Friday, February 19, 2016


2016 Oscar predictions:

 

BEST PICTURE

The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

The Big Short

This has been one of the toughest years yet to predict best picture. I believe that it is between The Big Short, the Revenant and Spotlight, with an outside chance for Mad Max: Fury Road.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Brie Larson, Room

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Sylvester Stallone, Creed

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Rooney Mara, Carol

(Although it should be Jennifer Jason Leigh for The Hateful Eight!)

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out
Shaun the Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There

Inside Out

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Carol
The Hateful Eight
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Sicario

The Revenant

COSTUME DESIGN

Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant

Mad Max: Fury Road

DIRECTING

The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

Mad Max: Fury Road

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom

No prediction made

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

Body Team 12
Chau, beyond the Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Last Day of Freedom

No prediction made

FILM EDITING

The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Mad Max: Fury Road

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Embrace of the Serpent
Mustang
Son of Saul
Theeb
A War

No prediction made

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Mad Max: Fury Road
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out
the Window and Disappeared
The Revenant

Mad Max: Fury Road

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Bridge of Spies
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The Hateful Eight

(I thought the soundtrack for Spotlight was fantastic, but this wasn’t even nominated, although The Hateful Eight will win because of the fact that Ennio Morricone hasn’t scored a picture for many a year)

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

“Earned It,” Fifty Shades of Grey
“Manta Ray,” Racing Extinction
“Simple Song #3,” Youth
“Til It Happens To You,” The Hunting Ground
“Writing’s On The Wall,” Spectre

No prediction made

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Bridge of Spies
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant

Mad Max: Fury Road

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay’s Super Team
We Can’t Live without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow

No prediction made

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
Shok
Stutterer

No prediction made

SOUND EDITING

Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Mad Max: Fury Road

SOUND MIXING

Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Mad Max: Fury Road

VISUAL EFFECTS

Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room

The Big Short

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton

Spotlight

Saturday, January 17, 2015

The following are the oscar nominations for 2015.
I shall add a few comments on these then post my predictions nearer the time of the ceremony.
Well.... WTF, where the hell is the Lego Movie?!? I considered this a shoe in for best animated film and it isn't even nominated. I shall repeat again.... WTF. This alone made me consider boycotting the whole damn ceremony!
I am also surprised by the absence of Jake Gyllenhaal for best actor for Nightcrawler. I may not have been enamoured by the film as much as the people, but the central performance was simply brilliant.
My last rant is that Gone Girl is also not nominated for Best Picture and Best Director when it was clearly the best film of 2014!
Anyway... The main nominations:
Best Actor
  • Steve Carell, "Foxcatcher"
  • Bradley Cooper, "American Sniper"
  • Benedict Cumberbatch, "The Imitation Game"
  • Michael Keaton, "Birdman"
  • Eddie Redmayne, "The Theory of Everything"
Best Actress
  • Marion Cotillard, "Two Days, One Night"
  • Felicity Jones, "The Theory of Everything"
  • Julianne Moore, "Still Alice"
  • Rosamund Pike, "Gone Girl"
  • Reese Witherspoon, "Wild"
Best Supporting Actor
  • Robert Duvall, "The Judge"
  • Ethan Hawke, "Boyhood"
  • Edward Norton, "Birdman"
  • Mark Ruffalo, "Foxcatcher"
  • J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash"
Best Supporting Actress
  • Patricia Arquette, "Boyhood"
  • Laura Dern, "Wild"
  • Keira Knightley, "The Imitation Game"
  • Emma Stone, "Birdman"
  • Meryl Streep, "Into the Woods"
Cinematography
  • "Birdman"
  • "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
  • "Ida"
  • "Mr. Turner"
  • "Unbroken"
Costume Design
  • "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
  • "Inherent Vice"
  • "Into the Woods"
  • "Maleficent"
  • "Mr. Turner"
Directing
  • Alejandro González Iñárritu, "Birdman"
  • Richard Linklater, "Boyhood"
  • Bennett Miller, "Foxcatcher"
  • Wes Anderson, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
  • Morten Tyldum, "The Imitation Game"
Foreign Language Film
  • "Ida," Poland
  • "Leviathan," Russia
  • "Tangerines," Estonia
  • "Timbuktu," Mauritania
  • "Wild Tales," Argentina
Makeup and Hairstyling
  • "Foxcatcher"
  • "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
  • "Guardians of the Galaxy"
Original Score
  • "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
  • "The Imitation Game"
  • "Interstellar"
  • "Mr. Turner"
  • "The Theory of Everything"
Adapted Screenplay
  • "American Sniper"
  • "The Imitation Game"
  • "Inherent Vice"
  • "The Theory of Everything"
  • "Whiplash"
Original Screenplay
  • "Birdman"
  • "Boyhood"
  • "Foxcatcher"
  • "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
  • "Nightcrawler"
Best Picture
  • "American Sniper"
  • "Birdman"
  • "Boyhood"
  • "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
  • "The Imitation Game"
  • "Selma"
  • "The Theory of Everything"
  • "Whiplash"

