Film - The Wind Rises
Best Film Editing (awarded in memory of Karen Schmeer) - Daniel P. Hanley and Mike Hill for Rush
Best New Filmmaker (awarded in memory of David Brudnoy) - Ryan Coogler for Fruitvale Station
Best Ensemble Cast - Nebraska
Best Use of Music in a Film - Inside: Llewyn Davis
BSFC 2013 Awards, Commendations and Rediscoveries
Best Film Series:
“The Complete Alfred Hitchcock” at Harvard Film Archive
“A Burt Lancaster Centennial Tribute” at Harvard Film Archive and the Brattle Theatre
“Action, Action, Action: A Raoul Walsh Retrospective” at Harvard Film Archive
“The Films of Pierre Etaix” at the Museum of Fine Arts
“Chris Marker: Guillaume-en-Egypte” at Harvard Film Archive and the List Visual Arts Center at M.I.T.
Best Rediscoveries:
Journey to Italy at the Brattle Theatre
Yo-yo at the Museum of Fine Arts
Cattle Annie and Little Britchesat the Brattle Theatre
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains at Coolidge Corner Theatre
Daughters of the Dust at Harvard Film Archive
Commendations:
Coolidge @fter Midnight – The midnight movies series at the Coolidge Corner Theatre
http://www.bostonfilmcritics.org/
END
The Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC) named 12 Years a Slave the "Best Picture" of 2013, one of two best picture awards the film received from film critics societies over this past weekend. 12 Years a Slave also earned BSFC Awards for "Best Director" (Steve McQueen) and "Best Actor" (Chiwetel Ejiofor) The society chose Hiyao Miyazaki's final film, The Wind Rises, "Best Animated Film."
The Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC) was formed in 1981. The group claims that its mission is to make “Boston's unique critical perspective heard on a national and international level by awarding commendations to the best of the year's films and filmmakers and local film theaters and film societies that offer outstanding film programming.” One of the society’s members, Wesley Morris, won 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
2013 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Winners:
Best Picture - 12 Years a Slave
Best Actor - Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave
Best Actress - Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine
Best Supporting Actor - James Gandolfini for Enough Said
Best Supporting Actress - June Squibb for Nebraska
Best Director - Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave
Best Screenplay - Nicole Holofcener for Enough Said
Best Cinematography - Emmanuel Lubezki for Gravity
Best Documentary - The Act of Killing
Best Foreign-Language Film - Wadjda
Best Animated Film - The Wind Rises
Best Film Editing (awarded in memory of Karen Schmeer) - Daniel P. Hanley and Mike Hill for Rush
Best New Filmmaker (awarded in memory of David Brudnoy) - Ryan Coogler for Fruitvale Station
Best Ensemble Cast - Nebraska
Best Use of Music in a Film - Inside: Llewyn Davis
BSFC 2013 Awards, Commendations and Rediscoveries
Best Film Series:
“The Complete Alfred Hitchcock” at Harvard Film Archive
“A Burt Lancaster Centennial Tribute” at Harvard Film Archive and the Brattle Theatre
“Action, Action, Action: A Raoul Walsh Retrospective” at Harvard Film Archive
“The Films of Pierre Etaix” at the Museum of Fine Arts
“Chris Marker: Guillaume-en-Egypte” at Harvard Film Archive and the List Visual Arts Center at M.I.T.
Best Rediscoveries:
Journey to Italy at the Brattle Theatre
Yo-yo at the Museum of Fine Arts
Cattle Annie and Little Britchesat the Brattle Theatre
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains at Coolidge Corner Theatre
Daughters of the Dust at Harvard Film Archive
Commendations:
Coolidge @fter Midnight – The midnight movies series at the Coolidge Corner Theatre
http://www.bostonfilmcritics.org/
END
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
2013 Gotham Award Nominations Announced
by Amos Semien and Editor
The 2013-14 American movie award season has been kicked off with the announcement of nominations for The Gotham Awards - the 23rd edition of the awards. The Gotham Awards is an annual film awards ceremony that honors independent films. The Gotham Awards are part of The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers. The Gotham Awards also signal the kick-off to the film awards season.
Nominees are selected by groups of distinguished film critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators. Separate juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors and others directly involved in making films determine the final Gotham Award recipients.
The 2013 Gotham Awards nominees were announced Thursday, October 24, 2013. The winners will be announced live at the 2013 Gotham Independent Film Awards™ on Monday, December 2, 2013.
23rd Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards nominees:
Best Feature:
12 Years a Slave
Steve McQueen, director; Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Bill Pohlad, Steve McQueen, Arnon Milchan, Anthony Katagas, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
David Lowery, director; Tony Halbrooks, James M. Johnston, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Amy Kaufman, Cassian Elwes, producers (IFC Films)
Before Midnight
Richard Linklater, director; Richard Linklater, Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Sara Woodhatch, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)
Inside Llewyn Davis
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, directors; Scott Rudin, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, producers (CBS Films)
Upstream Color
Shane Carruth, director; Shane Carruth, Casey Gooden, Ben LeClair, producers. (erbp)
Best Documentary:
The Act of Killing
Joshua Oppenheimer, director; Signe Byrge, Joshua Oppenheimer, producers (Drafthouse Films)
The Crash Reel
Lucy Walker, director; Julian Cautherly, Lucy Walker, producers (HBO Documentary Films)
First Cousin Once Removed
Alan Berliner, director and producer (HBO Documentary Films)
Let the Fire Burn
Jason Osder, director and producer (Zeitgeist Films)
Our Nixon
Penny Lane, director; Brian L. Frye, Penny Lane, producers (Cinedigm and CNN Films)
Best Actor:
• Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
• Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis (CBS Films)
• Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)
• Robert Redford in All Is Lost (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)
• Isaiah Washington in Blue Caprice (Sundance Selects)
Best Actress:
• Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Scarlett Johansson in Don Jon (Relativity Media)
• Brie Larson in Short Term 12 (Cinedigm)
• Amy Seimetz in Upstream Color (erbp)
• Shailene Woodley in The Spectacular Now (A24)
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director:
• Ryan Coogler for Fruitvale Station (The Weinstein Company)
• Adam Leon for Gimme the Loot (Sundance Selects)
• Alexandre Moors for Blue Caprice (Sundance Selects)
• Stacie Passon for Concussion (RADiUS-TWC)
• Amy Seimetz for Sun Don’t Shine (Factory 25)
Breakthrough Actor:
• Dane DeHaan in Kill Your Darlings (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Kathryn Hahn in Afternoon Delight (The Film Arcade and Cinedigm)
• Michael B. Jordan in Fruitvale Station (The Weinstein Company)
• Lupita Nyong’o in 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
• Robin Weigert in Concussion (RADiUS-TWC)
euphoria CK Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ grant:
• Afia Nathaniel, director, Dukhthar
• Gita Pullapilly, director, Beneath the Harvest Sky
• Deb Shoval, director, AWOl
Audience Award powered by Festival Genius
COMING SOON
Voted on by an independent film community of 230,000 film fans worldwide. To be eligible, a U.S. film must have won an audience award at one of the top 50 U.S. or Canadian film festivals from November 2012 through October 2012. Voting on the nominees closes November 24th, and the winner revealed at the Gotham Awards ceremony.
http://gotham.ifp.org
The 2013-14 American movie award season has been kicked off with the announcement of nominations for The Gotham Awards - the 23rd edition of the awards. The Gotham Awards is an annual film awards ceremony that honors independent films. The Gotham Awards are part of The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers. The Gotham Awards also signal the kick-off to the film awards season.
Nominees are selected by groups of distinguished film critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators. Separate juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors and others directly involved in making films determine the final Gotham Award recipients.
