For me the most surprising thing in last night's guild awards ceremony was discovering Johnny Depp in all photos including one with Yolanda Toussieng who won the guild's Lifetime Achievement Award. Toussieng is responsible for hair in films likeEdward Scissorhands and Ed Wood (she won an Oscar), so no doubt that she deserves the honor and Depp had a great reason to be there. He also presented the Lifetime Achievement award to makeup artist Ve Neill who also worked in films like Ed Woodand all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Now is no surprise to learn why Depp attended last night ceremony as many of his most iconic characters were in the hands of these two artists. Besides Depp looked quite different to how we have seen him lately, more alike to what he used to be. Check the photos.
Another guild that gave NO surprises as Mad Max: Fury Road won two awards and Carol was snubbed once again, in a tech category that could have won, sigh.
To check winners in TV categories go official site here. Winners are in *BLUE.
---///--- 1/13/16 Today the Make-Up Artist and Hair Stylists Guild announced their nominations for the 2016 edition of their awards withMad Max: Fury Road leading with three nominations.
As previously announced Make-Up Artist Ve Neill and Hair Stylist Yolanda Toussieng, both Oscar and Emmy winners, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Awards. “The bodies of work of Ve Neill and Yolanda Toussieng are legendary, and we are proud to rank them among the best in the history of our profession. They are extraordinary artists and accomplished leaders in the industry, and it is our pleasure to name them as this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipients,” said President Susan Cabral-Ebert.
Award ceremony will be on Saturday, February 20th at Paramount Studios Theatre in Hollywood.
Feature Length Motion Picture
Best Contemporary Make-Up Julie Hewett and Pamela Westmore for The Big Short *James MacKinnon, Autumn Butler and Roxy D'Alonzo for Furious 7 Melanie Hughes-Weaver and Judy Yonemoto for Pitch Perfect 2 Donald Mowat for Sicario Maurizio Silvi and Matteo Silvi for Youth
Best Period and/or Character Make-Up Morna Ferguson, Niamh O'Loan and Marlène Rouleau for Brooklyn Patricia Regan for Carol Naomi Donne and Norma Webb for Cinderella Jan Sewell and Renata Gilbert for The Danish Girl *Lesley Vanderwalt, Nadine Prigge and Ailie Smith for Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Special Make-Up Effects Joel Harlow, Kenny Niederbaumer and Khanh Trance for Black Mass Sian Grigg, Charlotte Rogers and Tristan Versluis for Ex Machina Ve Neill and Glenn Hetrick for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 *Damian Martin, Elka Wardega and Jaco Snyman for Mad Max: Fury Road Neal Scanlan for Star Wars: The Force Awaakens
Best Contemporary Hair Styling Sian Grigg and Charlotte Rogers for Ex Machina Linda Flowers, Jennifer Santiago and Lesa Williams for Furious 7 *Cheryl Marks, Meagan Herrera and Daina Daigle for Pitch Perfect 2 Zoe Tahir for Spectre Sarah Love and Linda Flowers for Spy
Best Period and/or Charcter Hair Styling Lorraine Glynn, Lorraine Brennan and Michelle Côté for Brooklyn Jerry DeCarlo, Jack Curtain and Kay Georgiou for Carol *Carol Hemming, Orla Carroll and Wakana Yoshihara for Cinderella Jan Sewell and Renata Gilbert for The Danish Girl Anita Morgan, Kerstin Weller and Kylie Clark for Mad Max: Fury Road
To check nominations in TV and other categories go official site here (not there yet, but will be there) or news here.
My favorite tweet about these nominations says: "I'll be over here wondering why FURIOUS 7 received two Makeup Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards nominations. (Vin Diesel's spray tan?)" LOL!!! But seriously I wonder how or whyFurious 7 and Pitch Perfect 2 got two nominations each... also, found make-up in The Big Short more on the really-bad side of the scale, especially Christian Bale make-up. So, go figure why or what guild is honoring.
Yesterday the International Press Academy had their awards ceremony and by now there are no big surprises with this group winners that gave top awards to Spotlight.
While reading the press release noticed perhaps the most interesting awards of the night with Best First Feature award going to Jayro Bustamente for Ixcanul and Breakthrough Performance to Jacob Tremblay in Room; also Amy Schumer won a special award for Breakthrough Comedian of the Yearfor Trainwreck.
Not that expected but well-deserved is the Best Actress award that went to Saoirse Ronan in Brooklyn and glad that Alicia Vikander got the Best Supporting Actress award for her LEADING role in The Danish Girl. Ah! the group didn't broke the awards season trend where outstanding Carol is snubbed; well, let's be kind as comment that got one award for Carter Burwell as his original score in Carol. Sigh.
To read winners in all cinema categories plus TV categories go official site here. Winners are in *BLUE. ---///--- 12/2/15 Yesterday the International Press Academy (IPA) announced its nominations for the 2015 edition of its annual Satellite Awards and here are some nominations for some of the 19 categories in motion pictures. As happens every year the award has too-many nominees per category, which serious industry pundits do not appreciate as seems like an effort to please everyone, unfortunately I tend to agree and this year will not be the exception, especially when in the TV categories Lady Gaga was nominated and social media went full force with the news. Sigh.
Nevertheless the group that includes American and foreign entertainment journalists in print, TV, radio, broadcast,and online outlets including critters, interviewers, bloggers and photographers chooses every year mostly popular, mainstream films and believe this year is no exception.
Special honors were announced for Spotlight, which will receive an Ensemble: Motion Picture Award; American Crime, Ensemble: TV; Trainwreck's Amy Schumer, an honorary Satellite for Breakthrough Comedian of the Year; and Jacob Tremblay for Room, Breakthrough Performance. In addition, the group will give its annual Tesla Award to Hive Lighting and its co-founders Robert Rutherford and Jon Edward Miller; its Auteur Award to director Robert M. Young; and itsHumanitarian Award to filmmaker Spike Lee.
Seven (7) actors and six (6) actresses got nominations as well as ten (10) motion picture which I find too-many to reflect any possible trend in the current American awards season. Nevertheless list includes many of this awards season favorites. Leading the pack is The Martian with 9 nominations followed by Spotlight with 8, with 7 each Spectre and The Danish Girl, and with 5 each Bridge of Spies, Carol, Sicario and The Revenant.
