Monday, February 27, 2012

Oscars: Winners

 
The winners of the 84th Academy Awards are in! While I myself was hoping for some unexpected winners, most of the results were as predicted. We will give the list below, with some comments. Although Hugo and The Artist both won 5 oscars, The Artist is definitely the big winner here, securing the more 'important' oscars.  Now, without further ado, here they are!

Best Picture: The Artist
== Definitely a worthy victor, and no surprises there. It's been decades since a silent movie won this most prestigious award.

Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
== To bring a silent movie in a convincing manner, requires skill.

Best Actress: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady 
== Ahh Meryl. One of the greatest of all time. This was her seventeenth(!) nomination and third win. Look at her fantastic, funny and emotional reaction:  Meryls reaction

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
== The oldest winner ever, but so very much deserved, and to be honest, not only for this movie 

Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help
== Very emotional acceptance speech. That's what the oscars are all about.

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
== This one was between Michel Hazanavicius and Scorsese, both directing a movie about the beginning of the film medium. But, it wasn't Scorseses best...

Best Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
== For a man far in his seventies, still writes amazing screenplay. Very much deserved award.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash, The Descendants
== It's very hard to rewrite a story into something new, without seriously harming the original. This is what they achieved.

Best Animated Feature: Rango
== Very original animated movie, gracefully perfected by Depp.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year: A Separation (Iran)
== The obvious winner. I haven't seen it yet, but will soon enough.

Best Original Score: The Artist, Ludovic Bource
== Music is very important in every movie, but maybe even more so in a silent movie. Brought in a superb fashion by Bource and the Brussels Philharmonic

Best Original Song: Man or Muppet, The Muppets; Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

Best Achievement in Art Direction: Hugo

Best Achievement in Cinematography: Hugo

== Amazing how one feels like one is actually in Paris, living the story. These two awards are a well earned tribute to those who made that happen.

Best Achievement in Costume Design: The Artist  

Best Documentary Feature: Undefeated

Best Documentary Short Subject: Saving Face

Best Achievement in Film Editing: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
== Many a movie fanatic (myself included) don't really know what an editor exactly does. All I know is he or she makes the 'raw' movie look the way he looks at the end. Since The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is an amazing movie, i'd say: job well done!

Best Achievement in Makeup: The Iron Lady
== A bit surprising to me. Best explained through this picture: 

Best Animated Short Film: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Best Live Action Short Film: The Shore

Best Achievement in Sound Editing: Hugo
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing: Hugo
== Once more, music can make or break a movie. Well deserved.

Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Hugo
== A bit surprising. Harry Potter was the real winner here in my opinion. That movie is just one big visual effect.


And that's it! It was an amazing show. Comments or reactions are most welcome.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Spirit Awards winners



Since last night, we know the winners of the Spirit Awards! The spirit awards are given to independent filmmakers, whose budgets are fairly low compared with other movies and filmmakers.
Here they are:

Best FeatureThe Artist
Best Male Lead – Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Female Lead – Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Best Supporting Male – Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Female – Shailene Woodley, The Descendants
Best Director – Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist 
Best First Feature – J.C. Chandor (director) - Margin Call
Best Screenplay – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash – The Descendants
Best First Screenplay – Will Reiser, 50/50
Best Cinematography – Guillaume Schiffman, The Artist
Best Documentary – Steve James (director) – The Interrupters
Best International FilmA Separation (Iran)
Piaget Producers AwardTake Shelter
Robert Altman AwardMargin Call
John Cassavetes Award – Dee Rees (director), Nekisa Cooper (producer) – Pariah
Audi Someone to Watch Award – Mark Jackson (director), Without
Nokia Truer Than Fiction Award – Heather Courtney (director), Where Soldiers Come From

The Artist won several important awards, including best feature. Is this an indication for the Academy Awards as well? We will find out tonight!
On a personal note, I'm happy to see that Margin Call won two awards as well, including Best First Feature.

Movies - Pictures


A picture can say more than a thousand words... or at least tell the title of some movies. Can you guess the movies pictured here? (solution is in the comment section)


Thursday, February 23, 2012

Oscars



As many of you know, this sunday it's Oscar day! The 84th Academy Awards are bestowed upon some of the best in several criteria (24!) of movies and movie making... at least that's the ambition. We made a quick list of every award and the corresponding nominees. We also had the audacity to add our choice of winners. After all, this is a movie blog.

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
The Help
Moneyball
War Horse
The Tree of Life

G(oines) & M(ovie)T(ree): Hugo, definitely. Scorsese really made a pearl of a fairytale-like movie about the beginning of movie-making, fixing things and love

Best Actor
Demian Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball 
 
G: Brad Pitt with an excellent performance, catching the stressing theme of the movie
MT: Jean Dujardin. No Doubt.

Best Actress
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
 
G: Even though i expected more from the girl with the dragon tattoo, Rooney Mara is mystery incarnate. Love it
MT: Meryl Streep. Playing Thatcher is really right up her alley

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Max Von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close 
 
G & MT: Nick Nolte in warrior, as the remorseful drunk father. (By the way, we also think that Warrior should have been nominated for more than one award. Amazing movie)


Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help 
 
MT: Octavia Spencer in The Help!