The 2013 Gotham Awards nominees were announced Thursday, October 24, 2013. The winners will be announced live at the 2013 Gotham Independent Film Awards™ on Monday, December 2, 2013.
23rd Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards nominees:
Best Feature:
12 Years a Slave
Steve McQueen, director; Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Bill Pohlad, Steve McQueen, Arnon Milchan, Anthony Katagas, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
David Lowery, director; Tony Halbrooks, James M. Johnston, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Amy Kaufman, Cassian Elwes, producers (IFC Films)
Before Midnight
Richard Linklater, director; Richard Linklater, Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Sara Woodhatch, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)
Inside Llewyn Davis
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, directors; Scott Rudin, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, producers (CBS Films)
Upstream Color
Shane Carruth, director; Shane Carruth, Casey Gooden, Ben LeClair, producers. (erbp)
Best Documentary:
The Act of Killing
Joshua Oppenheimer, director; Signe Byrge, Joshua Oppenheimer, producers (Drafthouse Films)
The Crash Reel
Lucy Walker, director; Julian Cautherly, Lucy Walker, producers (HBO Documentary Films)
First Cousin Once Removed
Alan Berliner, director and producer (HBO Documentary Films)
Let the Fire Burn
Jason Osder, director and producer (Zeitgeist Films)
Our Nixon
Penny Lane, director; Brian L. Frye, Penny Lane, producers (Cinedigm and CNN Films)
Best Actor:
• Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
• Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis (CBS Films)
• Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)
• Robert Redford in All Is Lost (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)
• Isaiah Washington in Blue Caprice (Sundance Selects)
Best Actress:
• Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Scarlett Johansson in Don Jon (Relativity Media)
• Brie Larson in Short Term 12 (Cinedigm)
• Amy Seimetz in Upstream Color (erbp)
• Shailene Woodley in The Spectacular Now (A24)
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director:
• Ryan Coogler for Fruitvale Station (The Weinstein Company)
• Adam Leon for Gimme the Loot (Sundance Selects)
• Alexandre Moors for Blue Caprice (Sundance Selects)
• Stacie Passon for Concussion (RADiUS-TWC)
• Amy Seimetz for Sun Don’t Shine (Factory 25)
Breakthrough Actor:
• Dane DeHaan in Kill Your Darlings (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Kathryn Hahn in Afternoon Delight (The Film Arcade and Cinedigm)
• Michael B. Jordan in Fruitvale Station (The Weinstein Company)
• Lupita Nyong’o in 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
• Robin Weigert in Concussion (RADiUS-TWC)
euphoria CK Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ grant:
• Afia Nathaniel, director, Dukhthar
• Gita Pullapilly, director, Beneath the Harvest Sky
• Deb Shoval, director, AWOl
Audience Award powered by Festival Genius
COMING SOON
Voted on by an independent film community of 230,000 film fans worldwide. To be eligible, a U.S. film must have won an audience award at one of the top 50 U.S. or Canadian film festivals from November 2012 through October 2012. Voting on the nominees closes November 24th, and the winner revealed at the Gotham Awards ceremony.
http://gotham.ifp.org
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Review: "Melinda and Melinda," Good Cast, Average Movie
Melinda and Melinda (2004)
Running time: 99 minutes (1 hour, 39 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for adult situations involving sexuality, and some substance material
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Woody Allen
PRODUCER: Letty Aronson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Vilmos Zsigmond
EDITOR: Alisa Lepselter
COMEDY/DRAMA
Starring: Radha Mitchell, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Will Ferrell, Amanda Peet, Jonny Lee Miller, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Carell, Josh Brolin, Vinessa Shaw, Daniel Sunjata, Geoffrey Nauffts, Wallace Shawn, Larry Pine, Stephanie Roth Haberle, and Neil Pepe
The subject of this movie review is Melinda and Melinda, a 2004 comedy and drama from writer/director Woody Allen. The film follows two alternating stories about a woman named Melinda’s attempts to straighten out her life. Fox Searchlight Pictures gave the film a limited release in the United States in March of 2005. Except for a cameo, Allen does not appear as a significant character in this film.
Over a meal at a restaurant, four friends, two of them playwrights, discuss the essence of life. Is it comic or tragic? One of them brings up a story he heard from friends about the unexpected arrival of young woman named Melinda (Radha Mitchell) at a dinner party. The two playwrights, one who writes tragedies and the other who composes hit comedies, take the incident with Melinda and embellish it, each from his point of view.
Max the Tragedian (Larry Pine) tells a story of doomed love with Melinda as a disturbed young woman who returns to New York City after having several years of misfortune and heartbreak. She was the bored housewife of a Midwestern doctor, and her affair with a photographer ended the marriage. Her ex-husband also took the children from Melinda, and her subsequent suicidal depression landed her straight-jacketed in a mental ward. She arrives at the home of her friend, Laurel (Chloë Sevigny), like Melinda a former Park Avenue princess, and Laurel’s husband, Lee (Jonny Lee Miller), a struggling actor and alcoholic. Melinda’s arrival hastens the disintegration of Laurel and Lee’s marriage, but Melinda meets Ellis Moonsong (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a smooth talking, handsome, and debonair composer. They strike up what looks like a promising romance until Ellis notices someone else…
Sy the Comedian (Wallace Shawn) looks at Melinda’s predicament as a romantic comedy. She is the childless downstairs neighbor of the dinner hosts, an ambitious indie filmmaker named Susan (Amanda Peet) and her husband, Hobie (Will Ferrell) an under-employed actor. Sy’s Melinda is also coming off a broken relationship, so Hobie befriends Melinda in an attempt to help her find a new love. However, Hobie falls for Melinda, but he has to suffer in silence when she unexpectedly starts dating an amiable and handsome broker (Daniel Sunjata). Thus, the film goes back and forth contrasting the fate of each Melinda.
Melinda and Melinda is a decent Woody Allen film, and it’s also a bit different from most of his pictures. For one thing, he only makes a cameo appearance in the opening sequence that most viewers will probably miss. However, Will Ferrell’s Hobie of the comedic half of Melinda and Melinda is the stand-in for the neurotic, smart-talking type Allen plays in his films. The tragic half of the film is quite engaging, but not overly dark and tragic, perhaps because the cast plays it so smoothly and low key. Mitchell gives a solid performance, and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dirty Pretty Things) plays Ellis Moonsong as a romantic figure, which lightens up a segment that plays heavily on the notion of doomed relationships.
On the other hand, Ferrell’s performance overwhelms Radha Mitchell’s in the comedic half of the film, and that’s not a bad thing. The romantic comic angle is mostly flat, and the romance isn’t engaging. The more Ferrell is on screen the more his comic timing and acting come forward and livens a dull segment into something mildly amusing and somewhat engaging.
Though I’m sad to admit it, I found Melinda and Melinda to be about an average film, sometimes even a chore to watch, and it would be an average film even if someone other than Woody Allen’s name were on it.
5 of 10
C+
Friday, January 13, 2006
Updated: Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Review: "Dirty Pretty Things" is a Pretty Movie Thing (Happy B'day, Chiwetel Ejiofor)
Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
- U.S. release in 2003
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United Kingdom
Running time: 97 minutes (1 hour, 37 minutes)
MPAA – R for sexual content, disturbing images and language
DIRECTOR: Stephen Frears
WRITER: Steven Knight
PRODUCERS: Robert Jones and Tracey Seaward
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Chris Menges
EDITOR: Mick Audsley
COMPOSER: Nathan Larson
Academy Award nominee
DRAMA/MYSTERY/THRILLER with elements of romance
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Audrey Tautou, Sergo López, Sophie Okonedo, Benedict Wong, and Zlatko Buric
The subject of this movie review is Dirty Pretty Things, a 2002 British thriller from director Stephen Frears. This drama about two illegal immigrants in London was released in the United States in 2003 and went on to earn an Oscar nomination.
