One of the reasons that the Best Picture nominees increased from five to ten in 2010 was so that the films that most people went to see would be included in the list. There had been outcry in the latter half of the noughties when some of the most well-regarded blockbusters had been disregarded for fare such as The Reader and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Indeed, the big-budget blockbuster had rarely featured in the Best Picture category since the likes of Jaws, Star Wars and E.T. In fact the only blockbusters that featured in the last twenty years either were period epics such as Titanic or literary adaptations like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. That all changed though when a sci-fi blockbuster not only broke through into the Best Picture category but also brought back a new craze for 3-D films.
Although the reintroduction of 3-D started in 2009 it was only when James Cameron brought Avatar to the screen that it became a requisite format for all massive blockbusters to be screened in. We last met James Cameron back in the 1990s when he directed the massive Best Picture winner Titanic and also picked up Best Director along the way. Avatar was set on a similarly epic scale albeit one that had no basis in history primarily as it was set in the future. Writing the plot down for Avatar feels a little silly as it involves a planet called Pandora and the mining of a precious energy source known as unobtanium. The only problem is that Pandora is ruled by huge Smurf-like creatures called the Na'vi who don't want the humans encroaching on their lands due to their magic trees or some such nonsense. Our hero of sorts is paraplegic marine Jake Sully who is portrayed as an idiot from the get-go and has been recruited based on the fact that he has the same genetic make-up as his deceased scientist brother. Jake, along with several other scientists, are transported into the bodies of Avatars which look exactly like the Na'vi. Throughout the course of the film the Na'vi take Jake to their bossum although I'm not quite sure why as he seems like a complete dullard. Eventually falling for one of the Na'vi women, Jake changes sides and ends up fighting alongside the blue folk against his former allies. The final battle scenes, which seem to go on forever see Jake go up against the pantomime villain of the piece Colonel Quartich with the result seeing him become a Na'vi for good. Whilst I'm sure Cameron knew what the film was about to me it was Dances with Wolves in space with big blue creatures taking the place of the Native Americans.
I went to see Avatar twice at the cinema, once to satisfy my own curiosity and again when my friend wanted to see the 3-D version. Suffice to say there was very little difference for me and I don't think the 3-D really enhanced my viewing experience, a comment I can replicate for every 3D film I've seen. On the plus side there's no denying that Cameron has an epic vision, creating his own world in the form on Pandora and populating it with his own unique creations. The film's wins in the Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects categories were all more than justified as these were definitely the film's greatest qualities. On the downside, I feel that Cameron's storytelling ability is possibly at its worse here with Avatar feeling even more bloated than Titanic. Even though he should be applauded for his unique vision I don't think it quite translates into the storytelling and at times I was fairly bored. Indeed there were whole sequences where Jake and the other Na'vi were chasing creatures round Pandora which looked like they were just there to justify the 3-D enhancements. As the plot itself is quite convoluted, Cameron has had to insert a bunch of exposition with Jake having to explain the story through way of his video logs. The performances weren't too much better with the wooden Sam Worthington being the wrong choice to lead an epic film such as Avatar. Worthington showed me nothing of worth and as a result never made his character feel particularly endearing. Similarly Stephen Lang as the ludicrous Quartich, yelled all of his lines and Giovanni Ribisi was phoning it in as the evil businessman. Only Sigourney Weaver, as experienced scientist Grace, gave a memorable turn and she at least made you sympathise when her character passed away from her gunshot wounds. Ultimately, Avatar is a feast for the eyes but a let down for all the other senses and I'm so glad that The Hurt Locker triumphed over this Box Office behemoth which I feel is one of the most overrated films of the last decade.