Motion Pictures Categories
Motion Picture The Big Short Black Mass Bridge of Spies Brooklyn Carol The Martian The Revenant Room Sicario *Spotlight
Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media The Prophet The Peanuts Movie The Good Dinosaur Shaun The Sheep Movie *Inside Out Anomalisa
Motion Picture, Documentary Where to Invade Next *The Look of Silence The Hunting Ground He Named Me Malala Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon Cartel Land Best of Enemies Becoming Bulletproof Amy Motion Picture, International Film The Throne, South Korea The Second Mother, Brazil The High Sun, Croatia The Brand New Testament, Belgium The Assassin, Taiwan *Son of Saul, Hungary Labyrinth of Lies, Germany Goodnight Mommy, Austria A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, Sweden
Director Lenny Abrahamson for Room Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant Tom Hooper for The Danish Girl *Thomas McCarthy for Spotlight Ridley Scott for The Martian Steven Spielberg for Bridge of Spies
Actress Cate Blanchett in Carol Blythe Danner in I'll See You in My Dreams Brie Larson in Room Carey Mulligan in Suffragette Charlotte Rampling in 45 Years *Saorise Ronan in Brooklyn
Actress in a Supporting Role Elizabeth Banks in Love & Mercy Jane Fonda in Youth Rooney Mara in Carol Rachel McAdams in Spotlight *Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl Kate Winslet in Steve Jobs
Actor Matt Damon in The Martian Johnny Depp in Black Mass *Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant Michael Fassbender in Steve Jobs Tom Hardy in Legend Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl Will Smith in Concussion
Actor in a Supporting Role *Christian Bale in The Big Short Paul Dano in Love & Mercy Benicio Del Toro in Sicario Michael Keaton in Spotlight Mark Ruffalo in Spotlight Sylvester Stallone in Creed
To check nominees in other Motion Pictures categories as well as in TV categories go to official site here. The Awards ceremony will be on February 21st, 2016 in Century City, California.
Yesterday the guild had their awards ceremony and to my surprise I find winners well-deserved even when are not necessary the ones I was hoping for.
There is only one more guild to go and all the guilds would have announced their winners, but this late in the awards season race to Oscars -which is next Sunday- no surprises shall come and top-contenders trends will continue to be not interesting for me. Sigh. Gosh, maybe next year Oscars will be as used to be, interesting to follow and interesting to watch. No doubt that what was really interesting is Cate Blanchett being honored with the Spotlight Award. In this photo we see Cate and Sandy Powell; Powell is responsible for Carol's costumes. Yes the very disappointing trend continues, Carol was snubbed once again, sigh.
If you wish to check winners in TV and other categories go official site here. Winners are in *BLUE.
---///--- 1/7/16 Nominees for the 18th Costume Designers Guild Awards (CDGA), which celebrates excellence in film, television, and short form costume design, were announced today.
The CDGA ceremony, one of the most prestigious and well-respected entertainment industry awards season events, celebrates the spirit of creative and engaging storytelling through costume design on both the big and small screen. The winners of the seven competitive awards will be revealed at the black-tie gala on Tuesday, February 23rd at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Really like the Lacoste brand, so will reproduce the complete press release with lots of Lacoste promotion (lol); goes like this ...
Continuing its long-time support of the Guild, LACOSTE is returning as Presenting Sponsor of the CDGA. In the past year, LACOSTE has been featured in films such as Spotlight, Pitch Perfect 2, and Ricki and the Flash, as well as in numerous television shows including Scream Queens, Bloodline, Jane the Virgin, and Saturday Night Live.
This year’s LACOSTE Spotlight Award will be presented to two-time Academy Award® winning actress, Cate Blanchett. Acclaimed film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor Quentin Tarantino will receive the Distinguished Collaborator Award in recognition of his support of Costume Design and creative partnerships with Costume Designers. An Honorary Career Achievement Award will be presented to Costume Designer Ellen Mirojnick for her outstanding work in film and television. Revered Master Dyer Edwina Pellikka will be honored with the Distinguished Service Award.
“I would like to congratulate all of the nominees of the 18th Costume Designers Guild Awards. We look forward to celebrating the work of our members as well as this year’s honorees at our awards gala on February 23rd,” said Salvador Perez, President of the Costume Designers Guild Local #892.
Excellence in Contemporary Film *Jenny Eagan for Beasts of No Nation Michael Wilkinson for Joy Arianne Phillips for Kingsman: The Secret Service Janty Yates for The Martian Carlo Poggioli for Youth
Excellence in Period Film Odile Dicks-Mireaux for Brooklyn Sandy Powell for Carol Kate Hawley for Crimson Peak *Paco Delgado for The Danish Girl Daniel Orlandi for Trumbo
Excellence in Fantasy Film Sandy Powell for Cinderella Sammy Sheldon Differ for Ex Machina Kurt and Bart for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 *Jenny Beavan for Mad Max: Fury Road Michael Kaplan for Star Wars: The Force Awarkens
To check nominees in TV and other categories go news via event company here and later to official site here, as haven't updated yet.
Not easy for me to select my winner/best in the Contemporary category as costumes tend to be of the too much "normal" side and do not see clearly how costumes designs contribute to storytelling. But obviously Period and Fantasy categories are a lot easier, so in Period I'm torn between The Danish Girl, Trumbo, Carol and Brooklyn (lol) and in Fantasy my vote definitively goes to Cinderella as I love the visuals in Ex Machina but the costumes? I do not know. My crystal ball tells me that for Oscars the nominees will come more from Period films than from other categories.
Extremely Late #Oscars2016 Predictions and Comments
So got convinced to write something about the Oscars. The catch was that IF the Cesar Awards make me happy THEN I was going to write about the Oscars. So here I am writing about what I consider perhaps the most unpleasant thing I could do today. Sigh.
Looking for inspiration was reading again THR's "Brutally Honest Oscar Voters" and gee somehow I agree more with one of the 2 ballots published this year (against 9 from last year-seems not many are willing to talk to Feinberg this year LOL). Yes the one where voter says "I rule out Leonardo immediately because it's a ridiculous performance" LOL!!! So true! But talking aboutThe Revenant also recall what I read somewhere, the article about how great is the film campaign to win voters by promoting "How hard was to make the movie", which obviously is a terribly wrong reason to honor a film with Industry's top awards. There are so many articles that destroy this movie but will only mention one more, the one that says " ... The Revenant, which will very likely win three of the four major awards at the Oscars this Sunday, is a dumb, gruesome, boring, macho slog that’s actively unpleasant to watch." Alright, perhaps the only award that could be well-deserved is cinematography BUT gee film is so unpleasant that is hard to "enjoy" the magnificent use of photography, sigh. So that's it now you know I really disliked The Revenant. LOL. Next, let's go to Spotlight and The Big Short. Both films tell important stories but regret to say that stories were told in such a not-interesting way. Spotlight was extremely far away from the newspaper reporters investigation genre benchmark, All the President's Men that won 4 Oscars in 1977; the later is a very intense/tense drama while Spotlight very-important message was presented so diluted (why?) that made film not enough dramatic or tense. Alright all those words to say: boring. The Big Short has been praised for telling a very difficult to understand story in a way that anybody will clearly understand, has even been called "user friendly" (lol). Well, perhaps is true but gee also was boring and in a way fragmented; but perhaps I'm one of those that understand the real "difficult" story and don't need the dummies version. Still, someone decided that film is a comedy and we have many film pundits remind us that "comedies do not win top award", so well maybe this trend will continue unspoiled this year.