In Stephen Frears’ wonderful Dirty Pretty Things, Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an illegal Nigerian immigrant, discovers the unsavory side of London life. He works at a posh London hotel that is especially popular with men who frequent prostitutes. Okwe stumbles across evidence of a bizarre murder committed in one of the hotel rooms – a human heart clogging up the commode. Okwe is also involved in an awkward relationship with his roommate, Senay (Audrey Tautou), a Turkish chambermaid who is also on shaky footing with immigration. Okwe’s discovery in the hotel room and his connection with Senay eventually collide, and the manner in which he resolves both problems is this film’s centerpiece.
Stephen Frears’ filmography is a wonderful collection of eccentric and quirky films that are more than surface peculiarity. Most are very good films, and a few a truly great, including this one. Frears’ weaves a picture show of palatable drama that is also a convincing romance (although a sad one), a riveting, gritty, urban drama and a mesmerizing tale of mystery and intrigue. He is however blessed with Steven Knight’s Academy Award-nominated script (“Best Original Screenplay”). Knight gives the film a solid plot that, instead of overwhelming the film, allows the story to expand beyond genre intrigue. His writing also gives the characters (another element that is strong in his script) the chance to play at being more just chess pieces in a thriller.
The cast gives outstanding performances, especially Chiwetel Ejiofor. Although Miramax’s marketing for the film’s U.S. release emphasized the ethereal, haunting beauty of Audrey Tautou and her melancholy character, Senay, this is Okwe’s story. Chiwetel is the foundation of this movie’s success, guiding and holding the film with his hypnotic and penetrating gaze and steady strength. He strides this production like a cowboy in a western epic, holding the dark forces at bay and saving the damsel in distress. All in all, Ejiofor highlights a fine film presentation in which all hands did top notch work. I heartily recommend Dirty Pretty Things.
9 of 10
A+
NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Steven Knight)
2003 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Tracey Seaward, Robert Jones, and Stephen Frears) and “Best Screenplay – Original” (Steven Knight)
2004 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Film: Best Actor” (Chiwetel Ejiofor)
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Review: "Inside Man" is Slick Entertainment, Nothing More (Happy B'day, Spike Lee)
Inside Man (2006)
Running time: 128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and some violent images
DIRECTOR: Spike Lee
WRITER: Russell Gewirtz
PRODUCER: Brian Grazer
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew Libatique (director of photography)
EDITOR: Barry Alexander Brown
COMPOSER: Terrence Blanchard
DRAMA/CRIME with elements of a thriller
Starring: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Carlos Andrés Gómez, Kim Director, James Ransone, Bernard Rachelle, Peter Gerety, Victor Colicchio, and Cassandra Freeman
Inside Man is a 2006 crime drama from director Spike Lee. Lee was basically a director-for-hire of this story of a peculiar bank heist, which was originally going to be directed by Ron Howard.
Four people dressed in painters outfits march into the Manhattan Trust Bank and take 50 customers and employees hostage, and then put the bank under a surgically planned siege. Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) and Detective Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are dispatched to the seemingly airtight heist by their precinct captain, with Frazier acting as the hostage negotiator. Frazier is hopeful of resolving the situation quickly, but Dalton Russell (Clive Owen), the bank robbers’ leader, is exceedingly clever, uncannily calm, and totally in command. Not only does he manage to disorient his hostages, but he’s also managing to confuse the police and stall for time.
Meanwhile, the bank’s chairman of the board of directors (ostensibly the owner), Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer), has used his vast and considerable political connections to arrange a meeting between Madeline White (Jodie Foster), a shadowy power player, and Russell – much to the chagrin of Detective Frazier. White is vague with Frazier about what she and Russell discuss during their brief meeting, but it seems as if looting a bank full of money isn’t Russell’s only objective. Detective Frazier needs to unravel this puzzle though, because he’s running out of time to keep this standoff from turning ugly and bloody for both hostages and hostage takers. The police high command is about to unleash Emergency Services Unit (ESU) Captain John Darius (Willem Dafoe) and his tactical unit to go in and settle the situation – to kill if necessary - and Frazier still isn’t sure just who is pulling the invisible strings of this strange case.
Inside Man may be Spike Lee’s most purely enjoyable film to date, being that it is almost totally free of his usual political drama and social commentary. The film is clever and Spike expertly extracts the unexpected turns and labyrinthine twists of writer Russell Gewirtz’s script. Lee adds the big time gloss to Gewirtz’s screenplay, his first produced for the big screen (He’d previously written for the late ABC TV series “Blind Justice.”). Lee makes the plot’s crafty tricks practical for a movie aimed at a broad audience.
Gewirtz’s script is rife with good characters, but it is obviously up to the director to set the tone and the actors to create by giving flesh to the concepts. There’s a natural humor to the characters, especially in their dialogue, and Lee allows that to play out, which brings the right amount of levity to this crime drama – a nice touch since this bank heist/hostage situation really isn’t about blood, guts, and guns. Lee also makes the most of the match of wits or chess game between Clive Owen’s Dalton Russell and Denzel Washington’s Keith Frazier.
This is the fourth collaboration between Spike and Denzel, after Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, and He Got Game. Lee also seems familiar with Clive Owen, as he comfortable taps into Owen’s understated air of menace – the charming rogue. Jodie Foster makes the most of her part and creates an adversary that engages the audience as much as she engages the other characters. Foster’s Madeline White is a charming reptile; like the actress, the character has a natural intelligence that is obvious the first time someone meets her, but Foster adds the twist of making Madeline the perfect trouble-shooting witch.
Still, Inside Man is a bit too clever for its own good. Gewirtz never really taps into the raw emotional power of the devastating secret at the heart of his heist story, and Lee seems more in love with the shiny bauble the plot is, with all its unexpected shifts and revelations in the narrative, than he is with the consequences of malfeasance and with genuine evil. As a police procedural and heist film, Inside Man is as crafty as its colorful cast of cunning and wily characters makes it, and that’s craftiness by the carload – enough to keep your mind fighting with the puzzle for just about all of this film. The last 20 minutes or so of Inside Man is a bit of a stumble, as the filmmakers avoid the meat of an ugly subject matter, but getting to the end was still fun to watch.
Once upon a time – not that long ago – Spike would have readily ignored the genre aspects of this story in favor of tackling the issues of bigotry, public corruption, and appalling evil this story raises. Oh, well. At least he proved that he can be a very capable director-for-hire.
6 of 10
B
Thursday, June 15, 2006
NOTES:
2007 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Best Director” (Spike Lee); 3 nominations: “Best Actor” (Denzel Washington), “Best Film” (Brian Grazer and Jonathan Filley), “Best Original Score” (Terence Blanchard)
2007 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Directing in a Feature Film/Television Movie - Comedy or Drama” (Spike Lee); 1 nomination: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Denzel Washington)
MPAA – R for language and some violent images
DIRECTOR: Spike Lee
WRITER: Russell Gewirtz
PRODUCER: Brian Grazer
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew Libatique (director of photography)
EDITOR: Barry Alexander Brown
COMPOSER: Terrence Blanchard
DRAMA/CRIME with elements of a thriller
Starring: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Carlos Andrés Gómez, Kim Director, James Ransone, Bernard Rachelle, Peter Gerety, Victor Colicchio, and Cassandra Freeman
Inside Man is a 2006 crime drama from director Spike Lee. Lee was basically a director-for-hire of this story of a peculiar bank heist, which was originally going to be directed by Ron Howard.
