Happy Birthday, Debbie

You've had so many, so you know how to enjoy this day. Ha Ha

2012 London Film Critics Circle Award Nominations Complete List

The London Film Critics’ Circle (if I understand correctly) is part of a larger organization, The Critics’ Circle, which makes an annual award for Services to the Arts. This circle is comprised of the five sections: dance, drama, film, music, and visual arts.

On its website, The Circle says that its aims are “to promote the art of criticism, to uphold its integrity in practice, to foster and safeguard members’ professional interests, to provide opportunities to meet, and to support the advancement of the arts.” Currently there are 430 members of the Circle, mostly from the UK, and the majority of them write regularly for national and regional newspapers and magazines. Membership is by invitation.

The 33rd annual edition London Critics' Circle Film Awards will take place on Sunday, January 20, 2013, in a ceremony held at the May Fair Hotel.

33rd (2012) CRITICS' CIRCLE FILM AWARDS NOMINATIONS (film distributor's name in parenthesis):

The Sky Movies Award: FILM OF THE YEAR
Amour (Artificial Eye)
Argo (Warners)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (StudioCanal)
Life of Pi (Fox)
The Master (Entertainment)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Amour – from Austri (Artificial Eye)
Holy Motors – from France (Artificial Eye)
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia – from Turkey (New Wave)
Rust and Bone – from France/Belgium (StudioCanal)
Tabu – from Portugal (New Wave)

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
The Imposter (Picturehouse/Revolver)
London: The Modern Babylon (BFI)
Nostalgia for the Light (New Wave)
The Queen of Versailles (Dogwoof)
Searching for Sugar Man (StudioCanal)

The May Fair Hotel Award: BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR
Berberian Sound Studio (Artificial Eye)
The Imposter (Picturehouse/Revolver)
Les Miserables (Universal)
Sightseers (StudioCanal)
Skyfall (Sony)

The Spotlight Award: ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln (Fox)
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables (Universal)
Mads Mikkelsen – The Hunt (Arrow)
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master (Entertainment)
Jean-Louis Trintignant – Amour (Artificial Eye)

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty (Universal)
Marion Cotillard - Rust and Bone (StudioCanal)
Helen Hunt - The Sessions (Fox)
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook (Entertainment)
Emmanuelle Riva – Amour (Artificial Eye)

SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Alan Arkin – Argo (Warners)
Javier Bardem – Skyfall (Sony)
Michael Fassbender – Prometheus (Fox)
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master (Entertainment)
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln (Fox)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Amy Adams – The Master (Entertainment)
Judi Dench – Skyfall (Sony)
Sally Field – Lincoln (Fox)
Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables (Universal)
Isabelle Huppert – Amour (Artificial Eye)

BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR – In association with Cameo Productions
Daniel Craig – Skyfall (Sony)
Charlie Creed-Miles - Wild Bill (The Works/Universal)
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln (Fox)
Toby Jones – Berberian Sound Studio (Artificial Eye)
Steve Oram – Sightseers (StudioCanal)

BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Emily Blunt – Looper (eOne) and Your Sister's Sister (StudioCanal)
Judi Dench – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Fox) and Skyfall (Sony)
Alice Lowe – Sightseers (StudioCanal)
Helen Mirren – Hitchcock (Fox)
Andrea Riseborough – Shadow Dancer (Paramount)

YOUNG BRITISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Samantha Barks – Les Miserables (Universal)
Fady Elsayed – My Brother the Devil (Verve)
Tom Holland – The Impossible (eOne)
Will Poulter – Wild Bill (The Works/Universal)
Jack Reynor – What Richard Did (Artificial Eye)

The American Airlines Award: DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Paul Thomas Anderson – The Master (Entertainment)
Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty (Universal)
Nuri Bilge Ceylan – Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (New Wave)
Michael Haneke – Amour (Artificial Eye)
Ang Lee – Life of Pi (Fox)

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
Paul Thomas Anderson – The Master (Entertainment)
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty (Universal)
Michael Haneke – Amour (Artificial Eye)
Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained (Sony)
Chris Terrio – Argo (Warners)

BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILM-MAKER
Ben Drew, writer/director – Ill Manors (Revolver)
Sally El Hosaini, writer/director – My Brother the Devil (Verve)
Dexter Fletcher, co-writer/director – Wild Bill (The Works/Universal)
Bart Layton, writer/director – The Imposter (Picturehouse/Revolver)
Alice Lowe & Steve Oram, writers – Sightseers (StudioCanal)