Best Director
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo 
 
G: Scorsese. He pulls the viewer in the movie, leaving no one untouched.
MT: Michel Hazanavicius. What he made, was daring, to say the least.

Best Original Screenplay
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
JC Chandor, Margin Call
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, Bridesmaids 
 
G: JC Chandor with Margin Call. Amazing how the 2008 bank crisis is viewed from an important investment bank. (Deserves a best picture award as well I think.)
MT: Michel Hazanavicius with The Artist

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash, The Descendants
John Logan, Hugo
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, The Ides of March
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian, Moneyball
Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughn, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 
 
G & MT: Hugo. 
 
Best Animated Feature
A Cat In Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

G & MT: Rango. An original story, very convincingly voiced by Johnny Depp, among others

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Bullhead (Belgium)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran)

G: Bullhead
MT: A Separation

Original Score
The Adventures of Tintin, John Williams
The Artist, Ludovic Bource
Hugo, Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesias
War Horse, John Williams

G: John Williams in Tintin. The music adds to the adventure
MT: Ludovic Bource in the Artist.

Best Original Song
Man or Muppet, The Muppets; Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
Real in Rio, Rio; Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett

G & MT: Man or Muppet, The Muppets

Best Achievement in Art Direction
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse

G: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
MT: The Artist

Best Achievement in Cinematography
The Artist
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
The Tree of Life
War Horse

G: Hugo
MT: The Artist

Best Achievement in Costume Design
Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.

G & MT: Hugo

Best Documentary Feature
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

Best Documentary Short Subject
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement?
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

Best Achievement in Film Editing
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball

G: Hugo
MT: The Artist

Best Achievement in Makeup
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Iron Lady

G & MT: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Two words: Nose gone.

Best Animated Short Film
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Best Live Action Short Film
Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic

G & MT: Tuba Atlantic

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Drive
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

G: Drive. Definitely spices up the movie
MT: Transformers

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

G & MT: Transformers

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

G: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Even though the rest of the movie was debatable, the visual effects were amazing,
MT: Hugo



And that's all folks! I think our favorite movies are obvious: Goines chooses Hugo, Movie Tree roots for the Artist to be the big winner!
Sunday, here we come

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Helena Bonham Carter

There seems to be a recurring theme in the roles played by Helena Bonham Carter...














I find that if you can play these roles convincingly, you are a damn good actress.
The movies here are, from left to right, Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Fight Club (all worth watching by the way)

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Law Abiding Citizen


If I can summarize this movie in three words: brutal thrilling action.

The story tells us about a man, Clyde Shelton, played by Gerald Butler, whose wife and daughter are killed before his eyes (that scene is actually the most brutal and sickening to me). The killers get caught, but one of the killers strikes a deal and gets a minimum sentence. 10 years later Clyde goes on a roaring rampage of revenge, targeting everyone who he thinks has any responsibility in the matter, ranging from the killers to the district attorney, and especially his former lawyer, Nick Rice, played by Jamie Foxx.

Even though Clyde himself strongly denies that revenge is his motive, I seriously doubt there was any other real motive. He claims to accuse the legal system of being extremely flawed, letting gruesome murderers go free by striking “deals”, and to prove his point, he murders people gruesomely. Besides the fact that there are probably a lot more efficient ways to "expose" the system, does he really has to kill all those people, and go about it so brutally? Is it just for the sake of brutality? I mean, that seems like double standards in measuring morality to me. 

That sort of contradictions in the moral values and other beliefs of Clyde returns several times during the movie (e.g. he lets his family “watch” while he kills someone, by hanging up a photograph of them, but later claims that his family can’t feel anything, because they’re dead). For me, that was a bit of a letdown. Of course you could say that he really is just a nutter without any moral standards, but I don’t think that was what the director intended.

Other than that, it was a pretty decent and thrilling action movie. There were several unexpected turns and surprises, mixed with some nicely thought-out mystery. The writer, Kurt Wimmer, does use that sort of mystery often (e.g. Salt, Equilibrium,…). And don’t get me wrong: the brutality actually makes the whole a lot more terrifying (in a good way). Because of the way Clyde handles things, you can’t really call him the “good guy”. The viewer is still free to make up his or her own mind about who is wrong or right here. Not bad sir, not bad.

About the acting, I don’t really have anything good or bad to say. Both Butler and Foxx performed quite well, but apart from the first scene, not really mind-blowing. To me, the best performance in the movie was that of Viola Davis, playing as the mayor. I could really see the masked distress and fear in her way of handling the situation.

To summarize: An unusual, brutal action movie definitely worth watching, if you don’t try to scrutinize the movie in every detail.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Abraham Lincoln avenges his mother's death by killing vampires. Produced by Tim Burton. In belgian theaters 11 july 2012. Looking forward to it.

Iron Sky, Nazis from the moon

Revengeful nazis coming from the moon to take over the world... So yeah, that's happening.
I myself love these kind of "far fetched" ideas.
For the (older) gamers among us: Yuri of red alert: 2 (Udo Kier) makes this film all the more freaky.