Four people dressed in painters outfits march into the Manhattan Trust Bank and take 50 customers and employees hostage, and then put the bank under a surgically planned siege. Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) and Detective Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are dispatched to the seemingly airtight heist by their precinct captain, with Frazier acting as the hostage negotiator. Frazier is hopeful of resolving the situation quickly, but Dalton Russell (Clive Owen), the bank robbers’ leader, is exceedingly clever, uncannily calm, and totally in command. Not only does he manage to disorient his hostages, but he’s also managing to confuse the police and stall for time.
Meanwhile, the bank’s chairman of the board of directors (ostensibly the owner), Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer), has used his vast and considerable political connections to arrange a meeting between Madeline White (Jodie Foster), a shadowy power player, and Russell – much to the chagrin of Detective Frazier. White is vague with Frazier about what she and Russell discuss during their brief meeting, but it seems as if looting a bank full of money isn’t Russell’s only objective. Detective Frazier needs to unravel this puzzle though, because he’s running out of time to keep this standoff from turning ugly and bloody for both hostages and hostage takers. The police high command is about to unleash Emergency Services Unit (ESU) Captain John Darius (Willem Dafoe) and his tactical unit to go in and settle the situation – to kill if necessary - and Frazier still isn’t sure just who is pulling the invisible strings of this strange case.
Inside Man may be Spike Lee’s most purely enjoyable film to date, being that it is almost totally free of his usual political drama and social commentary. The film is clever and Spike expertly extracts the unexpected turns and labyrinthine twists of writer Russell Gewirtz’s script. Lee adds the big time gloss to Gewirtz’s screenplay, his first produced for the big screen (He’d previously written for the late ABC TV series “Blind Justice.”). Lee makes the plot’s crafty tricks practical for a movie aimed at a broad audience.
Gewirtz’s script is rife with good characters, but it is obviously up to the director to set the tone and the actors to create by giving flesh to the concepts. There’s a natural humor to the characters, especially in their dialogue, and Lee allows that to play out, which brings the right amount of levity to this crime drama – a nice touch since this bank heist/hostage situation really isn’t about blood, guts, and guns. Lee also makes the most of the match of wits or chess game between Clive Owen’s Dalton Russell and Denzel Washington’s Keith Frazier.
This is the fourth collaboration between Spike and Denzel, after Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, and He Got Game. Lee also seems familiar with Clive Owen, as he comfortable taps into Owen’s understated air of menace – the charming rogue. Jodie Foster makes the most of her part and creates an adversary that engages the audience as much as she engages the other characters. Foster’s Madeline White is a charming reptile; like the actress, the character has a natural intelligence that is obvious the first time someone meets her, but Foster adds the twist of making Madeline the perfect trouble-shooting witch.
Still, Inside Man is a bit too clever for its own good. Gewirtz never really taps into the raw emotional power of the devastating secret at the heart of his heist story, and Lee seems more in love with the shiny bauble the plot is, with all its unexpected shifts and revelations in the narrative, than he is with the consequences of malfeasance and with genuine evil. As a police procedural and heist film, Inside Man is as crafty as its colorful cast of cunning and wily characters makes it, and that’s craftiness by the carload – enough to keep your mind fighting with the puzzle for just about all of this film. The last 20 minutes or so of Inside Man is a bit of a stumble, as the filmmakers avoid the meat of an ugly subject matter, but getting to the end was still fun to watch.
Once upon a time – not that long ago – Spike would have readily ignored the genre aspects of this story in favor of tackling the issues of bigotry, public corruption, and appalling evil this story raises. Oh, well. At least he proved that he can be a very capable director-for-hire.
6 of 10
B
Thursday, June 15, 2006
NOTES:
2007 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Best Director” (Spike Lee); 3 nominations: “Best Actor” (Denzel Washington), “Best Film” (Brian Grazer and Jonathan Filley), “Best Original Score” (Terence Blanchard)
2007 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Directing in a Feature Film/Television Movie - Comedy or Drama” (Spike Lee); 1 nomination: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Denzel Washington)
-------------------------
Friday, September 23, 2011
Review: John Singleton Shepherds "Four Brothers"
Four Brothers (2005)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence, pervasive language, and some sexual content
DIRECTOR: John Singleton
WRITERS: David Elliot & Paul Lovett
PRODUCER: Lorenzo De Bonaventura
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Menzier, Jr. A.C.S.
EDITOR: Bruce Cannon, A.C.E. and Billy Fox, A.C.E.
DRAMA/ACTION/CRIME/MYSTERY
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, André Benjamin, Garrett Hedlund, Terrence Howard, Josh Charles, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sofia Vergara, Fionnula Flanagan, Taraji P. Henson, Barry Shabaka Henley, and Jernard Burks
The Mercer Brothers – hotheaded ex-con Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), ladies’ man Angel (Tyrese Gibson), family man and businessman Jeremiah (André Benjamin), and rock musician Jack (Garrett Hedlund) – return to the mean streets of Detroit after their adoptive mother Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan) is murdered during the holdup of a corner grocery store. They take the matter of her murder into their own hands in spite of assurances from police Lt. Green (Terrence Howard) and Detective Fowler (Josh Charles) that they are working on the case.
Soon the Mercer boys realize that their mother’s death wasn’t just the tragic result of a simple store holdup. Bobby and Angel use their rough old ways of handling business to track their mother’s killers, but these aren’t the same Detroit neighborhoods they left and their old ways have new consequences. Whatever the result of their own private investigation, the Mercer brothers discover that their brotherly bonds, first forged by adoption, are as thick as those of brothers by birth.
I expected John Singleton’s new film, Four Brothers, to be a very well made action drama, but it turned out to be one of the best films I have seen thus far this year. It has the cool intensity of a 70’s action movie or blaxtiploitation film. While Four Brothers is certainly a straight genre piece, it is also a character-driven film with a lot of action and drama. First credit should go to the script by screenwriters David Elliot & Paul Lovett, long time collaborators. They not only pounded on story structure, but they made very engaging characters out of the protagonists for the most part.
The villains, however, come out on the short end. Some are very interesting, like Chwetel Ejiofor’s Victor Sweet, but in the end he emerges as nothing more than a really evil dude; there’s no The Godfather-like examination of evil here. All the “bad guys” seem to be interesting characters worth developing, but the script never gets that far. That’s one of the things here that keeps Four Brothers just short of being a truly great film.
On the other hand, Singleton’s intense, block-by-block building of this film’s narrative and the frenetic pace he gives it glosses over any script and performance shortcomings (I found Fionnula Flanagan’s Evelyn Mercer to be as creepy as she was sympathetic.), and John Singleton’s masterful directorial performance makes Four Brothers as good as the kind of memorable crime films like Out of Sight. Four Brothers doesn’t miss a beat, and this is one of the year’s best directing jobs.
The four leads really drive this film. All are good: Andre Benjamin, known to many as Andre 3000 of the Grammy-winning musical act OutKast, is a natural acting talent, and here, he doesn’t come across like a fish out of water as is the problem with so many something-else’s-turned-actor. Garrett Hedlund, barely out of high school when he captured the juicy role of Patroclus opposite Brad Pitt’s Achilles in Troy (a film by Wolfgang Peterson), comes across as an affable and energetic co-star. He’s sort of the odd-man-out, but he makes do with the lesser part the story hands him.