The Sky 3D Award: TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Anna Karenina – Jacqueline Durran, costumes (Universal)
Argo – William Goldenberg, film editing (Warners)
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Ben Richardson, cinematography (StudioCanal)
Berberian Sound Studio – Joakim Sundstrom & Stevie Haywood, sound design (Artificial Eye)
Holy Motors – Bernard Floch, makeup (Artificial Eye)
Life of Pi – Claudio Miranda, cinematography (Fox)
Life of Pi – Bill Westenhofer, visual effects (Fox)
The Master – Jack Fisk & David Crank, production design (Entertainment)
My Brother the Devil – David Raedeker, cinematography (Verve)
Rust and Bone – Alexandre Desplat, music (StudioCanal)

DILYS POWELL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN FILM: Sponsored by PREMIER
Helena Bonham Carter

http://www.criticscircle.org.uk/

Happy Birthday, Stan Lee and Miss Teresa

Stan Lee, who is 90-years-old today, is one of the great comic book creators and publishers.  He shares his birthday with Miss Teresa Moran of the Acadiana Comic Book Shop in Lafayette, Louisiana.  Happy Birthday to both.

2012 Online Film Critics Society Award Nominations - Complete List

Founded in 1997, the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) describes itself as “the largest, most respected organization for critics whose work appears primarily on the Internet.” The OFCS says that it has been the key force in establishing and raising the standards for Internet-based film journalism. Its membership consists of film reviewers, journalists and scholars based in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Asia/Pacific Rim region.

2012 (16th Annual) Online Film Critics Society Award nominations (winners to be announced January 7, 2013):

Best Picture
Argo
Holy Motors
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Director
Ben Affleck – Argo
Paul Thomas Anderson – The Master
Wes Anderson – Moonrise Kingdom
Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty
Leos Carax – Holy Motors

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
John Hawkes – The Sessions
Denis Lavant – Holy Motors
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
Denzel Washington – Flight

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Rachel Weisz – The Deep Blue Sea

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin – Argo
Dwight Henry – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – The Master
Ann Dowd – Compliance
Sally Field – Lincoln
Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables
Helen Hunt – The Sessions

Best Animated Feature
Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Secret World of Arrietty
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Film Not in the English Language

Amour (Austria)
Holy Motors (France)
Rust and Bone (France/Belgium)
This Is Not a Film (Iran)
The Turin Horse (Hungary)

Best Documentary
The Imposter
The Invisible War
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
The Queen of Versailles
This Is Not a Film

Best Original Screenplay
The Cabin in the Woods – Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard
Looper – Rian Johnson
The Master – Paul Thomas Anderson
Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty – Mark Boal

Best Adapted Screenplay
Argo – Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
Cloud Atlas – Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski
Cosmopolis – David Cronenberg
Lincoln – Tony Kushner

Best Editing
Argo – William Goldenberg
Cloud Atlas – Alexander Berner
The Master – Leslie Jones, Peter McNulty
Skyfall – Stuart Baird
Zero Dark Thirty – William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor

Best Cinematography
Life of Pi – Claudio Miranda
Lincoln – Janusz Kaminski
The Master – Mihai Malamiare Jr.
Moonrise Kingdom – Robert D. Yeoman
Skyfall – Roger Deakins

http://www.ofcs.org/

Review: Entire Cast Powers "The Return of Martin Guerre" (Happy B'day, Gerard Depardieu)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 43 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Le Retour de Martin Guerre (1982)
The Return of Martin Guerre (1983) – U.S. title
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: France; Language: French
Running time: 122 minutes (2 hours, 2 minutes)
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Daniel Vigne
WRITERS: Jean-Claude Carrière, Natalie Zemon Davis, and Daniel Vigne (from the novel The Wife of Martin Guerre by Janet Lewis)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: André Neau
EDITOR: Denise de Casabianca
COMPOSER: Michel Portal
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/MYSTERY/HISTORICAL

Starring: Gérard Depardieu, Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Nathalie Baye, Roger Planchon, Maurice Jacquemont, Isabelle Sadoyan, Rose Thiéry, Maurice Barrier, Stéphane Peau, Sylvie Méda, and Tchéky Karyo

The subject of this movie review is Le Retour de Martin Guerre, a 1982 French film directed by Daniel Vigne and starring Gérard Depardieu. The film was released as The Return of Martin Guerre in the United States in 1983.