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

2014 Review

Another year and another yearly review. So without further introductions:

Films

Top 3 films of 2014

The Lego Movie


The trailers suggested that this would be good, but sometimes trailers can be deception (The Phantom Menace, I’m looking at you), as such I was very pleased to find out that this film ended up living up to and even exceeding the trailers the proceeded it.

I love Lego, always have and probably always will do and this was pretty much as perfect a film about Lego as you could possibly find, including a surprising and incredibly touching finale.

Guardians of the Galaxy


This is a film that took most people by surprise, but I always had a sneaking suspicion that this would be the surprise hit of the year and it ended up being just that and is (at present) the most successful film in the US of 2014.

Marvel have been pumping out some excellent films of late, with no apparent end to the quality that it is producing. Guardians of the Galaxy turned out to be a good old fashion Sci-Fi romp of old, with a great soundtrack to boot. It didn’t take itself too seriously and everyone who watched it was just along for the ride in what has got to have been one of the most fun films of 2014.

Gone Girl


This is at the top of my list for film of the year 2014. I have been a fan of David Fincher for many years, but have found that some of his films have been a bit lacking of late. What I loved about Gone Girl is that I knew very little about it. All that I knew was that it was the story of a wife who goes missing and that the husband is under the suspicion for murder, but in truth this is only part of the story and the fact that the remainder of the story was kept under wraps (when most trailers spoil such things) is commendable.

Even discounting the twists and turns in the story, this is a film with a very modern look at relationships and is both witty and clever. I hope that it does well come Oscars, but I think that this is unlikely. Rosamund Pike at least really deserves recognition for her role.

Notable mentions:

Interstellar
Almost made it into my top 3, but decided that Guardians beat it out.

Under the Skin
The most Lynch like film, not directed by Lynch, for a long time.

Badadook
Scary and also thought provoking.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
A great Comic Book adventure.

X-Men: Days of Future Past
See above.

Games

Top 3 games on 2014

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn


This is my first real stab at an MMO, I’ve previously been put off by ongoing subscription fees, so I approached this by buying the PS3 version of the game (very cheap), then upgrading to the PS4 and getting 3 month’s worth of subscription (one month of which came free with the game). This ended up costing a little less than I would pay for a brand new game. I then looked to play as much of a could out of the game within this timeframe, with the hope of ending my subscription at that point.

What I found was a Final Fantasy game which reminded me very much of Final Fantasy XII (a game that wasn’t as widely accepted by most, but one which I really enjoyed). I would go as far to say that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, has probably been my favourite game since Final Fantasy XII and during those 3 months, I thoroughly enjoyed my time (but still have managed to avoid continuing my subscription).

