David Winnick's Blog, page 3

Casting News Guardians of the Galaxy

If you haven’t noticed, I am really excited to see James Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Essentially nothing has happened with the movie yet. All I have seen is the above image. I don’t care. This is going to be amazing. Some new casting news came out today. It seems that Gunn and Marvel are looking at Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler to play some character. I don’t know which one, although it makes logical sense that they would be vying for the role of Rocket Raccoon. Below you will find two videos which prove that both men are actually excellent dramatic actors. Best of luck to both men, they could each use shots in their careers’ arms.

What Should Have Been Nominated

So I said yesterday that I was going to take a look at some of the errors in the nominations. Well, here it is.

Best Director

Ben  Affleck- Argo

The Man just won the critics choice award last night. his film was nominated for five awards, all in major categories. The man put together a brilliant film and he should be recognized for it. Actually he has made three brilliant films but that doesn’t really effect this years race.

Best Original Screenplay

Cabin in the Woods

Looper

Both of these films should have been nominated for best original screenplay. The writing on both of these was perfect. The real reason they were overlooked was because the were genre films. I promise these contain some of the best writing of the year.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Lawless

Nick Cave deserves some recognition. Anyone who can write a character like Forest Bondurant and make him more than just a one trick pony should be recognized for his writing skill. Not many people saw this film and it isn’t going to bring in huge crowds for its home video release. Make the time to see it.

The Avengers

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to state that a comic book adaptation should still count as an adaptation. To distill decades of story into a two-hour movie is a difficult job and The Avengers script was really solid. Did I also mention that it also brought together four distinct film series and didn’t leave people who hadn’t seen the other five films scratching their heads.

Best Costume Design

The Avengers

Not a single one of those character costumes should have worked on-screen. They are all completely different and absolutely shouldn’t have worked together. Enough with the period pieces. It is time to give some credit to a film where there was no real material to utilize and learn from. This is from concept to reality and it looked amazing.

These are my major gripes. I have more but I won’t go into them at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Academy Award Nominations

Here is the list of nominees for the 2013 Academy Awards. At this moment I am going to have to re-read these a few times and mull them over before coming up with a response. I have to say that many of these are disappointing to me on various levels. I will likely have a closer look at this tomorrow. Until then, have a good look and ponder the future.

BEST PICTURE 

 

- Beasts of the Southern Wild

- Silving Lingings Playbook

- Zero Dark Thirty

- Lincoln

- Les Miserables

- Life of Pi

- Amour

- Django Unchained

- Argo

 

BEST DIRECTOR

 

- David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

- Michael Haneke, Amour

- Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

- Steven Spielberg, Lincoln

- Ang Lee, Life of Pi

 

BEST ACTOR

 

- Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

- Denzel Washington, Flight

- Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

- Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

- Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

 

- Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

- Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

- Robert De Niro, Silver Linings

- Alan Arkin, Argo

- Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

 

BEST ACTRESS

 

- Naomi Watts, The Impossible

- Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

- Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

- Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

- Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

 

- Jackie Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

- Helen Hunt, The Sessions

- Amy Adams, The Master

- Sally Field, Lincoln

- Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

 

- John Gatins, Flight

- Mark Boal, Zero Dark Thirty

- Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

- Michael Haneke, Amour

- Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom

 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

 

- Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

- Chris Terrio, Argo

- Tony Kushner, Lincoln

- David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

- David Magee, Life of Pi

 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

 

- Frankenweenie

- Wreck-It Ralph

- Paranorman

- Brave

- Pirates: A Band of Misfits

 

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

 

- Amour

- No

- War Witch

- A Royal Affair

- Kon-Tiki

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

 

- Seamus McGarvey, Anna Karenina

- Robert Richardson, Django Unchained

- Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi

- Janusz Kaminski, Lincoln

- Roger Deakins, Skyfall

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY – FEATURE

 

- 5 Broken Cameras

- The Gatekeepers

- How to Survive A Plague

- The Invisible War

- Searching for Sugar Man

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

 

- Inocente

- Kings Point

- Mondays at Racine

- Open Heart

- Redemption

 

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

 

- Asad

- Buzkashi Boys

- Curfew

- Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)

- Henry

 

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

 

- Adam and Dog

- Fresh Guacamole

- Head over Heels

- Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”

- Paperman

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

 

- Dario Marianelli, Anna Karenina

- Alexandre Desplat, Argo

- Mychael Danna, Life of Pi

- John Williams, Lincoln

- Thomas Newman, Skyfall

 

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

 

- “Skyfall” – Skyfall

- “Everybody Needs A Friend” – Ted

- “Pi’s Lullabye” –  Life of Pi

- “Suddenly” – Les Miserables

- “Before My Time” – Chasing Ice

 

BEST SOUND EDITING

 

- Argo

- Django Unchained

- Life of Pi

- Skyfall

- Zero Dark Thirty

 

BEST SOUND MIXING

 

- Argo

- Les Miserables

- Life of Pi

- Lincoln

- Skyfall

 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

 

- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

- Anna Karenina

- Les Miserables

- Life of Pi

- Lincoln

 