One of the blockbuster films that had been cruelly overlooked at the 2009 ceremony was Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. Infinitely better than the majority of that year's Best Picture contenders, The Dark Knight was a brilliant take on the Batman story that topped plenty of critics' lists that year. Two years later, and with an extended field, Nolan finally found himself the director of a Best Picture nominee even though he himself didn't receive a nomination. Nolan's Oscar nominated picture was Inception; a brilliantly thoughtful blockbuster which was a lot more intellectual than your average summer action flick. Although Inception did include all the running and shooting that you would expect from a blockbuster it did also have an amazing storyline to do with dreams and dreams within dreams. The inception of the title is a method by which someone could plant an idea in the head of another subject by infiltrating their dreams. At its heart, Inception is essentially a heist film but in place of a bank vault we have a person's inner thoughts. The leader of the gang is Don Cobb; a brilliant man who is on the run after the authorities believed that he'd murdered his wife. The reality was something much darker and the relationship between Don and his wife Mal is where the film gains its emotional edge. When Cobb learns he could be reunited with his children by performing a-near impossible inception mission he gets to it and assembles a crack team in the process. While I'm sure most people have probably seen Inception by now, I'm not going to spoil it needlessly for those who haven't. But suffice to say that, even though it's about my fifth time watching the film, I was still on tenterhooks as Cobb and his team attempted to navigate the various dream layers. Meanwhile, the ambiguous ending makes the film all that more memorable with the spinning top being possibly the most iconic visual from Inception.
As Inception is a film about imagination, it's clear to see that Nolan has utilised his to full effect. In the early stages of the film, we see Cobb instruct his newest team member Ariadne on how best to build a dream. The set piece in which Ariadne makes buildings fold in on themselves is still a marvel to watch and this visual splendour continues throughout the rest of the film. Nolan's production design team, who were awarded with a BAFTA for their work on the film, deserve praise for creating a different atmosphere in each dream level. From the suave hotel interior to the snowbound fortress every single frame of Inception has been designed to fit in with the unique nature of the story. All in all Inception took home four awards for cinematography, visual effects, sound editing and sound effects editing. A dubious omission among that list is Hans Zimmer, whose score for Inception is instantly recognisable and today is played on plenty of adverts. I'm also still a little bit puzzled as to why Nolan himself wasn't nominated for directing a truly personal film that I felt was truly original. The cast also lifted the material of the film, making their characters feel three-dimensional, a rarity for a summer blockbuster. I felt Leonardo DiCaprio was a perfect lead as he perfectly portrayed Cobb as somebody who wasn't quite sure of himself any more but realised he had to complete the mission in order to return home. Tom Hardy was brilliant as Eames, the joker and forger of the pack who transformed himself several times during the dream. But the best performance of all came from Marion Cotillard, who made Mal both the film's key antagonist and a sympathetic character who had been ruined by exploring other people's dreams. If I have one criticism about Inception it is its exposition-filled script which I suppose is a necessary evil when you've got so many rules to explain. However this is a minor quibble in a film that's truly exceptional, incredibly rewatchable and a movie that redefined what a summer blockbuster could be.
Next time we look at the two most recent nominated films from a director who's featured on this blog a fair few times already.
Showing posts with label Ellen Page. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ellen Page. Show all posts
Saturday, 25 April 2015
Monday, 23 February 2015
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 382-384: The Rise of The Indie Comedy
So far of all the Best Picture Winners and nominees from the 21st century, only one has been set in the present day with all the others occurring either in the past or in a different realm altogether. I hope to redress this balance with the next three films on the list, all of which take place in present day America and feature quirky characters and bizarre premises. All three are archetypal examples of what has become to be known as 'indie comedy' films that don't feature big stars and are on the whole quite funny. All three impressed Oscar enough to garner a Best Picture nomination with their respective screenplays all garnering Academy Awards in the writing categories.
The first film in this unofficial trilogy is Sideways; director Alexander Payne's adaptation of Rex Pickett's book of the same name. The film follows former college roommates Miles and Jack as they journey to the San Fernando Wine Valley to celebrate the upcoming wedding of the latter. One of the best things about Sideways is the way in which it makes you care about two characters who aren't necessarily the most likeable of guys. For example an early scene sees Miles rock up at his mum's house with the sole intent of eating her food and stealing money from her bedroom. Meanwhile Jack's main intention of getting away from Christine seems to be so he can get his end away one last time. He does this quite quickly when he meets vineyard employee and single mother Stephanie; with the two participating in a whirlwind romance during the week over which the film is set. Meanwhile Jack tries to set up Miles with Maya; a prior acquaintance who works as a waitress at the local restaurant. As the week progresses, Jack leaves Miles on his own whilst he continues a relationship with Stephanie with it eventually ending abruptly after the predictable revelation of the upcoming wedding. Like all three films in this list, it was hard to guess just in what direction Sideways was heading and that's possibly one of its greatest strengths. Although I felt that Miles and Maya may hook up, things get muddied after she finds out about Jack's wedding and the reason the pair were in the wine valley in the first place.
