Tag Archives: Woody Allen

84th Oscar Awards : Winner Predictions

27 February, 2012   Movies   4 Comments
oscar-statuette

In just about a few hours from now, the who’s who of the movie business, attired magnificently, will take their seats inside the LA Kodak Theatre for the night celebrating the 84th Oscar Awards. Billy Crystal is going to host the glittery event that will be watched through TV broadcasts, internet streaming apart from the elite few who are invited to partake. Besides the awkward jokes, tongue in cheek moments, songs, there will be “Thank You” speeches. Most of which will be guaranteed yawn inducers after a while but we hope one or two would stand out. Before all that though there will be an elaborate red carpet as the stars and demi gods make their walk into the venue, almost deafened by screaming fans and frisked by countless media men, who’ll start with their proverbial rubbish “what are you wearing ?”. But all in all, the one bit that we all will be tuned in for is, who will walk away with the honours ? Here’s my predictions for the popular categories :

 Actor in a leading role  

  • Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
  • George Clooney in “The Descendants”
  • Jean Dujardin in “The Artist” (WINNER)
  • Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
  • Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”

Actress in a leading role 

  • Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs” (WINNER)
  • Viola Davis in “The Help”
  • Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
  • Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
  • Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”

Cinematography 

  • “The Artist” Guillaume Schiffman
  • “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Jeff Cronenweth
  • “Hugo” Robert Richardson (WINNER)
  • “The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki
  • “War Horse” Janusz Kaminski

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

  • “The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash (WINNER)
  • “Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan
  • “The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
  • “Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
  • “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)

  • “The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius
  • “Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
  • “Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor
  • “Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen (WINNER)
  • “A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi

Directing 

  • “The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius
  • “The Descendants” Alexander Payne
  • “Hugo” Martin Scorsese
  • “Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen
  • “The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick

Max von Sydow & Bérénice Bejo will win Best Supporting Actor & Actress respectively for their work in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” & “The Artist”.”Rango” will take best animated feature film, non deservedly so if I may add. “Tintin” which did not even get a nomination is a far better film. Foreign language film will be bagged by “The Separation” from Iran.

All will all, it will be a big night for French filmmaker Michel and the team of “The Artist”, that has a fair chance of winning in all categories it has been nominated for. From the above, the 2 predictions that I am not 100% sure are Actress in a leading role (which I think is a 3 way race) and Writing (original screenplay) as it’s a tie between “The Artist” & “Midnight In Paris”.

So all eyes on the red carpet now. Let’s hope  it’s an event to remember !!!

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THE TRIP : Witty, Spiteful, Hysterical, Addictive & Quotable. Must Watch

7 November, 2011   Movies   No comments

Longest and the hardest laughs in a very long time

Apart from the very likable, guffaw inducing trailer that I stumbled upon a few months back, there was very little I knew of the movie, let alone any of the leads. Although Steve Coogan’s was a familiar face from his Hollywood cameos, I don’t particularly recall watching Rob Brydon before. Tried to dig up the movie locally without much success until to my utter relief & delight, I could download it a few hours back ;) And here I am grinning ear to ear having just finished watching it.

Its very rare that I get to put words moments after I watch a movie, but well for “The Trip” I just could not resist the idea. Its a simple story (if You can call it that), beautifully told through the experiences of Steve and Bob loosely based on themselves, as they embark on a culinary journey through the cold, murky terrains of north England. As they check into various hotels over a week, and taste the most exquisite of the fine dining dishes, as a part of a piece that Coogan has been asked to put together for The Observer. Rob’s fascination for scallops is unmistakable every time they order food.. But anyways, what starts as a vapid prospect of 2 middle aged actors playing themselves, on an uneventful trip, slowly but surely brings forth the idea that constitutes bulk of the movie. Clash of egos take center stage but in the most understated way, as the leads constantly try to one-up the other, while making random jokes on food, travel, sex, music, movies, actors, family and well everything Your brain could fathom. The backdrop is of two friends in a similar profession, most likely in the exact same phase in their careers but with a starkly different family life. Bob’s a sweet small one, where as Steve’s the exact opposite with an estranged girl friend and a son with well, teenage issues.

What stood out to me about this one is that it never gets in Your way of Your perception of these 2 characters as each day of the week passes by. It is one of those rare accomplishments where the makers leave it to the audience to decide whatever they want to make of it and their efforts meet with unprecedented success by the time the screen reads “The End”. The humour as mentioned earlier is ridiculously understated but is constant through out its runtime. Standout mentions would be a long list of impressions that Steve and Rob both attempt starting from the likes of Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Roger Moore to Michael Sheen and Woody Allen. Then there is this fantastic scene in a cemetery while they are standing on a grave in the most casual manner possible discussing “death” and what would Steve’s speech be in Rob’s funeral. That scene like many others is meant to be an allegory but brings along itself possibility of such deadpan humour that its almost unescapable. If there was one movie that has had the most laughs this year, its hands down “The Trip”.