Gérard Depardieu plays a man who returns home to his village after being absent for nine years. He claims to be Martin Guerre, who left as a selfish boy (Stéphane Peau) and has returned older and also more caring towards his wife, Bertrande de Rols (Nathalie Baye), whom he abandoned nearly a decade before. The villagers, especially Martin’s relatives, have their doubts as to whether this man who claims to be Martin Guerre is really who he says he is. But when Martin stakes a claim on his rightful inheritance and property, his Uncle Pierre Guerre (Maurice Barrier) makes an attempt on Martin’s life and files a formal complaint with authorities. What follows is an intense trial that must reveal all the truths.

Le Retour de Martin Guerre or The Return of Martin Guerre may not be remembered as the best of French cinema, but Daniel Vigne’s (a French television series director whose credits also include the TV series, “Highlander”) film captures its medieval French setting with stunning results. The rural atmosphere of the 16th Century village is palatable even as digital images. The costumes and sets are so convincing that they’re on the same level as the art direction and costumes in big, expensive Hollywood productions.

The actors all give bravura performances, and even Depardieu, screen hog that he is, is unable to steal the spotlight from his supporting performers, especially Roger Planchon as the justice Jean de Caros and Maurice Barrier as Martin’s uncle. I did, however, find the script a bit soft. Much of the story is told second hand, even some parts that would work better visually, and the romantic center of this film remains unrequited and oblique. But what is on the screen is so well done, so accomplished, and is as mesmerizing as the most intense mysteries and courtroom dramas that you can’t take your eyes off the screen. I recommend this to anyone who doesn’t mind reading subtitles because it’s as good as the best big Hollywood studio dramas.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1984 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Costume Design” (Anne-Marie Marchand)

1985 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Foreign Language Film” (Daniel Vigne of France)

1983 César Awards, France: 3 wins: “Best Music-Meilleure musique” (Michel Portal), Best Original Screenplay-Meilleur scénario original et dialogues” (Jean-Claude Carrière and Daniel Vigne), and “Best Production Design-Meilleurs décors” (Alain Nègre); 1 nomination: “Most Promising Actor-Meilleur jeune espoir masculine” (Dominique Pinon)

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Review: "Kill Bill: Volume 2" Gets Better with Age

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 53 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)
Running time: 136 minutes; MPAA – R for violence, language and brief drug use
DIRECTOR: Quentin Tarantino
WRITER: Quentin Tarantino (The Bride character by Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino)
PRODUCER: Lawrence Bender
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Richardson (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Sally Menke
COMPOSER: Robert Rodriguez
Golden Globe nominee

CRIME/DRAMA with elements of Action, Martial Arts, and Thriller

Starring: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Madsen, Lucy Liu, Michael Parks, Jeannie Epper, Perla Haney-Jardine, Caitlin Keats, Chris Nelson, Gordon Liu, LaTanya Richardson, and Bo Svenson

The subject of this movie review is Kill Bill: Volume 2, a 2004 crime drama and martial arts film from writer/director Quentin Tarantino. It is the second of two films that were released within several months of each other. The film follows a character called “The Bride,” who is seeking revenge against her former colleagues.

In Kill Bill: Vol. 2, the sequel or second half of Quentin Tarantino’s film, Kill Bill: Volume 1, The Bride (Uma Thurman) continues her mission of revenge against her former colleagues for killing her husband-to-be and the wedding party and for shooting and leaving her for dead. Most of all, she want her old boss, Bill (David Carradine); he fired the shot in her head that was supposed to kill her. But Bill has a secret named B.B. (Perla Haney-Jardine), so will The Bride be able to handle the shock of meeting B.B.?

Where Kill Bill: Vol. 1 was a stylish martial arts movie done in lively colors with the relentlessness of a revenge movie cum video game, Kill Bill: Vol. 2 is slick, crime drama – part Western and part hard-boiled novella. There’s a movie poster for a film by the late actor, Charles Bronson, used a set piece in the film, and Vol. 2 indeed has the gall of Bronson bullet ballad. Some viewers may be put off by the jarring change of pace from the first film to the second. There are very few fight scenes in 2, and they’re quite short. Only the battle between Elle Driver/California Mountain Snake (Daryl Hannah) and The Bride has the hard-edged intensity of anything near the fisticuffs of the first film.