It's been a while since I watched Sideways, although it's a film that I remember liking immensely when I first saw it. That feeling remained upon this most recent viewing and I feel like the film really deserved all of the Oscar nominations it got. Payne's win for Best Adapted Screenplay, which he shared with co-writer Jim Taylor, was an especially worthy win seeing as the script is one of Sideways' greatest attributes. Although I couldn't remember the film entirely, Maya's speech about why she loves wine has stuck with me over the past decade whilst some of the more comedic segments are equally well crafted. As Maya, Virginia Masden was awarded with a nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category, which I felt was more than deserved due to her measured and tender performance throughout the film. Thomas Hayden Church's madcap turn as Jack also saw him pop up in the supporting actor category and I found his performance to be the perfect balance of seriousness and slapstick. One glaring omission was Paul Giamatti's lead actor nod because, as Miles, I thought he was terrific; giving an engaging performance as a miserable middle-aged man who realised that he'd never achieve greatness. The academy realised their mistake by giving Giamatti a nomination the next year for playing Russell Crowe's boxing trainer in Cinderella Man. However, Sideways remains his most accomplished performance to date and it's a shame that Oscar didn't spot this at the time. Rolfe Kent's jazz-infused score and Phedon Papamichael's excellent shooting of the Californian wine region were other brilliant elements of this excellent film. Sideways main achievement though was to put Alexander Payne on the map, with his next two films also garnering Best Picture nods. Overall, Sideways was a witty and wry look at middle-age with a fantastic script and a quartet of fantastic excellent central performances.
Despite not getting any success in the acting categories at the Oscars; the four central players in Sideways shared that year's prize for Best Ensemble Cast at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Two years later the next film in this post, Little Miss Sunshine, won the same prize for its six primary cast members. I personally don't think I can be that objective in my review of Little Miss Sunshine; which I first fell in love with when I saw it at the Stoke-on-Trent Odeon on a Sunday morning back in 2006. At the time I went to see it I knew very little about it but afterwards I instantly wanted to see it again and multiple viewings occurred over the following year. Sitting down to rewatch it I feared that it may not be that good over eight years later but these fears were unwarranted and by the end I was laughing and crying just as I did the first time I saw it. Just like Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine doesn't have characters that are essentially likeable but by the end of the film you grow to love them. The essential plot sees the Hoover family travel from Albuquerque to California so that six-year-old daughter Olive can take part in the Little Miss Sunshine Beauty Pageant. The majority of Olive's family aren't the most identifiable of characters from her suicidal gay uncle Frank to her stroppy brother Dwight; who is currently in the throes of a silent protest. Her father Richard is possibly the most unlikeable of the bunch; a self-help guru who has poured all of the family's money into his scheme entitled 'the nine steps'. The family is completed by Richard's cantankerous drug addicted father Edwin and Hoover matriarch Cheryl who is most concerned with keeping the family unit in one piece. Over the course of the film everybody has their own realisation about their hopes, aspirations and futures but screenwriter Michael Arndt presents the script in such a way that it never becomes sentimental.