The driving force of the brotherly quartet is Mark Wahlberg and Tyrese Gibson. Wahlberg is a very good actor who is rushing towards greatness. He’s a movie star, and his presence can make you want to see the movies in which he stars, regardless of genre. He’s got Hollywood star cool, yet there is a bit of an edge to him – part tough guy, but loner/rebel. Hey, it works on the big screen. Who’d a thunk it? Tyrese Gibson is a damn good actor, and has movie star appeal. He’s the other piece in a matching set with Wahlberg, being every bit the handsome tough guy, but with a bit of softie in him. In this film, he doesn’t come across at all as a supporting player. He plays Angel Mercer so naturally that you’d think he’d been doing the acting thing for at least twice as long as he actually has.
The cast, writers, directors, and crew come together to make this urban action/exploitation film into the consummate gritty Hollywood action drama. Four Brothers might come across at first glance as junk, but it’s really a hamburger recipe turned into a fine steak. Enjoy it on the big screen or make a must-keep date for it on home video and DVD.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2006 Black Reel Awards: 4 nominations: “Black Reel Best Director” (John Singleton), “Best Ensemble” (André Benjamin, Tyrese Gibson, Mark Wahlberg, Sofía Vergara, Garrett Hedlund, Terrence Howard, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Taraji P. Henson), “Best Film,” and “Best Original Soundtrack”
2006 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Directing in a Feature Film/Television Movie” (John Singleton)
----------------------------
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Review: Ejiofor Wears "Kinky Boots" Quite Well (Happy B'day, Chiwetel Ejiofor)
Kinky Boots (2005)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for thematic material involving sexuality and for language
DIRECTOR: Julian Jarrold
WRITERS: Geoff Deane and Tim Firth
PRODUCERS: Nick Barton, Peter Ettedgui, and Suzanne Mackie
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eigil Bryld
EDITOR: Emma E. Hickox
COMEDY/DRAMA/MUSIC
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sarah-Jane Potts, Nick Frost, Linda Bassett, Jemima Rooper, Robert Pugh, Ewan Hooper, and Stephen Marcus
After inheriting the family business, Charlie Price (Joel Edgerton) becomes the fourth generation head of Price and Sons, Ltd., a shoe making company in Northhampton, England. Charlie had other plans – primarily working in London and marrying his fiancé, Nicola Marsden (Jemima Rooper). However, he feels obligated to keep the factory running, but his late father left the business financially insecure. It doesn’t help that the current English footwear market is dominated by cheap imports from Eastern Europe and elsewhere.
When he meets Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a cabaret singer and drag queen in London, Charlie gets the idea of turning Price and Sons into a factory that produces women’s boots that men can wear – kinky boots, and he hires the sassy Lola to design this racy line of boots. However, Lola finds both the factory and Northhampton a difficult fit for him. And on the eve of their trip to Italy for the Milan Shoe Fair, everything starts to fall apart for Charlie.
Inspired by the true story of a traditional men’s footwear factory in Northhamptonshire that turned to making kinky boots for transvestites, Kinky Boots is the kind of British movie in the vein of The Full Monty or Billy Elliot – British indie films that occasionally capture the fancy of American audiences, even the kinds of audiences that normally don’t bother with American independent films. Mixing comedy and drama or pathos and joy, Kinky Boots is basically a feel good movie. The direction isn’t distinctive, but it’s good, and the writing nicely dramatizes what must have been a long, drawn out, and occasionally painful process in real life. None of the characters or actors really stand out… except one.
Since his first leading role in 2002’s Dirty Pretty Things (released in the U.S. in 2003), Chiwetel Ejiofor has worked steadily, proving that he is a gifted actor, in a number of diverse roles and for an eclectic list of directors including Woody Allen (Melinda and Melinda) and Spike Lee (Inside Man). As the drag queen Lola, Ejiofor takes a character that has in recent times become a feel good flick stereotype – the drag queen. He tosses out the drag queen’s cinematic baggage and ignores what other actors have done and goes directly to the character. Ejiofor shows us who Lola truly is, even if it takes us a while to get it, and he does it singing up a storm with joy and gusto.
In one pivotal scene near the end of the film, Edgerton’s Price makes the kind of speech to Lola that, had it been in another film, was meant to change Lola. However, it is Price who needs to prove his mettle, Lola knows who she is because Ejiofor makes it that way. Kinky Boots may not be great, but Ejiofor gives a great performance – the kind that words alone fail to describe. You have to see the man.
6 of 10
B
Saturday, September 9, 2006
----------------------
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Review: Angelina Jolie's "Salt" is Good For You
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux
Salt (2010)
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action
DIRECTOR: Phillip Noyce
WRITER: Kurt Wimmer
PRODUCERS: Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Sunil Perkash
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Elswit
EDITOR: Stuart Baird, John Gilroy, and Steven Kemper
COMPOSER: James Newton Howard
Academy Award nominee
ACTION/THRILLER
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski, August Diehl, Hunt Block, Andre Braugher, and Olek Krupa
Written by Kurt Wimmer, the writer/director of the film Equilibrium, Salt was originally about a male character named “Edwin A. Salt,” and Tom Cruise initially wanted to play the character. A little more than half a decade later, the character became a woman, now played by Angelina Jolie. The resultant film is, in the hands of the supremely skilled director, Philip Noyce, one of 2010’s best movies.
Salt focuses on Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie), a CIA agent recently released from a North Korean prison. Salt’s plans to celebrate her wedding anniversary with her husband, arachnologist Michael Krause (August Diehl), is interrupted by a sudden turn of events at the CIA. Vassily Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski), a Russian defector, arrives with shocking secrets. During Salt’s interrogation of him, Orlov reveals details about “Day X,” a Russian plot to destroy the United States by using highly-trained, English-speaking, Russian sleeper agents. And Orlov claims that Salt is one of those sleeper agents.
Suddenly, a rogue CIA agent, Salt is on the run, and she uses every tactic, accent, and disguise she knows to elude her pursuers, clear her name, and find her now-missing husband. Her CIA supervisor, Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber), believes that she may not be an enemy, but U.S. counter-intelligence agent, Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor), absolutely believes that Salt is an enemy. To save herself, however, Salt may end up doing the very things Orlov said she would.
Salt has two stellar supporting actors in the talented Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who both deliver their usual good work in this film. Outside of Asian cinema, no one is capable of delivering terrific work in both dramatic films and action movies the way Angelina Jolie does. Jolie makes Evelyn Salt the kind of secret agent/spy who is every bit the man James Bond or Jason Bourne is.
Salt is a magnificent CIA/spy film, however, because of the work of director Phillip Noyce (Dead Calm, Clear and Present Danger). The Australian director is a master of the thriller: action thriller, historical thriller, political thriller, social thriller, suspense thriller, and thriller thriller. From the beginning of Salt, it was as if Noyce threw a rope around me and dragged me along for a ride, and what a great ride Salt was. Its action is so visceral and its narrative so visually powerful that you might choose to ignore the set pieces that seem way, way farfetched. I can find very little about which to complain or criticize.
At times, Salt is like a comic book superhero story, and it occasionally seems as much a fantasy as it is a CIA thriller. Noyce took his more-than-capable dramatic action star, Angelina Jolie, and spun what will hopefully be the beginning of a beautiful new spy thriller franchise.
8 of 10
A
NOTE:
2011 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Jeffrey J. Haboush, William Sarokin, Scott Millan, and Greg P. Russell)
Salt (2010)
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action
DIRECTOR: Phillip Noyce
WRITER: Kurt Wimmer
PRODUCERS: Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Sunil Perkash
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Elswit
EDITOR: Stuart Baird, John Gilroy, and Steven Kemper
COMPOSER: James Newton Howard
Academy Award nominee
ACTION/THRILLER
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski, August Diehl, Hunt Block, Andre Braugher, and Olek Krupa
Written by Kurt Wimmer, the writer/director of the film Equilibrium, Salt was originally about a male character named “Edwin A. Salt,” and Tom Cruise initially wanted to play the character. A little more than half a decade later, the character became a woman, now played by Angelina Jolie. The resultant film is, in the hands of the supremely skilled director, Philip Noyce, one of 2010’s best movies.