Still, Kill Bill: Vol. 2 is an example of virtuoso filmmaking and an expert homage to many well known American film genres. Vol. 2 isn’t anywhere near as fun to watch as the first, but for those viewers who have varied tastes in films and movies and who are familiar with many film styles and techniques, Vol. 2 will be exciting to watch. As all his films have been, Kill Bill: Vol. 2 is ultimately worth watching because director Quentin Tarantino simply does so many interesting things. He’s that know-it-all film nerd who can actually make the great film he might say no one else can make, although Kill Bill Volume 2 isn’t that exactly the great film either.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2005 Golden Globes, USA: 2 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (David Carradine) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Uma Thurman)

2005 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Original Score” (RZA)

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Review: "Kill Bill: Volume 1" is Still a Killer

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 152 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
Running time: 111 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexual content
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Quentin Tarantino
PRODUCER: Lawrence Bender
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Richardson (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Sally Menke
COMPOSER: The RZA
BAFTA Awards nominee

ACTION/CRIME/MARTIAL ARTS/THRILLER

Starring: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen, Michael Parks, James Parks, Sonny Chiba, Chiaki Kuriyama, Julie Dreyfus, and Chia Hui Liu

The subject of this movie review is Kill Bill: Volume 1, a 2003 martial arts and action film from writer/director Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two films that were released within several months of each other. The film follows a character called “The Bride,” who is seeking revenge against her former colleagues.

If there was much doubt that Quentin Tarantino could still make not just good movies, but great movies, Kill Bill: Volume 1 should dispel that doubt, unless the doubters are just being contrary. That Kill Bill is one of the most violent, if not the most violent, American films ever made is very certain. Only time will tell if Kill Bill Vol. 1 is the best American action movie ever made, but it is the best and most thrilling film since James Cameron abruptly reshaped thrills and intensity of movies with Aliens.

In the film, The Bride (Uma Thurman) awakes from a coma in which she’d been in for four years. It has been four years since her fellow assassins of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad killed her husband and wedding party at a small church in Texas. Her boss, Bill (David Carradine), however, did the honor of shooting The Bride, showing no mercy even though she was late in her obvious pregnancy. Bill’s biggest mistake was that he didn’t kill her, and now The Bride is out to Kill Bill. Before Bill, she has scores to settle with two of her colleagues, Copperhead (Vivica A. Fox) and Cottonmouth, now known as O-Ren Ishi (Lucy Liu), and a Yakuza crime boss in Tokyo.

Tarantino reportedly shot so much footage for Kill Bill that he and the studio Miramax Films ultimately decided to divide the film into two parts. One of Tarantino’s signature techniques is to juxtapose time in his scripts, dividing his films into self-contained chapters that are complete little short stories on their own. Each chapter fits in quite well with the larger film story and embellishes it so very well.

Kill Bill isn’t so much about the story as it is about the technique of making film. Tarantino basically asks his audience to go along with this long homage to Asian cinema, in particular martial arts epics and crime films. He mixes film genres with varied visual styles of films, and in that his cinematographer Robert Richardson (an Academy Award winner for Oliver Stone’s JFK) ably assists. At times, Kill Bill is totally about what the film stock looks like – the colors, the lack of color, grittiness, glossiness, etc.

This is a film geek’s film – the kind of genre film a big fan of a particular genre would like to make as well as see, and Tarantino makes it so well. Kill Bill is a grand time. For fans of martial arts films who loved the elaborate fight scenes in movies like The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the master fight choreographer who worked on both films, Yuen Wo-Ping, worked with Tarantino on the heart-stopping and eye-popping fights in Kill Bill.

Tarantino gets the most out of all his crew. The RZA (of hip hop act Wu-Tang Clan fame) composes a brilliant, genre-crossing, ear-bending score that recalls the sounds and tunes of classic gangster, Western, martial arts, and crime cinema classics. Shout outs also go to the art and costume departments.

Kill Bill is without a doubt great cinema about cinema, and it’s excellent entertainment. By no means perfect, it does dry up on occasion and even seems a bit long. There were also too many bits obviously thrown in to accommodate the next chapter. Still, the fault lines don’t matter because Kill Bill is so damn fine. Action movie lovers and lovers of great filmmaking cannot miss this because Kill Bill Volume 1 is that proverbial good movie about which people are always complaining Hollywood doesn’t make anymore.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2004 BAFTA Awards: 5 nominations: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music”(RZA); “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Tommy Tom, Kia Kwan, Tam Wai, Kit Leung, Hin Leung, and Jaco Wong), “Best Editing” (Sally Menke), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Uma Thurman), and “Best Sound” (Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga, Wylie Stateman, and Mark Ulano)

2004 Black Reel Awards: 1 nominee: “Best Supporting Actress” (Vivica A. Fox)

2004 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Uma Thurman)

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