In brief, NO, didn't enjoyed much The Revenant,Spotlight and The Big Short. If any of these top-three contenders wins top award I could care less (or IGS). Sigh. So let's close this segment by sharing what could happen tomorrow.
Best Picture Will Win: The Revenant, The Big Short or Spotlight Could Win: ditto Should Win: the only one that truly deserves the nomination- Mad Max: Fury Road
Yes, believe latest Mad Max has the quality to earn an Academy nomination, the rest not necessarily. 2015 was considered by many the "year of women in cinema" thanks to the many films about women and with women in the lead roles. Suddenly the awards season began and later, the Oscars nominations arrived and everything changed. 2015 was no longer a women's year as most honored films did not include the ones with female stories and/or women in lead roles. Only 2 movies made it to the top Oscar nominations: Room and Brooklyn. To me the first is more the story of the most intriguing performance in 2015, the one that deserved a Best Actor nomination, the story of a little boy played by Jacob Tremblay; consequently, Brie Larson performance is more supporting to Tremblay than leading Tremblay. Yep, Larson really deserved a Supporting Actress performance nomination.
Then Brooklyn is left as the ONLY film with a woman story and a woman in the lead. I know that this year again many are complaining about how white are the Oscars nominees, but as I mentioned before everywhere I could, there are so many issues with the Academy members that race is only ONE of the main issues. I have to add age, sexism or gender, and homophobia. Mention this because some call Brooklyn a "silly" sentimental story and yes, there is other movie that also gets the "sentimental" label, Carol. Both movies have female leads and are stories about women, but those comments come from men and from those that can be synthesized as "white, male, 63-years-old average, non-LGBT" voting Academy members (yes, that's the average description of the Academy members). So now we have a better idea about the reason-why Carol got NO nomination for Best Film and Best Director ...
Best Director Will Win: AGI or McCarthy or McCay Could Win: ditto Should Win: As Todd Haynes was not nominated, then has to be George Miller or Lenny Abrahamson that gave us two outstanding films
Yes Todd Haynes gave us a beautiful to watch movie about an unconventional romance, about falling in love, about doing something forbidden in a very conservative society, and yes, about infidelity in a broken marriage; the BIG problem was that story is about 2 women. You have no idea of how many films I can recall that have similar stories but all are about a man and a woman, some even went to get an Oscar nomination. But none is more relevant to me than awful The Kids Are All right that also is about 2 women, both have a "happy" ending, but have a big difference: Kids has a man portrayed in a positive way, while Carol man role is not portrayed positively. So why Carol was snubbed from top awards and Kids was highly honored with an Oscar nomination? You can search inside you for your answer, mine is absolutely related to homophobia. So sad, as Carol is a great movie with remarkable performances by the two lead actresses, great script, music, cinematography, editing and more, all masterly orchestrated by an openly-gay director, Todd Haynes.
Best Actress Will Win: Brie Larson Should Win: Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl or Cannes Best Actress winner Rooney Mara in Carol ... Oops! not nominated!!! LOL!
We have arrived to the "strategic" moves that have not-much to do with what happens in the film. To not diminish Cate Blanchett possibilities Rooney Mara lead performance was submitted and accepted as Supporting; me I wonder why they didn't do the opposite and send Blanchett to supporting and Mara to lead. Well, it's easy, Blanchett has more appeal than Mara, sigh. Then they also submit and was accepted, Alicia Vikander lead performance in The Danish Girl as supporting. Why? There was no chance she could win in lead against, who? Cate Blanchett? Jennifer Lawrence? Well, against well-known actresses; so Vikander has to pay her dues. There are big chances she will win as Americans seem to not like Steve Jobs, so Kate Winslet maybe has less possibilities than in UK's BAFTA's.
Best Supporting Actress Will Win: Alicia Vikander Could Win: Kate Winslet Should Win: Will be VERY HAPPY if Alicia Vikander or Rooney Mara win. The good news is that's one of the first awards given, so I will be awake to learn live who wins.
On the opposite side of the scale we find Me (!) as I enjoyed Steve Jobs as a very interesting stage play in 3 acts with many outstanding dialogue moments that absolutely blew my mind. So no surprise when I find Michael Fassbender performance as the best of all with nods for Best Actor.
Best Actor Will Win: Insufferable Leonardo DiCaprio role in The Revenant Could Win: no one else, is locked Should Win: Michael Fassbender or maybe Brian Cranston in Trumbo
We have to wonder why many pundits and fans consider this is the time and year of Leonado DiCaprio, so probably will honor more his career than this particular role, just the same than what the Academy did with Julianne Moore last year. As they like to honor careers and not specific roles then we have to wonder if that's what they are doing with the surprising nomination for Sylvester Stallone (!!!). Contrary to what many think, the Supporting Actor is easy to identify the best performance as Mark Rylance deadpan performance is truly very Scandinavian-style and deserves many honors.
Best Supporting Actor Will Win: who knows or cares - ok, pundits say Christian Bale Could Win: Sylvester Stallone (lol) Should Win: Mark Rylance and if he wins, Academy members redeem themselves (lol)
Have to stop as have many things to do today, but believe you get the idea about why the Oscars show will be BORING this year as many DO NOT CARE who wins in the top categories and when you do not care about winners, then you, the viewer, will not get the adrenaline rush that will keep you awake for 3 hours of acceptance speeches and mediocre sketches from award presenters. By-the-way and for your information, yes that'sBoring by Bansky.
There is so much controversy with this year's Oscars but perhaps the most surprising to me came when producers announced that not all nominated songs will be performed during the broadcast. Not only the announcement told about who will not win the category Oscar but also gave credit (and award) to a performer that some say has very little (if nothing) to do with the song. Nope, not a fan of Lady Gaga nor Sam Smith, so not looking forward to their performances.
One More.
Best Foreign-Language Film Will Win: Saul Fia Could Win: Mustang (and surprise: Theeb!) Should Win: Beautiful Mustang but wouldn't mind if Saul Fia wins or if any of the nominees wins as ALL are outstanding world cinema high quality movies.
2015 was an excellent year for World Cinema, much-much better than American commercial or not-so-much commercial cinema; there are so many outstanding French, German, other European countries, Australian, Latin American, Asian, and African movies that have seen and still have to see; but check the list of films submitted to this Oscar category and you will find many that are the best of the best from many cinema traditional and non-traditional countries
No, will not update LIVE the post but never do, so next time I write about the 2016 Oscars will be after the show and the American awards season will be over, finally. The unpleasantness of the American Awards season will be washed away, erased with some World Awards still pending and the upcoming Cannes Film Festival that to my big surprise, today learned about the first film for the 2016 edition!!!
Yesterday night the last industry group had their awards ceremony and to the surprise of many, there was a tie (!?) in the best feature sound editing FX and Foley, which is unusual.
Yes, Mad Max: Fury Road and The Revenat got entangled in a tie for the main sound category. Other winners are Bridge of Spies, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Love & Mercy, Inside Out, Kurt Corbain: Montage of Heck and Saul Fia. In a way wealth was spread among several movies which I believe is also unusual.