Salt focuses on Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie), a CIA agent recently released from a North Korean prison. Salt’s plans to celebrate her wedding anniversary with her husband, arachnologist Michael Krause (August Diehl), is interrupted by a sudden turn of events at the CIA. Vassily Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski), a Russian defector, arrives with shocking secrets. During Salt’s interrogation of him, Orlov reveals details about “Day X,” a Russian plot to destroy the United States by using highly-trained, English-speaking, Russian sleeper agents. And Orlov claims that Salt is one of those sleeper agents.
Suddenly, a rogue CIA agent, Salt is on the run, and she uses every tactic, accent, and disguise she knows to elude her pursuers, clear her name, and find her now-missing husband. Her CIA supervisor, Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber), believes that she may not be an enemy, but U.S. counter-intelligence agent, Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor), absolutely believes that Salt is an enemy. To save herself, however, Salt may end up doing the very things Orlov said she would.
Salt has two stellar supporting actors in the talented Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who both deliver their usual good work in this film. Outside of Asian cinema, no one is capable of delivering terrific work in both dramatic films and action movies the way Angelina Jolie does. Jolie makes Evelyn Salt the kind of secret agent/spy who is every bit the man James Bond or Jason Bourne is.
Salt is a magnificent CIA/spy film, however, because of the work of director Phillip Noyce (Dead Calm, Clear and Present Danger). The Australian director is a master of the thriller: action thriller, historical thriller, political thriller, social thriller, suspense thriller, and thriller thriller. From the beginning of Salt, it was as if Noyce threw a rope around me and dragged me along for a ride, and what a great ride Salt was. Its action is so visceral and its narrative so visually powerful that you might choose to ignore the set pieces that seem way, way farfetched. I can find very little about which to complain or criticize.
At times, Salt is like a comic book superhero story, and it occasionally seems as much a fantasy as it is a CIA thriller. Noyce took his more-than-capable dramatic action star, Angelina Jolie, and spun what will hopefully be the beginning of a beautiful new spy thriller franchise.
8 of 10
A
NOTE:
2011 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Jeffrey J. Haboush, William Sarokin, Scott Millan, and Greg P. Russell)
----------------------------
Friday, December 24, 2010
Review: "American Gangster" is Gangsta, Though it Falls Short of Greatness
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 28 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux
American Gangster (2007)
Running time: 157 minutes (2 hours, 37 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence, pervasive drug content and language, nudity, and sexuality
DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott
WRITER: Steven Zallian (based upon the article “The Return of Superfly” by Mark Jacobson)
PRODUCERS: Brian Grazer and Ridley Scott
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Harris Savides (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Pietro Scalia
2007 Academy Award nominee
CRIME/DRAMA
Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin, Lymari Nadal, Ted Levine, Roger Guenveur Smith, John Hawkes, RZA, Ruby Dee, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Carla Gugino, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Armand Assante, Idris Elba, Common, Warner Miller, Albert Jones, J. Kyle Manzay, T.I., and Clarence Williams III
In the late 80’s, a critic (I don’t remember whom) said, in reference to Joel and Ethan Coen’s Miller’s Crossing, that every American director who wanted to achieve greatness had to make at least one epic crime film (like The Godfather or Mean Streets). Ridley Scott was born in Great Britain, but the majority of his work has been for American movie studios. It seems only right that, in the tradition of great crime movies by such uniquely American filmmakers as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorcese, Scott tackle a great American crime story. Scott’s Oscar-nominated 2007 film, American Gangster, chronicles the rise of Frank Lucas, the real-life Harlem drug kingpin who left segregated North Carolina and eventually started a heroin ring in the late 1960’s that netted him over a quarter of a billion dollars in assets by the time he was brought down.
After the death of his mentor, Elsworth “Bumpy” Johnson (Clarence Williams III), Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) slowly, but gradually takes his place, building an international heroin ring that begins in Asia’s Golden Triangle. With the help of his cousin, a military officer named Nate (Roger Guenveur Smith), Lucas smuggles the heroin through the military back to the east coast of the U.S. Under the name, “Blue Magic,” Lucas sells a product that is twice as pure as other heroin on the street, but at half the price.
Meanwhile, Detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), a New Jersey police detective, is finding that his unwillingness to steal money and drugs like many of his crooked colleagues has made him an outcast. His fortunes change when he’s pegged to start his own special investigative unit that will focus not on small time dealers, but on the major players, which puts Frank Lucas squarely in his sights. However, Roberts’ shadowy hunt might land him more than just another crime boss.
American Gangster is an engrossing story that is smoothly and efficiently told, considering that its epic scope seems too large for a single film that runs under three hours. [American Gangster’s DVD release has a longer version of the film.] As well told as this film is, it seems to be missing a lot, thus, making it seem like a shadow version of classic 70’s crime dramas that are also set in the gritty, crime-ridden metropolis that was New York City then. This is certainly a juicy period piece, in which everything: the clothes, cars, sets, and furnishings feel like the 1970’s. Even the members of the cast seem caught in a malaise of poverty, crime, and corruption, as if they were caught in a 70’s time warp.
Still, although the mood is right, the heart of this movie is the duel between Washington’s Lucas and Crowe’s Roberts, and much of that is relegated to the film’s last half hour. Ridley Scott and his screenwriter, Oscar winner Steve Zallian (Schindler’s List), certainly create an engaging story chronicling both Lucas’ rise and Roberts’ reinvention of himself and resurrection of his career. Washington plays Lucas as if he were a cool big cat, a predator stalking the room – seen and unseen. He’s the smartest guy in the room and the most dangerous man among many bad men, because Lucas knows when to use violence and how much. Like many of Washington’s performances, it is a blast to behold and so good because he gives so many layers to Lucas – many of which we only glimpse. Crowe reveals Roberts to be a man of honor and integrity in his professional life, but woefully pathetic in his personal life. In that way, Crowe keeps Roberts as interesting as the alluring bad guy, Lucas. That we know Roberts is so pathetic as a family man balances the Boy Scout cop side of him – which by itself is not entirely interesting.
This film is ultimately missing the meat of the confrontation and larger relationship between these two men. American Gangster, Scott’s film, is mostly about Lucas building his empire, and that story is attractive. However, a complete story about a great gangster recounts both his rise in the criminal underworld and his fall at the hands of a determined lawman (or men). American Gangster is a fine film, but it shorts us on the epic battle between criminal and detective and thus, shorts itself of greatness.
7 of 10
B+
NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Achievement in Art Direction” (Arthur Max-art director and Beth A. Rubino-set decorator) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Ruby Dee)
2008 BAFTA Awards: 5 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (Harris Savides), “Best Editing” (Pietro Scalia), “Best Film” (Brian Grazer and Ridley Scott), “Best Music” (Marc Streitenfeld), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Steven Zaillian)
2008 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Ridley Scott), “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Denzel Washington)
Sunday, June 01, 2008
American Gangster (2007)
Running time: 157 minutes (2 hours, 37 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence, pervasive drug content and language, nudity, and sexuality
DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott
WRITER: Steven Zallian (based upon the article “The Return of Superfly” by Mark Jacobson)
PRODUCERS: Brian Grazer and Ridley Scott
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Harris Savides (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Pietro Scalia
2007 Academy Award nominee
CRIME/DRAMA
Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin, Lymari Nadal, Ted Levine, Roger Guenveur Smith, John Hawkes, RZA, Ruby Dee, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Carla Gugino, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Armand Assante, Idris Elba, Common, Warner Miller, Albert Jones, J. Kyle Manzay, T.I., and Clarence Williams III
In the late 80’s, a critic (I don’t remember whom) said, in reference to Joel and Ethan Coen’s Miller’s Crossing, that every American director who wanted to achieve greatness had to make at least one epic crime film (like The Godfather or Mean Streets). Ridley Scott was born in Great Britain, but the majority of his work has been for American movie studios. It seems only right that, in the tradition of great crime movies by such uniquely American filmmakers as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorcese, Scott tackle a great American crime story. Scott’s Oscar-nominated 2007 film, American Gangster, chronicles the rise of Frank Lucas, the real-life Harlem drug kingpin who left segregated North Carolina and eventually started a heroin ring in the late 1960’s that netted him over a quarter of a billion dollars in assets by the time he was brought down.