In fact Arndt's screenplay won one of Little Miss Sunshine's two Oscars with the film also taking home the Supporting Actor prize for Alan Arkin's turn as Grandpa Hoover. Almost forty years after his first nomination for The Russians are Coming; Arkin finally got to the podium for a broadly comic role that involved him shouting about sex and drug taking. However it was in Arkin's more tender moments that the performance really came alive and I'm so glad that he won the award over original favourite Eddie Murphy. As Olive, Abigail Breslin was also nominated for her performance and I felt she was another deserving nominee as she gave an innocent and mature turn for someone so young. More impressive performances were delivered by Steve Carell as the depressive Frank and Paul Dano; who role as Dwight meant that he had to be silent for the majority of the film. The quirky nature of the film is never overpowering and each character feels realistic which as a result makes you care for them even more. Another character of the film is the Hoover family's yellow VW Bus in which they make their cross-country journey. Over the course of the movie, the van breaks down causing the family to have push it along every time they need to get back on the road. These comic sequences are well executed however the majority of the laughs are reserved for Olive's final performance at the pageant itself. Uplifting, warm, witty and well put together, Little Miss Sunshine is a film that never overstays its welcome and is one that I'll never get tired of watching.
The third and final film on this list also contained a fine ensemble but oddly wasn't even nominated for that year's Screen Actors Guild Award. This is a shame as I think that the interactions between the quirky cast in Jason Reitman's Juno provided some of its finest moments. Written by former exotic dancer Diablo Cody, Juno focuses on the titular sixteen-year-old who discovers she's pregnant after a one night liaison with her best friend Paulie Bleeker. After backing out of having an abortion, Juno decides to give the baby away to a couple who really want a baby. This is certainly true of Vanessa who, along with husband Mark, are the couple Juno chooses as the adoptive parents. Cody's script then follows Juno's adventures over a year as she struggles with her pregnancy and her various relationships. One thing I like about Juno is the script is very focused with the two narrative strands focusing on our protagonist's feelings for Bleeker and her interactions with reluctant adoptive father Mark. At times you feel you know where the film is going, especially when Cody suggests that Mark and Juno are going to begin some sort of illicit affair, however she surprises you several times over. Of the three films in this post, Juno is the one that made me laugh out loud the most and it's a testament to both Cody and the comic timing of the ensemble cast. Cody's script was criticised at the time for not providing the teenage characters with realistic dialogue however I disagree with this assertion. Instead the offbeat nature of the dialogue adds another layer to the film's already unique style and makes the character of Juno stand out from other female leads.
The aforementioned unique style is evident from the offset as we follow an animated opening sequence that sees Juno head off to take her third pregnancy test, accompanied by an extra-large bottle of Sunny Delight. Reitman makes sure that each character has a specific look from Bleeker's extremely bright athletic kit to Mark and Vanessa's yuppie outfits and Juno's stepmother Bren's collection of homely knitwear. The music is similarly memorable with Mouldy Peaches front-woman Kimya Dawson's voice being present during several of the film's key moments. One of the film's cutest moments involves Juno and Bleeker performing a Mouldy Peaches number on the the latter's front porch. However, I feel that Juno wouldn't have been as well-received if it were not for the Oscar-nominated turn from lead actress Ellen Page. Despite having already been in an X-Men film at this point, Page was still a relatively unknown quantity and I felt she proved herself here by appearing in almost every scene. She made Cody's dialogue feel believable and balanced both Juno's sarcasm with her more vulnerable nature. Ellen Page also shared brilliant chemistry with Michael Cera as the nervous Bleeker; with the two making one of the cutest couples in recent cinema history. As Vanessa, Jennifer Garner was a revelation as, up to this point she had mainly featured in action films however Juno really let her demonstrate what she could do when playing a straight-laced character. Recent Oscar winner JK Simmons and Allison Janney were also on form as Juno's parents with the latter having a rather tender moment with Garner at the end of the film. Another film that is a firm favourite of mind; Juno blends a fantastic Oscar-winning screenplay with a fine central turn and a style which perfectly sums up the indie comedy genre to which all of these three films belong.
Next time we turn our attention to a film that is often considered one of the worst Best Picture winners of all time.