To check winners at official site go here but they haven't post them yet, but group official facebook page here has all the winners. ---///--- 1/28/16 A couple of days back the Motion Picture Sounds Editors announced their nominations for the current edition of the Golden Reel Awards. Nominees represent the work of the world’s most talented sound artists and their contributions to the past year’s most outstanding feature film, television, animation and computer entertainment productions.
“This year’s Golden Reel nominees have produced an outstanding body of work encompassing motion pictures, television, documentaries, gaming and other mediums,” said MPSE president Frank Morrone. “Our members continue to impress with their ability to develop new techniques and find creative ways to employ sound as a means of enriching storytelling. We congratulate all of this year’s nominees for their achievements.”
The MPSE Golden Reel Awards recognize outstanding achievement in sound editing in 24 categories encompassing feature films, television, animation, computer entertainment and student work. The 63rd MPSE Golden Reel Awards will be held February 27, 2016 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites in Los Angeles.
The MPSE Filmmaker Award this year goes to Sam Raimi and the MPSE Career Achievement Award to Richard King.
Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects & Foley in a Feature Film (tie) Shannon Mills and Daniel Laurie for Ant-Man Al Nelson and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle for Jurrasic World *Mark Mangini and Scott Hecker for Mad Max - Fury Road Alan Murray for Sicario Mandell Winter for Southpaw Matthew Wood for Star Wars: The Force Awakens Oliver Tarney for The Martian *Lon Bender, Randy Thom, and Martin Hernandez for The Revenant
Best Sound Editing: Feature English Language - Dialogue and ADR
*Bridge of Spies Mad Max: Fury Road Room Sicario Star Wars: The Force Awakens Straight Outta Compton The Martian The Revenant
Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue & ADR in an Animation Feature Film Aaron Glacock and Christopher S. Aud for Anomalisa Geoffrey Rubay for Hotel Transylvania 2 *Shannon Mills and Ren Klyce for Inside Out Dennis Leonard for Minions Anthony Bayman and Adrian Rhodes for Shaun The Sheep Movie Shannon Mills for The Good Dinosaur Gwendolyn Yates Whittleand Randy Thom for The Peanuts Movie
Best Sound Editing: Music Score in a Feature Film Ronald Webb for Creed Paul Apelgren for Jupiter Ascending Paul Apelgren for Jurassic Wold Bob Badami for Mad Max: Fury Road John Finklea for Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation *Paul Apelgren for Star Wars: The Force Awakens Tony Lewis for The Martian Martin Hernandez for The Revenant
Best Sound Editing: Music in a Musical Feature Film *Nicholas Renbeck for Love & Mercy Amanda Goodpaster for Pitch Perfect 2 Jason Ruder for Straight Outta Compton
Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue & ADR in a Foreign Feature Film Frederick Le Louet and Enrique Greiner for Días de Gracia Markus Glunz and Peter Staubli for Northmen - A Viking Saga *Tamas Zanyi for Saul Fia (Son of Saul) Resul Pookutty, MPSE and Amrit Pritam Dutta for Unfreedom
Best Sound Editing: Documentary Feature Film Mark Stoeckinger and Luke Gibleon for A Faster Horse Andy Shelley and Stephen Griffiths for Amy Pete Horner for Best of Enemies *Cameron Frankley for Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck Tim Nielsen and Christopher Barnett for Racing Extinction Bob Bronow for The Wrecking Crew Tony Volante for What Happened to Miss Simone Oleg Kulchytskyi for Winter On Fire: Ukraine's Fight For Freedom
To check nominees in TV categories go official site here or official facebook post here.
Think will be whining every single year, just like I did this year, as with all my whining was able to really lower my expectations to a minimum and yes (!) was able to enjoy the Oscars show! Not only did I enjoy the show but, surprise, was able to stay awake until the end. Why? Why something so unexpected happen?
Producers changed the show!
Yes, the show was VERY different. First decided to present awards as the film process happens and started with the script awards, where is exactly where any film starts, developing an idea into something more tangible. Alright there were some acting awards spread along the process that had nothing to do with it, but imagine that the more visible awards for viewers are the ones they actually are familiar with, the actors. Can't complain about the sequence, the order of presentation as believe allowed show to flow seamless. Take a look how the order came.
Second was VERY fast. Seems producer opted for a very fast flowing show, sometimes it felt too fast for me, but in the end that's what also help me to stay awake. But perhaps the biggest change was that show host actually was a host. In previous years host was like a comic relief that appeared more in the beginning of the show with an opening monologue and some dumb jokes along the first hour, then disappeared into oblivion. Sigh. Wish Ellen year would have her doing the host thing like this year, would have been a hilarious show!
Just 2 days before the Oscars was watching France's Academy awards, the Cesar and was wondering why the American show was not similar with a host that actually was a host along the complete show. Also think BAFTA's, the host is the host all the way to the end with frequent appearances. So, SURPRISE, finally the Oscars are doing the effort to have a host that hosts the awards ceremony! Good, hope they keep it for future editions.
Alright I'm one that enjoyed some of Chris Rock interventions, some were funny and some simply dumb or inconsequential to the show. Do not want to confuse anybody but let's be clear, I do approve the new format for show host, but I did wish they had the old format where we see Rock much less than what we did (lol).
So after all 2016 show was not that bad, especially when my favorite began to win awards! (lol). Yes, that also helped a lot. First almost jump when Alicia Vikander won best supporting actress; then couldn't help to notice and approve that Mad Max: Fury Road started and went all the way to win almost all tech awards (congratulations!), in the middle of tech awards El Chivo (sorry but it's true, he really looks like a goat!) won Cinematography for the third time in a row and Mexico went to twitter to let the world know how proud they are of their cinematographer, now a true cinema legend.
What followed was an extraordinary surprise when a small budget film won the Oscar for Visual Effects, an achievement that grows exponentially when you consider that was competing with very high budget studio films! Everyone lost their office pool bet as no one was expecting outstanding Ex Machina to win an Oscar! Another big surprise, when Chile won their first Oscar and yes, Chileans exploded twitter with their happiness. Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala animation short film took Latin America incipient animation to a different level. Great.
By now started to notice that not many Americans had won Oscars as most winners are from South Africa, Australia, Mexico, Chile, UK ... (after winners came from Pakistan, Hungary, more UK, Canada, Italy, etc -you see my point). Then we arrive to where the Academy members redeemed themselves to me, Mark Rylance won Best Supporting Actor! (lol) Yes, was a great surprise for many that were expecting a "sentimental" winner, but as someone said, quality prevailed above emotions. Great.
In brief, most glad Amy won as well as Saul Fia and most of all, Ennio Morricone who finally won a well-deserving Oscar for an Original Score after so many nominations, he already has an Honorary Oscar, but this one is really his first. Yay!!! After Morricone's win everything went amok (LOL).