Thursday, February 16, 2012

Suit up!

Some actors suited up and posing with a reference to some of the great movies they participated in.
Can you recognize them all?

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Goines' top 5 upcoming movies 2012

1. Prometheus
Ridley Scott back to his roots! It's claimed to be the prequel of the "Alien" movies. Let us not forget that it was mr. Scott who directed the first (and the only worth watching, in my opinion) Alien movie.
A group of explorers embark on a mysterious and dark journey to discover the origins of mankind... sounds ambitious, yet promising!  (extra: starring Michael Fassbender! love that guy)
IMDb: Prometheus

2. The Dark Knight rises
Really don't need to explain this to the Dark Knight series fans. The trailer gives you the creeps (the little kid singing The Star-Spangled Banner, followed by Bane's voice), so if that is any indication for the rest of the movie (i know, that's risky to say), this will be a nerve-wrecking, pumped up action movie with a good storyline. Also: Bane is played by ultimate bad-ass Tom Hardy.
IMDb: The Dark Knight rises

3. The Hunger Games
Couple of things: A movie based on a good book always gives me a certain reassurance that the storyline will be OK (though it's easy to screw up the rest). Also: Battle Royale anyone? This awesome cult movie popped in my head after reading the story. Yes, must see.
IMDb: The Hunger Games

4. Brake
Now here's a cool idea: put a guy in a trunk and shoot a movie about it. Similar to "Buried", with Ryan Reynolds, the success of this movie will rely heavily on the skills of the actor (here: Stephen Dorff). The director, Gabe Torres, is mostly known for TV series. Let's see how that works out.
IMDb: Brake

5. Mirror Mirror
What can i say, i'm a sucker for fairytales, especially when the evil queen is played by Julia Roberts. Besides that, this snow-white movie is shot by the illustrious Tarsem Singh (favorite of mine since "The Fall").
IMDb: Mirror Mirror

True Grit

Recenty I saw the movie True Grit. I wanted to see the movie for a very long time, since he was nominated for ten Oscars (amongst others Best motion picture, best performance by an actor in a leading role and best performance by an actress in a supporting role), yet won none. So when I started watching this movie, I had high expectations.

Now afterwards, those expectations have not been fulfilled. I thought I was going to see a western full of action with cowboys who take their barrel out of their holster more times than you and I can count. After two short gun scenes and a lot of dialogues, I was disappointed. Well, maybe my expectations where in the wrong direction. The Coen brothers are known for their seemingly "casual", but at the same time very intriguing storylines (e.g.: No country for old men, The big Lebowski).  The story in True Grit however is very simple throughout the whole movie, so a little bit more action would have been welcome.

The movie tells the story of the fourteen-year-old girl Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) who wants to avenge her father’s death by going after his killer Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) and therefore she hires in the help of US Marshell Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and texas ranger LeBoeuf (Matt Damon). The rest of the story tells about their quest and the tension between Rooster and LeBoeuf. In my opinion this story has been surpassed by the current movie era. In the sixties where westerns were the order of the day, this probably would have been a great movie, but I don’t think a remake was necessary. Not that westerns cannot be popular nowadays, but if I compare True Grit to 3:10 to Yuma, I give the latter a higher score, although he was only nominated for two minor Oscars.

With regard to the dialogues, my feeling is twofold. Some dialogues are very amusing and strongly written, yet some dialogues where nothing out of the ordinary, and it were at times like these, the film was starting to get me bored. What did put the movie to a higher level where the acting performances. Jeff bridges plays magnificent as the drunk, stubburn and arrogant Rooster Cogburn who rather kills then take villains to trial and who’s only goal initially is money. It’s a role that suits Jeff Bridges perfectly and he earned his 2011 oscar nomination for Best Performance as an Actor in a Leading Role (eventually went to Colin Firth for his role in the king’s speech). Also Hailee puts in an excellent performance as the cocky Mattie Ross who thinks she’s already an adult and who want s to be treated this way. Matt damon deserves an honorable mention as LeBoeuf. The characters in this movie are well developed and you see them evolve throughout the story. Rooster turns from a US Marshall who’s only goal in life is bounties and who is not a people person to a man who cares for others and reserves a special place in his heart for his companion Mattie Ross. Mattie Ross who wants to be cool and detached only driven by vengeance can ultimately not hide her age of fourteen and begins to feel a special attachment to Rooster. At first she sees him as someone brutal she hired, afterwards she sees him as her protector, and at some point she started to see a father figure in him. LeBoeuf who has his own agenda as a texas ranger and only joined them from a selfish point-of-view feels at he end the obligation the help his companions who he first left alone.

Final: True grit tells a simple story and this in combination with a lack of action, makes it a rather disappointing movie for me. The performances, on the contrary, are of a very high standard and the characters are well-developed. Because of this, it’s still a movie worth seeing.

IMDb: True Grit

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Cello Wars




Pretty funny movie involving the Star Wars music. I tip my hat to John Williams of course.
I should give you a heads up: Darth Vader was never the same for me after watching this...