The first film in this unofficial trilogy is Sideways; director Alexander Payne's adaptation of Rex Pickett's book of the same name. The film follows former college roommates Miles and Jack as they journey to the San Fernando Wine Valley to celebrate the upcoming wedding of the latter. One of the best things about Sideways is the way in which it makes you care about two characters who aren't necessarily the most likeable of guys. For example an early scene sees Miles rock up at his mum's house with the sole intent of eating her food and stealing money from her bedroom. Meanwhile Jack's main intention of getting away from Christine seems to be so he can get his end away one last time. He does this quite quickly when he meets vineyard employee and single mother Stephanie; with the two participating in a whirlwind romance during the week over which the film is set. Meanwhile Jack tries to set up Miles with Maya; a prior acquaintance who works as a waitress at the local restaurant. As the week progresses, Jack leaves Miles on his own whilst he continues a relationship with Stephanie with it eventually ending abruptly after the predictable revelation of the upcoming wedding. Like all three films in this list, it was hard to guess just in what direction Sideways was heading and that's possibly one of its greatest strengths. Although I felt that Miles and Maya may hook up, things get muddied after she finds out about Jack's wedding and the reason the pair were in the wine valley in the first place.
It's been a while since I watched Sideways, although it's a film that I remember liking immensely when I first saw it. That feeling remained upon this most recent viewing and I feel like the film really deserved all of the Oscar nominations it got. Payne's win for Best Adapted Screenplay, which he shared with co-writer Jim Taylor, was an especially worthy win seeing as the script is one of Sideways' greatest attributes. Although I couldn't remember the film entirely, Maya's speech about why she loves wine has stuck with me over the past decade whilst some of the more comedic segments are equally well crafted. As Maya, Virginia Masden was awarded with a nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category, which I felt was more than deserved due to her measured and tender performance throughout the film. Thomas Hayden Church's madcap turn as Jack also saw him pop up in the supporting actor category and I found his performance to be the perfect balance of seriousness and slapstick. One glaring omission was Paul Giamatti's lead actor nod because, as Miles, I thought he was terrific; giving an engaging performance as a miserable middle-aged man who realised that he'd never achieve greatness. The academy realised their mistake by giving Giamatti a nomination the next year for playing Russell Crowe's boxing trainer in Cinderella Man. However, Sideways remains his most accomplished performance to date and it's a shame that Oscar didn't spot this at the time. Rolfe Kent's jazz-infused score and Phedon Papamichael's excellent shooting of the Californian wine region were other brilliant elements of this excellent film. Sideways main achievement though was to put Alexander Payne on the map, with his next two films also garnering Best Picture nods. Overall, Sideways was a witty and wry look at middle-age with a fantastic script and a quartet of fantastic excellent central performances.
Despite not getting any success in the acting categories at the Oscars; the four central players in Sideways shared that year's prize for Best Ensemble Cast at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Two years later the next film in this post, Little Miss Sunshine, won the same prize for its six primary cast members. I personally don't think I can be that objective in my review of Little Miss Sunshine; which I first fell in love with when I saw it at the Stoke-on-Trent Odeon on a Sunday morning back in 2006. At the time I went to see it I knew very little about it but afterwards I instantly wanted to see it again and multiple viewings occurred over the following year. Sitting down to rewatch it I feared that it may not be that good over eight years later but these fears were unwarranted and by the end I was laughing and crying just as I did the first time I saw it. Just like Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine doesn't have characters that are essentially likeable but by the end of the film you grow to love them. The essential plot sees the Hoover family travel from Albuquerque to California so that six-year-old daughter Olive can take part in the Little Miss Sunshine Beauty Pageant. The majority of Olive's family aren't the most identifiable of characters from her suicidal gay uncle Frank to her stroppy brother Dwight; who is currently in the throes of a silent protest. Her father Richard is possibly the most unlikeable of the bunch; a self-help guru who has poured all of the family's money into his scheme entitled 'the nine steps'. The family is completed by Richard's cantankerous drug addicted father Edwin and Hoover matriarch Cheryl who is most concerned with keeping the family unit in one piece. Over the course of the film everybody has their own realisation about their hopes, aspirations and futures but screenwriter Michael Arndt presents the script in such a way that it never becomes sentimental.