After the death of his mentor, Elsworth “Bumpy” Johnson (Clarence Williams III), Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) slowly, but gradually takes his place, building an international heroin ring that begins in Asia’s Golden Triangle. With the help of his cousin, a military officer named Nate (Roger Guenveur Smith), Lucas smuggles the heroin through the military back to the east coast of the U.S. Under the name, “Blue Magic,” Lucas sells a product that is twice as pure as other heroin on the street, but at half the price.
Meanwhile, Detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), a New Jersey police detective, is finding that his unwillingness to steal money and drugs like many of his crooked colleagues has made him an outcast. His fortunes change when he’s pegged to start his own special investigative unit that will focus not on small time dealers, but on the major players, which puts Frank Lucas squarely in his sights. However, Roberts’ shadowy hunt might land him more than just another crime boss.
American Gangster is an engrossing story that is smoothly and efficiently told, considering that its epic scope seems too large for a single film that runs under three hours. [American Gangster’s DVD release has a longer version of the film.] As well told as this film is, it seems to be missing a lot, thus, making it seem like a shadow version of classic 70’s crime dramas that are also set in the gritty, crime-ridden metropolis that was New York City then. This is certainly a juicy period piece, in which everything: the clothes, cars, sets, and furnishings feel like the 1970’s. Even the members of the cast seem caught in a malaise of poverty, crime, and corruption, as if they were caught in a 70’s time warp.
Still, although the mood is right, the heart of this movie is the duel between Washington’s Lucas and Crowe’s Roberts, and much of that is relegated to the film’s last half hour. Ridley Scott and his screenwriter, Oscar winner Steve Zallian (Schindler’s List), certainly create an engaging story chronicling both Lucas’ rise and Roberts’ reinvention of himself and resurrection of his career. Washington plays Lucas as if he were a cool big cat, a predator stalking the room – seen and unseen. He’s the smartest guy in the room and the most dangerous man among many bad men, because Lucas knows when to use violence and how much. Like many of Washington’s performances, it is a blast to behold and so good because he gives so many layers to Lucas – many of which we only glimpse. Crowe reveals Roberts to be a man of honor and integrity in his professional life, but woefully pathetic in his personal life. In that way, Crowe keeps Roberts as interesting as the alluring bad guy, Lucas. That we know Roberts is so pathetic as a family man balances the Boy Scout cop side of him – which by itself is not entirely interesting.
This film is ultimately missing the meat of the confrontation and larger relationship between these two men. American Gangster, Scott’s film, is mostly about Lucas building his empire, and that story is attractive. However, a complete story about a great gangster recounts both his rise in the criminal underworld and his fall at the hands of a determined lawman (or men). American Gangster is a fine film, but it shorts us on the epic battle between criminal and detective and thus, shorts itself of greatness.
7 of 10
B+
NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Achievement in Art Direction” (Arthur Max-art director and Beth A. Rubino-set decorator) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Ruby Dee)
2008 BAFTA Awards: 5 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (Harris Savides), “Best Editing” (Pietro Scalia), “Best Film” (Brian Grazer and Ridley Scott), “Best Music” (Marc Streitenfeld), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Steven Zaillian)
2008 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Ridley Scott), “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Denzel Washington)
Sunday, June 01, 2008
-----------------------
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Review: "Children of Men" is a Great Science Fiction Film (Happy B'Day, Alfonso Cuaron)
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 9 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux
Children of Men (2006)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence, language, some drug use, and brief nudity
DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuarón
WRITERS: Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (based upon the book The Children of Men by P.D. James)
PRODUCERS: Marc Abraham, Eric Newman, Hilary Shor, Tony Smith and Iain Smith
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Emmanuel Lubezki, A.S.C., A.M.C.
EDITORS: Alex Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón
Academy Award nominee
SCI-FI/DRAMA/THRILLER/WAR
Starring: Clive Owen, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, Danny Huston, Peter Mullan, and Pam Ferris
It’s London, 2027, and Theo (Clive Owen) is just trying to get by, working as a bureaucrat who lives in a state of numbness. The world has changed so much since he was an idealistic young activist. Hope for the future is dying because it has been almost 19 years since the last baby was born. Most nations have fallen apart as people embrace separatism and descend into nihilism and lawlessness. To survive the ever-increasing internal strife, terror attacks, and tremendous influx of desperate refugees, Great Britain embraces militaristic imperialism. The government has been moving the refugees – called “fugees” – into detainment camps for deportation.
Meanwhile, Theo is content to visit his old friend, Jasper (Michael Caine, looking surprisingly fresh in a shock of long white hair) at his secluded home in the remote countryside away from London, but suddenly, Theo’s ex-wife, Julian (Julianne Moore), is back in his life. The leader of the Fishes, a covert group fighting for immigration rights, she needs Theo to obtain transit papers for a young woman named Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), whom Julian wants to move out of the country. Theo suddenly finds himself deep into Julian’s covert operations when disaster befalls them all, and Theo learns that Kee is eight-months pregnant. Suddenly, Theo and Kee are in a desperate race, avoiding friend and foe, in an attempt to get Kee to safety and maybe save the future of mankind.
Children of Men may very well be the best speculative science fiction film to come around in ages. With its relentlessly bleak view of the future, it is one of the scariest dystopian films to come along in while. Since this future is certainly plausible, Children of Men is one of the few sci-fi films of the last few decades with that favor the grit of realism rather than the flashy gleam of such science fiction stalwarts as aliens and time travel.
Director Alfonso Cuarón (Y tu mamá tambíen and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and his creative staff, in particular cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and production designers, Geoffrey Kirkland and Jim Clay, focus on keeping Children of Men from being so way out there in the future (Blade Runner) or almost supernatural (The Matrix) that the audience is not only riveted, but can’t ignore a story that one could mark on a calendar as likely to occur soon. Cuarón goes full steam ahead mixing art, politics, and entertainment. Almost from the early moments of the film, it is hard to separate the film. I found myself entertained at the highest level, while being impressed with Children of Men as high art, but at the same time, I couldn’t ignore the politics. Cuarón makes England look like the ruined version of present-day Iraq that I see every day on the news. It’s so much to take in, and Cuarón has the film hit the ground running with the kind of wild ride that popcorn action movies provide. Children of Men, however, is a gourmet film meal with the kick of a Memphis (or Texas) barbeque event action movie.
There are good performances all around. Although Julianne Moore and Michael Caine share top billing with Clive Owen, the star couple is Owen and newcomer Clare-Hope Ashitey. They have the kind of screen chemistry that directors would almost sell their souls for in order to have it for the leads in their films. Owen and Ashitey with unyielding subtlety, quiet determination, and simmering intensity give Children of Men its spiritual hook. Together, they make sure that this political sci-fi, New Testament allegory closes as it should, and Alfonso Cuarón has chosen a grim and dour scenario and executed it with breathtaking technique. Children of Men is an undeniably entertaining art film and artfully entertaining movie that would make the short list of best pictures in any year.