Is true, had a great time Sunday night even when great movies were not honored with a nomination or an award, but you can't have it all in an industry that right now has many questioning issues about equal pay, race, gender, minorities, etc. I wish we could go back to filmmakers making GREAT (non-commercial) movies and have organizations honoring their efforts as we know, audiences do not have wide access to them. Sigh.
The BIG winner of the night was Mad Max: Fury Road with 6 Oscars making it the most successful Australian film ever -as many press headlines read. Some regret that film didn't win the awards that "matter" but I say that craft/tech awards are as important to filmmaking as any other category that Oscars honors. Yeah!
Then we have a HUGE surprise winner; the most surprising winner is Thierry Fremaux!!! Yes he definitively has a fantastic eye for films as four Cannes Selection films: Saul Fia, Inside Out,Mad Max: Fury Road and Amy won 9 Oscars in total. Can't wait for this year Cannes! (LOL).
To check winners at official site go here. Winners are in *BLUE.
Best Picture The Big Short Bridge of Spies Brooklyn Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revenant Room *Spotlight
Best Animated Feature Anomalisa O Menino e o Mundo (Boy and the World) *Inside Out Shaun the Sheep Movie Omoide no Mânî (When Marnie Was There)
Best Documentary Feature *Amy Cartel Land Look of Silence What Happened Miss Simone Winter on Fire
Best Foreign Language Film El Abrazo de la Serpiente (Embrace of the Serpent), Ciro Guerra, Colombia Krigen (A War), Tobias Lindholm, Denmark Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, France *Saul Fia (Son of Saul), László Nemes, Hungary
ذيب Theeb (Wolf), Naji Abu Nowar, Jordan
Achievement in Directing
Lenny Abrahamson for Room *Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant
Tom McCarthy for Spotlight
Adam McCay for The Big Short
George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett in Carol *Brie Larson in Room
Jennifer Lawrence in Joy
Charlotte Rampling in 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan in Brooklyn
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara in Carol
Rachel McAdams in Spotlight *Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet in Steve Jobs
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Bryan Cranston in Trumbo
Matt Damon in The Martian *Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant
Michael Fassbender in Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in The Big Short Tom Hardy in The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo in Spotlight *Mark Rylance in Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone in Creed
Best Adapted Screenplay *Charles Randolph and Adam McKay for The Big Short
Nick Hornby for Brooklyn
Phyllis Nagy for Carol
Drew Goddard for The Martian
Emma Donoghue for Room
Best Original Screenplay
Matt Charmanm Ethan Coen and Joel Coen for Bridge of Spies
Alex Garland for Ex Machina
Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen, for Inside Out *Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy for Spotlight
Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge, Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff, for Straight Outta Compton
Best Cinematography Ed Lachman for Carol
Robert Richardson for The Hateful Eight
John Seale for Mad Max: Fury Road *Emmanuel Lubezki The Revenant
Roger Deakins for Sicario
Best Film Editing
Hank Corwin for The Big Short *Margaret Sixel for Mad Max: Fury Road
Stephen Mirrione for The Revenant
Tom McArdle for Spotlight
Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Production Design
Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Rena DeAngelo and Bernhard Henrich (Set Decoration), for Bridge of Spies
Eve Stewart (Production Design); Michael Standish (Set Decoration), for The Danish Girl *Colin Gibson (Production Design); Lisa Thompson (Set Decoration), for Mad Max: Fury Road
Arthur Max (Production Design); Celia Bobak (Set Decoration), for The Martian
Jack Fisk (Production Design); Hamish Purdy (Set Decoration), for The Revenant
Best Makeup and Hairstyling *Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin for Mad Max: Fury Road
Love Larson and Eva von Bahr for Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann (The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared)
Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini for The Revenant
Best Costume Design
Sandy Powell for Carol
Sandy Powell for Cinderella
Paco Delgado for The Danish Girl *Jenny Beavan for Mad Max: Fury Road
Jacqueline West for The Revenant
Best Visual Effects *Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett for Ex Machina
Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams forMad Max: Fury Road
Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner for The Martian
Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer for The Revenant
Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Sound Editing *Mark Mangini and David White for Mad Max: Fury Road
Oliver Tarney for The Martian
Martin Hernandez and Lon Bender for The Revenant
Alan Robert Murray for Sicario
Matthew Wood and David Acord for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Sound Mixing
Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Drew Kunin for Bridge of Spies *Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo for Mad Max: Fury Road
Paul Massey, Mark Taylor and Mac Ruth for The Martian
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek for The Revenant
Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Original Score Thomas Newman for Bridge of Spies
Carter Burwell for Carol *Ennio Morricone for The Hateful Eight
Jóhann Jóhannsson for Sicario
John Williams for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Original Song
“Earned It” from Fifty Shades of Grey (Music and Lyric by Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Daheala Quenneville and Stephan Moccio)
“Manta Ray” from Racing Extinction (Music by J. Ralph and Lyric by Antony Hegarty)
“Simple Song #3” from Youth (Music and Lyric by David Lang)
“Til it Happens to You” from The Hunting Ground (Music and Lyric by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga) *“Writing’s on the Wall” from Spectre (Music and Lyric by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith)
Short Films
Best Animated Short *Bear Story Prologue Sanjay’s Super Team We Can’t Live Without Cosmos World of Tomorrow
Best Documentary Short 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
Best Live Action Short Ave Maria Day One Alles Wird Gut (Everything Will Be Okay) Shok *Stutterer
Official screenings of all motion pictures with one or more nominations will begin for members on Saturday, January 23, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Screenings also will be held at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood and in London, New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Active members of the Academy are eligible to vote for the winners in all 24 categories. The 88th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscar® presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
The nominations video
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1/14/16
Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Guillermo del Toro, John Krasinski and Ang Lee announced the 88th Academy Awards nominations today (January 14).
Del Toro and Lee announced the nominees in 11 categories at 5:30 a.m. PT, followed by Boone Isaacs and Krasinski for the remaining 13 categories at 5:38 a.m. PT, at the live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives.
Academy members from each of the 17 branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories – actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, etc. In the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominees are selected by a vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.
So that's enough of official blah, blah; truth is I was, I am and I will be in next days very disappointed with the nominations. Can't understand, can't accept, can't believe Academy members dared to snub a female-centered movie with a lesbian story. On second thought, now that I read what I wrote think that is easy to speculate why they left out Carol, as obviously it has to do with women (straight, lesbian or whatever); is not about the same sex story as would be extremely ironic when Academy members accepted and widely honored a two men gay story (Brokeback Mountain) that got 8 nominations and won 3, including one to the director Ang Lee, whom by-the-way was reading the nominations this morning! Grrr... No Best Picture and/or Best Director is a MAJOR snub for an outstanding film that is clearly better than at least four or five of the eight nominated for Best Picture and Todd Haynes work is better than at least three of the five nominees in the Directing category. Upsetting.