In fact Arndt's screenplay won one of Little Miss Sunshine's two Oscars with the film also taking home the Supporting Actor prize for Alan Arkin's turn as Grandpa Hoover. Almost forty years after his first nomination for The Russians are Coming; Arkin finally got to the podium for a broadly comic role that involved him shouting about sex and drug taking. However it was in Arkin's more tender moments that the performance really came alive and I'm so glad that he won the award over original favourite Eddie Murphy. As Olive, Abigail Breslin was also nominated for her performance and I felt she was another deserving nominee as she gave an innocent and mature turn for someone so young. More impressive performances were delivered by Steve Carell as the depressive Frank and Paul Dano; who role as Dwight meant that he had to be silent for the majority of the film. The quirky nature of the film is never overpowering and each character feels realistic which as a result makes you care for them even more. Another character of the film is the Hoover family's yellow VW Bus in which they make their cross-country journey. Over the course of the movie, the van breaks down causing the family to have push it along every time they need to get back on the road. These comic sequences are well executed however the majority of the laughs are reserved for Olive's final performance at the pageant itself. Uplifting, warm, witty and well put together, Little Miss Sunshine is a film that never overstays its welcome and is one that I'll never get tired of watching.
The third and final film on this list also contained a fine ensemble but oddly wasn't even nominated for that year's Screen Actors Guild Award. This is a shame as I think that the interactions between the quirky cast in Jason Reitman's Juno provided some of its finest moments. Written by former exotic dancer Diablo Cody, Juno focuses on the titular sixteen-year-old who discovers she's pregnant after a one night liaison with her best friend Paulie Bleeker. After backing out of having an abortion, Juno decides to give the baby away to a couple who really want a baby. This is certainly true of Vanessa who, along with husband Mark, are the couple Juno chooses as the adoptive parents. Cody's script then follows Juno's adventures over a year as she struggles with her pregnancy and her various relationships. One thing I like about Juno is the script is very focused with the two narrative strands focusing on our protagonist's feelings for Bleeker and her interactions with reluctant adoptive father Mark. At times you feel you know where the film is going, especially when Cody suggests that Mark and Juno are going to begin some sort of illicit affair, however she surprises you several times over. Of the three films in this post, Juno is the one that made me laugh out loud the most and it's a testament to both Cody and the comic timing of the ensemble cast. Cody's script was criticised at the time for not providing the teenage characters with realistic dialogue however I disagree with this assertion. Instead the offbeat nature of the dialogue adds another layer to the film's already unique style and makes the character of Juno stand out from other female leads.
The aforementioned unique style is evident from the offset as we follow an animated opening sequence that sees Juno head off to take her third pregnancy test, accompanied by an extra-large bottle of Sunny Delight. Reitman makes sure that each character has a specific look from Bleeker's extremely bright athletic kit to Mark and Vanessa's yuppie outfits and Juno's stepmother Bren's collection of homely knitwear. The music is similarly memorable with Mouldy Peaches front-woman Kimya Dawson's voice being present during several of the film's key moments. One of the film's cutest moments involves Juno and Bleeker performing a Mouldy Peaches number on the the latter's front porch. However, I feel that Juno wouldn't have been as well-received if it were not for the Oscar-nominated turn from lead actress Ellen Page. Despite having already been in an X-Men film at this point, Page was still a relatively unknown quantity and I felt she proved herself here by appearing in almost every scene. She made Cody's dialogue feel believable and balanced both Juno's sarcasm with her more vulnerable nature. Ellen Page also shared brilliant chemistry with Michael Cera as the nervous Bleeker; with the two making one of the cutest couples in recent cinema history. As Vanessa, Jennifer Garner was a revelation as, up to this point she had mainly featured in action films however Juno really let her demonstrate what she could do when playing a straight-laced character. Recent Oscar winner JK Simmons and Allison Janney were also on form as Juno's parents with the latter having a rather tender moment with Garner at the end of the film. Another film that is a firm favourite of mind; Juno blends a fantastic Oscar-winning screenplay with a fine central turn and a style which perfectly sums up the indie comedy genre to which all of these three films belong.
Next time we turn our attention to a film that is often considered one of the worst Best Picture winners of all time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)