Spite & Disgust brought out the sweetest tear of laughter

I expected so much from the movie after that fantastic trailer. To my utter surprise, disbelief and absolute pleasure at the end of it all, “The Trip” provides on all those levels and more. So much so that I have got myself the first season of all 6 episodes of the improvised sitcom of the same name played by the same guys. Looking forward to it. & if You still need a hint, here it is .

To everyone who can appreciate an odd, understated, buddy movie about a road trip involving 2 brilliant leads at the fore with dry understated British humour from start to finish, “The Trip” is a must watch. Absolutely 200% Recommended. 4.9/5 ;)

Unlike my regular posts, I’d leave You with an absolute rib tickler of a scene (trust me there are plenty of them). Enjoy

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Finally after 6 months since its release I managed to watch : Midnight In Paris

7 November, 2011   Movies   No comments

FOREWORD : I’d apologise to anyone about to read this piece for not keeping my fanboy obeisance for Woody Allen out of perspective while discussing the film. I am not particularly ashamed but am sorry.

Midnight In Paris - Poster

Apart from good food, music, cricket, I have an insatiable desire and love for Woody Allen’s movies. My close friends are well overtly acquainted with the fact and if needed will testify of my imposing indulgence of the same. From his most revered to his lesser known work have all been my objects of acute admiration for as long as I can remember. Eric Lax’s “Conversation With Woody Allen” is one of those books I’d always go back to, whenever I find time in my hands. To a very large and equally sad extent this had been a wait that didn’t see the light of the day for me. I am referring to my desire of watching his latest offering “Midnight In Paris” in a theatre. Since its debut in Cannes and the positive reviews that kept flooding my most visited blogs, magazines and sites, it only added to the cruel and never ending anticipation. Well, I finally managed to watch it a few hours back. At home of course.

My favourite writer in Hollywood : Woody Allen

“Midnight In Paris” justifiably begs to be drawn parallels with some of his finest accomplishments in the craft of moviemaking. His work rate as a film maker is as we have come to agree is second to none. It doesn’t take a genius to notice that there hasn’t been anyone before and that there will be none after him, who would; could or should make / write as many feature films as Woody Allen has already made or would make in the future. Especially since the beginning of the new millennium I think he’s tried everything he has ever done in the past with relationships kept as the core of each subject. With the exception of “Cassandra’s Dream” which I felt was a truly different and a few shades darker than his regular offerings. With “Midnight In Paris”, what I feel he has achieved is a poetic flow of emotions seamlessly drawn through visual sketches and a no holds barred screenplay which did not bank on a certain turning point in the narrative to reach its eventual and beautiful ending. The fulfilling experience of reading a beautiful prose or an uneventful bite of a dark chocolate after a sumptuous dinner with a long ending that You never expected to be that good but the one that nonetheless manages to surprise and steal Your mind away from the real world even if its for just a while, is what this movie did to me. That’s cinema at its finest as far as I am concerned. And nobody else has made me feel the same way as Woody Allen’s brand of movies have. I haven’t finished watching his exhaustive body of work, obviously due to unavailability of a few titles, but am quite close to accomplishing that feat. From all that I have seen, I can claim with a sense of assuredness that Owen Wilson has come the closest to play Woody Allen with conviction adequately mixed with a level of nonchalance. This is of course assuming that Allen keeps himself in mind most of the time while writing his protagonist. Wilson’s flair at being a bumbling thinker, who has plenty to say while not being always confident while saying them is portrayed magnificently. Such natural was his projection that You could identify with the man as the character while never becoming a caricature of Allen which could have easily been the case.  A pat on the back for a job well done to both the actor that played the role and the writer / director who created it.

Marion "Goddess" Cotillard & Owen Wilson & the famous walk :)

I am being extremely cautious not to give away much in benefit of the ones who haven’t watched the beautiful movie yet. However I’d have to admit that the plot of obsessing with an era gone by to be a better one than the one we live in, is something I identify very closely with. Its a very intimate subject for me. So much so that in a couple of sequences I had to pause and ponder if they were actually talking about me. Finding myself in the midst of such identifiable dilemma, the ending could not have been any more tastier. For anyone who had adopted a few reservations for Woody Allen passing his prime, mostly due to a few not right up there productions, “Midnight In Paris” serves as a perfect testimony that the genius is from from done. As for me, his most insipid feature is most often several notches above what we are served as block busters that we do not ask for nor need. So much so that our brains have difficulty deciphering good over mediocre. And at such times “Midnight In Paris” is a sweet reminder that not all is lost.

Thank You, Woody Allen.

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