Alright there were other snubs but no other omission is as big as Carol left out of two major categories. Period. There were no positive surprises and perhaps the best so-so surprise is Tom Hardy's nomination in Best Supporting Actor category for insufferable The Revenant.
As the nominations were coming, early, very-early noticed that The Revenant had a nomination in most tech categories and dared to speculate that will be the film with most noms. I was right.The Revenant leads the pack with twelve (12) nominations followed by Mad Max: Fury Road with 10, The Martian with 7, and with 6 each Bridge of Spies,Spotlight and Carol.
Will do another post with more interesting data about the nominations, so will keep this post cleaner with the list.
Red Carpet Photo Gallery
Director and Cannes 2016 Jury President George Miller and his wife Academy Award Winner Margaret Sixel
#Cannes2016 Wish List - Part 2 Prominent Diversity
Usually I do not spontaneously think about independent cinema but I was reminded that in Cannes there is an important showcase of world independent cinema that's looking forward to find distribution, I'm talking about ACID. It's not easy to talk about world cinema as usually feels more like underground cinema than anything closer to mainstream, but that's why sections like ACID are crucial to learn about newcomers and become a vehicle to help their films be seen by audiences. I find this Cannes section to be highly unpredictable as there are not many sites that specialize in independent world cinema.
One of best sites to read their Cannes predictions is Wask, unfortunately is available only in French but nevertheless if you don't understand French, consider that film names and directors are easy to identify and then go elsewhere to read more about them. Up to this moment Wask has only the prologue of what's coming and they promise five different posts with what I imagine 20 films each. Soon we will learn what the site will do this year, check it here. Will share with you all a copy and paste of Article 3 from the Festival de Cannes Rules & Regulations 2016 as will clarify to many -including me- if film has the conditions to receive an invitation to the Official Selection (Competition, Out of Competition and Un Certain Regard).
Article 3 The Board of Directors chooses and invites the films which will be presented in Competition, Out of Competition or for Un Certain Regard. Each film invited to be part of the Official Selection by the Board of Directors will receive a Certificate of Participation. Only films that meet the following conditions may be chosen for invitation in the Official Selection:
Films that have been produced during the twelve months preceding the Festival; Films that have not been released anywhere other than their country of origin; Films that have not been presented at any other international motion picture event; If the film (feature or short) has been selected in an international section (competitive or not) of a festival, it becomes ineligible for the Festival de Cannes. A selection is international if it presents films from different countries; Films that have not been exhibited on the Internet; Films that respect the aims of the Festival as defined in Article 1; If participating in the "short film" category, films that do not exceed 15 minutes in length, including credits.
The second part of my wish list covers many of my most interesting directors, some have films ready while others I'm not sure they will have a finish version; some will premiere film in Cannes, while others suggest will open film before the festival. No matter what, they have new films that absolutely are must be seen for me.
Most Interesting Directors
Pedro Almodóvar with Julieta
It was called to my attention that Almodóvar tends to premiere his films in Spain before going to Cannes and if we check his films records we find that it's true for 3 films out of the four he has had in competition. As we can see in article 3, filmmakers can premiere their films in the country of origin and still be eligible for the Official selection. So, yes, Almodóvar latest film,Julieta, will premiere in Spain on April 8, 2016 and could be eligible; BUT if we believe IMDb then we see that on April 21 will premiere in Portugal and on May 6 in Mexico, so IF true, then film will NOT be in Cannes, no matter if France release is scheduled to May 18 as becomes not eligible.
Still, let's hope IMDb is not accurate and film still is Cannes eligible as is time he returns to Cannes with a strong drama in the female universe as Julieta suggests to be. Film international sales are handled by FilmNation and already has been sold to Sony Pictures Classics for North American rights. Film expectations are so HIGH that American cinema pundits are already speculating that film is a strong contender for the 2017 Oscars (!). Please recall that he has an Oscar and was not for a foreign-language film but for Talk to Her original screenplay. Yes film has extremely good credentials for Oscar and to be in the mother of all festivals.
Originally was called Silencio (Silence) but director decided to change name to Julieta so will not be confused with Scorsese's film. But the original name is crucial to learn about film as there is very little info about film plot; yes, I imagine is about silence and the main character, about something that happened when she was young and that will emerge when she's older.
Semih Kaplanoğlu with Grain
Kaplanoğlu's trilogy Yumurta (Egg), Süt (Milk) and Bal(Honey) is one of the most visually impacting cinema that I have seen, with a particular storytelling style -telling the story backwards- and outstanding performances. So waiting for a new Kaplanoğlu film has been a very long wait that finally is over, BUT my huge surprise is to discover that he's doing a film in the English-language even do is a Turkish, German, French and Swedish co production. Still the use of that language probably has something to do with the filming in Detroit, Michigan -plus Central Turkey, Cappadocia and Germany- and story is related to ecological science-fiction set in an indefinite near future, where existence of sustainable life is threatened, where a genetics expert and a general chaos scientist join forces in the Dead Lands to find fresh seeds, changing everything they thought they knew in the process.
International cast includes French-American Jean-Marc Barr, awesome Belgian Lubna Azabal and more actors from B&H, Russia, among other countries. Have no doubt that cinematography has to be with spectacular use of light and shadows as film is in black and white. Not sure what to expect of film but nevertheless because of his magnificent previous films, movie is must be seen for me no matter if makes it to Cannes or not. The Match Factory picked up international rights at 2015 Toronto fest where was promoted to buyers, so seems film is ready for
Andrea Arnold with American Honey
She came to my attention with her outstanding raw/realistic 2009 Cannes Jury Prize winner Fish Tank -wish was the second film with Michael Fassbender I've seen-; then her Wunthering Heights version that opened at 2011 Venice fest did not touch me, so I'm looking forward to her latest, American Honey that many expect to be ready for Cannes.
This UK and USA co production has a not-easy to watch story with a cast that includes troubled -but great performer- Shia LaBeouf and Riley Keogh among many not-known (to me) actors. Yes, story seems not really the kind I enjoy in film as tells about a teenage girl, Star, with nothing to lose who gets caught up in a whirlwind of hard partying, law bending and young love; but hope that Arnold's Fish Tank filmmaking style is present as will make story and film go up to a different -unique- level.
Film already sold to A24, which has USA rights; film was introduced in Cannes 2014 by Protagonist Pictures.
Ken Loach with I, Daniel Blake Seem Loach much announced retirement is over -or never happened-, great!!! His very particular social storytelling style is one that shouldn't be silenced, ever -not even by him. Add very raw, direct filmmaking style and we have some of the best films in British Contemporary Cinema. Highly enjoy his films so very glad that he didn't retire and very curious about his latest films. This time seems he will explore state welfare as tells about a middle aged carpenter who requires state welfare after injuring himself, and is joined by a single mother in a similar scenario.
Cristian Mungiu with Fotografii de familie (Family Photos aka Recycling Feelings)
Four years after outstanding Beyond the Hills, Mungiu has a new film and yes, I'm already "dying" to see it even when is Mungiu's first feature focusing on a male character, as he became famous with his female-characters stories. Still, film is a family drama about parenting set in a small Romanian town where everybody knows everyone, main character is a doctor.