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

 

- Hitchcock

- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

- Les Miserables

 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

 

- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

- Life of Pi

- The Avengers

- Prometheus

- Snow White and the Huntsman

 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

 

- Anna Karenina

- Les Miserables

- Lincoln

- Mirror Mirror

- Snow White and the Huntsman

 

BEST FILM EDITING

 

- William Goldenberg, Argo

- Tim Squyres, Life of Pi

- Michael Kahn, Lincoln

- Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers, Silver Linings Playbook

- Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg, Zero Dark Thirty

Pacific Rim Trailer

If you don’t want to see this, I don’t know how to talk to you anymore. This looks so amazing, I can hardly contain myself. Del Toro hasn’t failed me once. I know that there are some skeptics out there. I just hope this changes your minds. It looks like everyone involved in this film has put their all into it. Who is in?

The Top Ten Movies of 2012

Last night, I saw Les Miserables which I assume will be the last new movie I shall see this year. With the final nail in my movie year books coffin, it has become the time for me to give all of you lovely people my list of the top ten films of the year. Just as a heads up, while I did like Les Miserables a fair amount, it is simply just not going to make the cut. Perhaps if I were doing a list of the top twenty-five. With that in mind, here come the best films of the year in ascending order.

10) Haywire

This is movie contains some of my favorite action sequences of the year. It is interesting to think that many critics got on Steven Soderbergh for being incapable of filming action when he has made some of the best filming choices ever. So often now, action sequences are fetishised versions of a fight, the camera cuts so rapidly that it frequently becomes impossible to tell what is what and who is who. Soderbergh made a brilliant choice by hiring former MMA fighter Gina Carano and pulling the camera out far enough so that the audience could actually see what she was doing. It is a brilliant action film.

9) The Dark Knight Rises

Not the best film in the Dark Knight Trilogy but a strong showing. I vacillate a bit on this movie. There were moments in it that bothered me but at the same time there were sequences that were fantastic. While many critics nitpick the movie to death, I choose instead to ignore the flaws and look at its strengths. Not the least of which is that it is the third film in a superhero franchise which is not an embarrassment. It was a strong showing which brought the trilogy full circle. and for that, it makes the top ten,

8) The Avengers

The second highest grossing film of all time is a perfect example of what can be when people work together. Never before has a crossover film of this magnitude been made. Every character beat was spot on. It was everything I could possibly want in a summer blockbuster film and more.

7) Argo

Ben Affleck is one of the best modern film makers. Argo is easily one of the most tense films I have seen all year. This is even more impressive because I already knew what the outcome of the film was going to be. Affleck deserves to be nominated for a best director Oscar this year.

6) The Amazing Spider-Man

Was a reboot of the franchise necessary? No. Was it worthwhile? Without a doubt. Finally, Spider-Man fans got a movie about our favorite web-slinger where he wasnt the worlds biggest sad sack. We also didn’t have to hear “With great power comes great responsibility” fifty thousand times. This is Ultimate Spider-Man the film and it was excellent.

5) Skyfall

James Bond was back with a vengeance this year. After nearly disappearing due to the MGM going out of business, James Bond showed up to the theaters to kick ass. This movie brought back everything that was great about the Bond films while still remaining true to the current continuity. It also had one of the creepiest villains of the year. Javier Bardem deserves all the praise he got for playing SIlva. Just thinking about him gives me the willies.

4) Lawless

This film actually proved to me that Shia LaBeouf is a decent actor. In fact, he is more than decent, he is good. Not many people saw this in the scheme of things. The movie brought in a meager 37 million at the box office. If you haven’t seen it yet, seek it out on home video. This has such a great script by Nick Cave. Trust me, you wont be disappointed.

3) Looper

Top to bottom sci-fi excellence. Time paradoxes and everything else, this movie kept me constantly guessing. Joseph Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis are quite good at channelling each other. I hope that Rian Johnson gets nominated for best original screenplay.

2) Django Unchained

Just remember, the D is silent. Tarantino never disappoints. This is the closest he has come to a straight comedy, This is his version of Cat Ballou  or Blazing Saddles. I was laughing so hard that my face actually began to hurt. Leonardo DiCaprio is unhinged, another charmingly evil villain. I am going to stop there as I don’t want to ruin the movie.

1) The Cabin in the Woods

I wrote a review of this earlier in the year. It was the greatest surprise I had at the theaters over the past twelve months. I could re-watch this film every week and not get bored. It is so packed with detail, there is always something new to see. Watch it and love it.

Tony Stark is Beat and we get a look at Malekith

Surfing the net today, I found this new pictures from Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World. I know that they don’t show much but they are pretty cool images. I am really interested to see how this is all going to play out. As the first film of Phase 2, Iron Man 3 is going to set the stage for everything to come. Once again, I think that Marvel Studios and Disney are making brilliant decisions. Having Chris Eccleston replace Mads Mikkelsen as Malekith in Thor: The Dark World was genius. Getting James Gunn to write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy, inspired. Phase 2 is the most exciting thing in film for me right now. I am sure it will be great.