PS The picture above is of my FFXIV character after I completed the game in full bard gear :-)

Alien Isolation


This is the first Alien game to live up to the Alien name, and instead of taking its inspiration from Aliens, it instead looks to Alien. This is much to do with the level of detail which has been put into the game, such as the computer consoles, music and the whole environment. I actually watched Alien again after playing the game and was amazed at the level of detail which had been taken from the film and incorporated so well into the game. This is a rare example of a film to move experience which really relishes its original source material.

The star of the game is the Alien however. Not only in how it looks, which is also spot on, but more due to it unpredictable nature and it ferocity. It is rare for a game these days to have a single foe which is so damn tough that you need to actively avoid it rather than take it on face on (which rarely ends well) and I much prefer this type of game experience than something where you mindless slaughter alien fiends. The game also had a little surprise in the last quarter of the game which I had not expected, nor was spoilt ahead of me playing, which was great.

Mario Kart 8


I love Mario Kart games and every time I think that Nintendo has honed the game to perfection (as I believed in the last couple of games), I’m proven wrong. Mario Kart 8 is the finest game in the series and is an utter joy to play. Nintendo have, in my opinion, managed to hit exactly the tight notes with this game. Whereby in previous games the weapons could seem overpowered, instead, if you are driving well they can slow you, but not totally destroy you place in the pack. There is even a weapon which can be stored to counter the dreaded blue shell, which is always a huge fist pump moment.

Added to the already incredible game are also DLC packs, of which I have already got the first (the second due in 2015). Whilst Nintendo have not been big on DLC in the past, this is both good value and also a great addition to the game.

My game of 2014 undoubtedly.

Notable mentions:

Persona Q
Just stated this, but am loving the reunion with the characters from Persona 3 & 4

Infamous: First Light
I seemed to prefer this expansion over the full game

The Wolf Among Us
Another great adventure from Telltale

PT
A demo, not a game, but boy did it scare the hell out of me.

TV

In previous years I have contained my comments to just Films, Gaming and Life (as my blog suggests), but for a change I thought I would add a few comments in relation to the content on TV.

Over the last few years, it is fair to say that TV programmes, in all their forms have been coming in leaps and bounds. This is aided, not hindered by the rise in subscription online providers such as Netflix and Lovefilm. Whereas previously TV was the domain for B list actors wanting to rise to film, instead actors have been actively pursuing TV work and real stars have come from TV.

The list of great programmes on TV is long, but I thought I’d highlight a few of the great series that I have watched recently.

Breaking Bad
I think I started watching this at the beginning of the year and got through it in a marathon session from beginning to end. A fantastic series throughout and probably one of the strongest TV series in a very long time.

Game of Thrones
I have continued to enjoy the stories from Westeros as they each play out.

American Horror Story
Again, caught up on series 1-3 of this, with series 2 being the strongest by far.

Black Mirror
Watched all of these (although haven’t watched the Christmas 2014 episode yet). Fantastic show with some real standouts.

House of Cards
Series 2 was as compelling as the first, with a very surprising moment in the first episode of series 2.

Life

A few bullet points of memorable things in my life from 2014:

We all thoroughly enjoyed our very first cruise holiday, which was a fantastic relaxing break. I also think that Elliot enjoyed some freedom on the cruise, finding friends and spending time with them instead of being with Mum and Dad all the time. I think that we will likely cruise again in the future based on this experience and money permitting.


During the cruise again, I managed to fulfil an early life goal of purchasing some Lego from Denmark!

Elliot found out that his secondary school would be Elizabeth College and started this in September. We were pleased that Elliot managed to get to the school that he hoped he would go to and also that he seems to have settled in well, adjusting to a different pace of school life.

During a trip to London I went to the Shakespeare Globe, which is something that I have wanted to do for some time and really enjoyed the experience.


Again there are probably lots more that I have missed out, but that will have to do for the year. So finally, I just wanted to wish people a…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!