Most surprising he didn't work with long time collaborator cinematographer Oleg Mutu, so I wonder how the look in this film will be and IF will be as breathtaking as in Beyond the Hills or as disturbing as in 4 months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. Not sure if film is ready for Cannes, but filming closed on August 2015, so should be ready for the fest even when official production site, Mobra Films has no info yet about movie, nor the other co production companies like Why Not Productions. The only place where found basic info was in Dardenne Brothers' production company Les Films du Fleuve.
Derek Cianfrance with The Light Between the Oceans
Cianfrance's fabulously darkish Blue Valentine opened in 2010 Cannes Un Certain Regard, so there are chances this film could also go to Cannes specially now, after the 2015 awards seasons as film leads are none other than Academy Award nominee Michael Fassbender and Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander, which obviously will bring some glamour and buzz to Cannes red carpet but more interesting, film Cannes presence will assure the quality of the film and actors performances.
A USA and New Zealand co production tells the story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia raise a baby they rescue from an adrift rowboat. Trailer suggests film feels/looks "different" to Cianfrance's previous films and maybe it is, as recent films he had sort of a claustrophobic atmosphere in indoors scenes; but here thanks to breathtaking outdoors scenes and use of light, there could be an absence of his previous atmospheric treatment.
Have seen everything with Alicia Vikander, including early Swedish films, so obviously film is must be seen for me, plus yes, also see and love everything with Michael Fassbender; "dying" to see them together, hope film will not disappoints me, as do not wish to see a melodrama -story could easily go that way- but an intense human drama with great performances and a masterful director. Cinematography is by Adam Arkapaw, fresh off working with Justin Kurzel and Michael Fassbender on Macbeth.
Cate Shortland with Berlin Syndrome
After Somersault and Lore, Shortland brings us a movie that seems could catapult her to an upper echelon in her filmmaker career as only from reading fantastic synopsis (by Memento Films) all my senses were stimulated and became very curious about film. Take a look.
While holidaying in Berlin, Australian photojournalist, Clare, meets Andi, a charismatic local man and there is an instant attraction between them. A night of passion ensues. But what initially appears to be the start of a romance suddenly takes an unexpected and sinister turn when Clare wakes the following morning to discover Andi has left for work and locked her in his apartment. An easy mistake to make, of course, except Andi has no intention of letting her go again. Ever.
Film is based on Melanie Joosten novel with the same name with a script by Shaun Grant who wrote Justin Kurzel highly disturbing The Snowtown Murders, so film has the right credentials to travel the 2016 festival circuit and good chances that trip could start in Cannes.
Emir Kusturica with On the Milky Road
Will long-awaited film be finally released this year? Seems finally film will see audiences this year; but could be in Cannes or in Venice? Don't know but many pundits speculate that has to be Cannes, to give him the opportunity of a third Palme d'Or. Besides being a Kusturica film, movie has him acting in a leading role along with Monica Bellucci in the female lead role, so that's something that I have to see no matter what (!). Been waiting for this film for the past 2-3 years, so let's hope Wild Bunch will release the film that just this morning announced in its 2016 lineup. Sigh.
Next installment will be about Latin American directors, then Asian directors, and will end with American directors.
Have not doubt that this year American cinema journalists are the ones that speculate the most with the films that could be in Cannes this year, specially with the ones that could make it to the competition. There is more press coverage from UK, France, Germany and more European countries, but if something they tend to agree is that 2016 will bring to Cannes more than the usual share of American films.
Perhaps the reason why so many American movies have a significant degree of opportunity to make it is based on the filmmaker and well, the "stars" that hopefully give good performances in film. The bad news is that speculation claims that Derek Cianfrance's The Light Between Oceans will not be ready as well as Terrence Malick doc Voyage of Time, Martin Scorsese's Silence and Oliver Stone's Snowden; soon enough we will find if they rush to make Cannes or not, but no matter what, obviously those are films that will watch as Cianfrance's film stars none other than the IN couple Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender. Talking about Fassbender makes me think about the other film by Terrence Malick that is "completed" according to IMDb, Weightless, so let's start with this director and film.
Terrence Malick with Weightless
Not a Malick recent movies fan but who can resist a film with Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Natalie Portman, Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling, Holly Hunter, Christian Bale, Val Kilmer, Benicio del Toro and more? Not me, even when now I wonder if will like Malick's version of 2 love triangles set in the music scene in Austin, Texas. Alright admit no one is talking about this film an Cannes but gee, wouldn't be nice to have Cate and Rooney walking the red carpet again this year? Sigh.
Jeff Nichols with Loving
I see everything with Jeff Nichols and I love his filmmaking style and his storytelling style, so I'm looking forward to see his 2016 Berlinale in competition Midnight Special and wouldn't be nice for him to be also in Cannes competition with Loving? Oh, yes!
Film distribution rights were acquired by Focus Features upon seeing some assembled footage at the European Film Market; so distribution is assured and we (pundits and me) hope make it to Cannes and to the competition. Story has to be impact-full as tells about an interracial couple sentenced to prison in Virginia in 1958 for getting married.
Tom Ford with Nocturnal Animals
Tom Ford has a second movie and distributors went crazy at 2015 Cannes market battling for distribution rights. Focus Features won by paying $20 million for what was then more a project than a film. That's the power of incipient director and acclaimed Fashion Designer after his AWESOME (yes, with capital letters) 2009 A Single Man that opened in Venice and went to win the Queer Lion and Colin Firth the Volpi Cup.
No, Tom Ford hasn't been in Cannes and believe that he graduated to be part of the mother of all festivals, but know that if film doesn't open in Cannes will do in Venice. Sigh.
So let's be positive as film has an interesting cast lead by Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Amy Adams, Isla Fisher and more in a story that screams "festival" (lol) all over: A story inside a story -about a book manuscript called Nocturnal Animals- which is give to Susan by her ex-husband, a man she left 20-years earlier. So one story is about Susan and the inside story (the other story) is about the manuscript. Story is based on Austin Wright novel called "Tony and Susan".
If something I do not question are film production values that imagine will have the almost perfect esthetics of his debut film. Can't wait to see this film.
Damien Chazelle with La La Land
If you wonder who Chazelle is because you forgot or lost info in you so-full-of-info brain, think Whiplash that opened in Sundance, went to 2014 Cannes Quinzaine and got multiple accolades during the fest and award circuit of that year, including multiple Oscar nominations and a win. Now think another movie with a stellar cast that includes Emma Stone, Ryan gosling, J. K. Simmons, Rosemarie DeWitt, John Legend and more; you know film has good credentials for festival opening.
Film release is set to "Oscar-friendly" December 2 for limited and December 16 for general release. Dates make me wonder if a Venice fest opening is more strategic than Cannes. Sigh.