10 of 10
Friday, January 12, 2007
NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Emmanuel Lubezki), “Best Achievement in Editing” (Alfonso Cuarón and Alex Rodríguez) and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby)
2007 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Cinematography” (Emmanuel Lubezki) and “Best Production Design” (Geoffrey Kirkland, Jim Clay, and Jennifer Williams); 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Frazer Churchill, Timothy Webber, Mike Eames, and Paul Corbould
2007 Black Reel Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Supporting Actor” (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and “Best Supporting Actress” (Clare-Hope Ashitey)
Children of Men (2006)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence, language, some drug use, and brief nudity
DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuarón
WRITERS: Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (based upon the book The Children of Men by P.D. James)
PRODUCERS: Marc Abraham, Eric Newman, Hilary Shor, Tony Smith and Iain Smith
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Emmanuel Lubezki, A.S.C., A.M.C.
EDITORS: Alex Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón
Academy Award nominee
SCI-FI/DRAMA/THRILLER/WAR
Starring: Clive Owen, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, Danny Huston, Peter Mullan, and Pam Ferris
It’s London, 2027, and Theo (Clive Owen) is just trying to get by, working as a bureaucrat who lives in a state of numbness. The world has changed so much since he was an idealistic young activist. Hope for the future is dying because it has been almost 19 years since the last baby was born. Most nations have fallen apart as people embrace separatism and descend into nihilism and lawlessness. To survive the ever-increasing internal strife, terror attacks, and tremendous influx of desperate refugees, Great Britain embraces militaristic imperialism. The government has been moving the refugees – called “fugees” – into detainment camps for deportation.
Meanwhile, Theo is content to visit his old friend, Jasper (Michael Caine, looking surprisingly fresh in a shock of long white hair) at his secluded home in the remote countryside away from London, but suddenly, Theo’s ex-wife, Julian (Julianne Moore), is back in his life. The leader of the Fishes, a covert group fighting for immigration rights, she needs Theo to obtain transit papers for a young woman named Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), whom Julian wants to move out of the country. Theo suddenly finds himself deep into Julian’s covert operations when disaster befalls them all, and Theo learns that Kee is eight-months pregnant. Suddenly, Theo and Kee are in a desperate race, avoiding friend and foe, in an attempt to get Kee to safety and maybe save the future of mankind.
Children of Men may very well be the best speculative science fiction film to come around in ages. With its relentlessly bleak view of the future, it is one of the scariest dystopian films to come along in while. Since this future is certainly plausible, Children of Men is one of the few sci-fi films of the last few decades with that favor the grit of realism rather than the flashy gleam of such science fiction stalwarts as aliens and time travel.
Director Alfonso Cuarón (Y tu mamá tambíen and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and his creative staff, in particular cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and production designers, Geoffrey Kirkland and Jim Clay, focus on keeping Children of Men from being so way out there in the future (Blade Runner) or almost supernatural (The Matrix) that the audience is not only riveted, but can’t ignore a story that one could mark on a calendar as likely to occur soon. Cuarón goes full steam ahead mixing art, politics, and entertainment. Almost from the early moments of the film, it is hard to separate the film. I found myself entertained at the highest level, while being impressed with Children of Men as high art, but at the same time, I couldn’t ignore the politics. Cuarón makes England look like the ruined version of present-day Iraq that I see every day on the news. It’s so much to take in, and Cuarón has the film hit the ground running with the kind of wild ride that popcorn action movies provide. Children of Men, however, is a gourmet film meal with the kick of a Memphis (or Texas) barbeque event action movie.
There are good performances all around. Although Julianne Moore and Michael Caine share top billing with Clive Owen, the star couple is Owen and newcomer Clare-Hope Ashitey. They have the kind of screen chemistry that directors would almost sell their souls for in order to have it for the leads in their films. Owen and Ashitey with unyielding subtlety, quiet determination, and simmering intensity give Children of Men its spiritual hook. Together, they make sure that this political sci-fi, New Testament allegory closes as it should, and Alfonso Cuarón has chosen a grim and dour scenario and executed it with breathtaking technique. Children of Men is an undeniably entertaining art film and artfully entertaining movie that would make the short list of best pictures in any year.
10 of 10
Friday, January 12, 2007
NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Emmanuel Lubezki), “Best Achievement in Editing” (Alfonso Cuarón and Alex Rodríguez) and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby)
2007 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Cinematography” (Emmanuel Lubezki) and “Best Production Design” (Geoffrey Kirkland, Jim Clay, and Jennifer Williams); 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Frazer Churchill, Timothy Webber, Mike Eames, and Paul Corbould
2007 Black Reel Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Supporting Actor” (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and “Best Supporting Actress” (Clare-Hope Ashitey)
---------------------
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Review: "Love Actually" is Christmas and "Valentine's Day"
Love Actually (2003)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA/UK
Running time: 135 minutes
MPAA – R for sexuality, nudity, and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Richard Curtis
PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Duncan Kenworthy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Coulter (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Nick Moore
COMEDY/DRAMA with elements of romance
Starring: Bill Nighy, Gregory Fisher, Colin Firth, Sienna Guillory, Liam Neeson, Thomas Sangster, Emma Thompson, Kris Marshall, Heike Makatsch, Martin Freeman, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andrew Lincoln, Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Nina Sosanya, Martine McCutcheon, Laura Linney, Alan Rickman, Rodrigo Santoro, Declan Donnelly, Lúcia Moniz, Billy Bob Thornton, Rowan Atkinson, and Colin Coull
A father deals with the recent death of his wife by focusing all his attention on his young stepson’s schoolboy crush on an American girl who may soon be leaving for home. A man is deeply smitten by his best friend’s new bride, so he deals with it by acting coldly towards her. An aging rock star attempts to briefly reclaim the spotlight by dueling with a popular boy “band” for the number one spot on the charts with a Christmas song, and he does it by being a vulgar buffoon, much to the chagrin of his manager. This is just a small taste of the delights in Richard Curtis’ Love Actually.
Who would think that the British could make a feel good film as sweet, life affirming, and romantic as anything a big Hollywood studio could? Who would think that that film, Love Actually, would end up being one of the five best films of 2003? This ensemble comedy/drama about eight couples and their love lives in the five weeks before Christmas is an absolute delight.
Although the multitude of movie stars and character actors would comprise a dream team for any ensemble film, the true star of the film is writer/director Richard Curtis. An accomplished writer of British TV (the “Blackadder” series) and film (Four Weddings and a Funeral and the adaptation of the novel for Bridget Jones), Curtis had a ready-made disaster on his hands, as Love Actually starts off a bit slow and there are so many subplots to follow. However, if the viewer is patient, he can watch as Curtis brilliantly and subtly weaves together a film of tremendous power. I was completely taken in by the poignancy, the comedy, and (what I describe as) light-hearted pathos of Love Actually.
Love Actually is so feel-good, but not too sentimental. It’s a love letter to love – love of lovers, spouses, friends, and family. And when it’s done this well, there’s nothing wrong with being sweet. Love Actually makes a bad day good and a good day really fun, and the soundtrack is slammin,’ too.
9 of 10
A+
NOTES:
2004 BAFTA Awards: 1 win for “Best Performance for an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Bill Nighy) and 2 nominations for “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Richard Curtis, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Duncan Kenworthy) and best supporting actress (Emma Thompson)
2004 Golden Globes Awards: 2 nominations for best motion picture-musical or comedy and best screenplay-motion picture
Buy Love Actually (Widescreen Edition)
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