Sean Penn with The Last Face
Penn used to be one of the many, cinema L'Enfant Terrible, so absolutely he knows Cannes both as an actor as well as a director; so makes sense that his latest film done after nine years of directorial absence, will find place in Cannes and buzz plus gossip place film in the Official Selection, but wonder if will be out or in competition.
Film has a stellar cast with Charlize Theron, Javier Bardem, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Jean Reno, and one actor that I was not aware of: the son of Sean Penn and Robin Wright, Hopper Penn. Interesting. Film tells about a director (Charlize Theron) of an international aid agency in Africa who meets a relief aid doctor (Javier Bardem) amidst a political/social revolution, and together face tough choices surrounding humanitarianism and life through civil unrest.
Besides the obvious reason of highly enjoying seeing Charlize Theron walking the red carpet again this year, now along Bardem and Exarchopoulos, film has the right quality for attending top festival and if we believe American press "insiders" then film will be in Cannes -no matter what! lol.
Jodie Foster with Money Monster
Will this be the opening film, I do not know but American pundits say is a "fact" film will be in Cannes this year and well, besides Jodie Foster being a true darling in France and French cinema (even do she hasn't done many French films), her film has a cast that will assure lots of press and photographers on the opening night as everyone's love George Clooney and Julia Roberts! (lol)
Alright, film also has an actress I highly enjoy in her TV performances, Irish Caitriona Balfe plus Dominic West, Jack O'Connell and more; all in a story that screams Oscars more than festival, about a financial advice show host who's taken hostage by a man trying to find out how he lost his money following the financial collapse.
Woody Allen with Café Society
Allen's untitled project has a name and social media went crazy as film stars none other than Kristen Stewart. If this film and Assaya's film make it to Cannes Official Selection, Stewart will walk the red carpet twice this year, which for a young actress is quite a career achievement. Still, has to happen, but if buzz is true, then it will.
Lately I'm not so sure about Allen movies, as some I highly enjoy but others are forgettable. Know he's back into full production, almost one film or more a year, but wish he would prefer quality to quantity (sigh). Nevertheless he's a legend and yes, his films open in festivals -not in competition as he doesn't like to compete- but surely out-of-competition.
Of course I'm dying to see film but more for the actress that finally is getting the attention as a serious actress she has been since she was a kid.
Ang Lee with Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
This USA, UK and China co production have low Cannes buzz, but since was talking about Kristen Stewart, couldn't skip the latest Ang Lee film where she has lead female role along Vin Diesel, Garrett Hedlund, Steve Martin, and more. Tells about a company that survive a harrowing battle that's captured by news cameras and brought home for promotional tour.
No, film is NOT what it seems as we have to recall who the director is, so there are chances that Stewart will stay for the whole fest (lol -I'm kidding). Wonder if distributor will allow Cannes opening as release date has been set for US Veteran's Day, November 11, 2016.
Now let's talk ab it about not American directors doing American Films
Denis Villeneuve with Story of Your Life
After Sicario, Villeneuve goes Sci-fi with a film starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Foris Whitaker, and telling about an expert linguist with the task to determine if alien crafts that landed around the world, come in peace or not. (lol)
I now story seems silly, but again we have to consider WHO the director is and well, think Sicario and more important think his early Canadian films like Polytechnique and surely we all imagine the storytelling and filmmaking style he will impregnate to story, to hopefully making a lot more interesting than a suggested synopsis.
Still, two years in a row in Cannes competition are not usual for any director and definitively if it happens will be an extraordinary achievement for the director.
Alexandros Avranas with True Crimes
Have to admit that in paper this film looks odd/strange to be nice but when we consider that Avranos won the Silver Lion for Best Director for 2013 Miss Violence and film stars none other than Charlotte Gainsbourg, Agata Kulesza plus (here comes my surprise) Jim Carrey, and telling about a murder investigation of a slain business man turning to clues found in an author's book about an eerily similar crime, then we know there has to be something different in this film.
From the few film stills was able to imagine spectacular cinematography that goes to the darkish/absence-of-light/dark-tinted visuals, which obviously attracts me to film beyond me watching everything with Charlotte Gainsbourg. By-the-way this is an USA, Poland and UK production. Not sure if film will make it to Cannes, but if not, most likely will be in Venice.
David Michôd with War Machine
The director of infamous Animal Kingdom (soon to be an American TV series) has a new film, an USA production, with a star that opens doors with his name, Brad Pitt and a story that yes, screams festival (!) as is a satire of America's war with Afghanistan with a focus on the people running the campaign. Film is produced by Netflix, so know film will not be blocked to open in Cannes just because a late-2016 USA release.
Not much Cannes buzz for film but the 2010 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner has pay his dues and believe graduated to any of the 3 major film festivals. If not Cannes, then could be Venice but will depend on when Netflix plans stream release.
Nicolas Winding Refn with The Neon Demon
We know where horror has its place in Cannes as most horror films end up in the Midnight Screenings of the Official Selection. Film has been labeled Horror and Thriller so wonder how much thriller or horror really has to deserve a spot at that Cannes section or maybe in other competitive or not section.
But a new Nicolas Winding Refn film is always news no matter if it is for all audiences or not; to be more factual, most of his films definitively are NOT for all audiences (lol) but I have enjoy them, even the darkest ones.
I'm curious about this film that does not star his regular Ryan Gosling but the surprising Keanu Reeves (yes I like him) plus Christina Hendricks, Elle Fanning, Jena Malone and more. Tells about aspiring model Jesse who moves to Los Angeles only to find her youth and vitality devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.
Was reading an interview with the cinematographer, Natasha Braier and will share what she said about working with Nicolas Winding Refn: "I think working with Nicolas Winding Refn is a gift for any cinematographer, because he is interested in visual story telling, in poetry, in suggesting rather than narrating." Very well put and yes, tells about some of the reasons why I enjoy his films.
Wish List Series Epilogue
Believe it or not, there are more American productions made or not by American Directors as list is really long. Highly doubt many will made it to Cannes, but it's a fact that 2016 and early 2017 will be a great time to watch extraordinary American films and in my book, those are great news!
Will remind you that there is a very long list in post here with many more films from all over the world.
The wait is not too long as in less than a month we will learn the films in all Cannes sections, the not-so-good news is that as of tomorrow I'll be traveling, so coverage goes back to minimum for a long while. Sigh.
For me the most surprising thing in last night's guild awards ceremony was discovering Johnny Depp in all photos including one with Yolanda Toussieng who won the guild's Lifetime Achievement Award. Toussieng is responsible for hair in films likeEdward Scissorhands and Ed Wood (she won an Oscar), so no doubt that she deserves the honor and Depp had a great reason to be there. He also presented the Lifetime Achievement award to makeup artist Ve Neill who also worked in films like Ed Woodand all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Now is no surprise to learn why Depp attended last night ceremony as many of his most iconic characters were in the hands of these two artists. Besides Depp looked quite different to how we have seen him lately, more alike to what he used to be. Check the photos.
