Aliens of the Deep (Flick’s Review)
Posted on | April 2, 2012 | Add Comments
4 stars
James Cameron, Marine and Astrobiologists and more travel 2 1/2 miles below the surface of the ocean. They encounter alien-like sea creatures and test scientific experiments.
The man that made the two of the highest grossing films of all time, Avatar and Titanic (both beaten only by Gone with the Wind) is also fascinated by the depths of the ocean. In 2003, he made the film Ghosts of the Abyss where he and Bill Paxton, an actor in Titanic traveled to the sunken ship itself. Then, in 2005, he directed Aliens of the Deep. It’s no wonder that James Cameron shows off his knack for visuals; while this film is a documentary Cameron does show off his talent, and that’s fine with me, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of the documentary aspect of the film. Fortunately, it doesn’t. The creatures in the film are fascinatingly shown off in scenes that give us great cinematography and teach us interesting new things. It’s obvious that Cameron has talent, and he displays it, here but not in the way he did in Avatar. Here we actually learn something.
Cameron himself says, “Here’s the deal. I love this stuff.” That is completely evident here. I learned many new things that I didn’t know before. Absolutely nothing in the film is complicated (no brain work today buster!) but that’s not the point. Cameron is much more interested in trying to interest his audience. He does, brilliantly.
The film is basically two short films: the first half focuses more on the wonder and spectacle of the deep sea animals, while the second half focuses more on how Cameron and his crew traveled, explored and researched the deep sea. This is why the movie works well. Cameron doesn’t let his knowledge fall into a mess. No, no, he keeps everything organized. The whole film is organized. So perfectly. That’s actually my problem with the film: it’s so perfect. Only once do we see a failure with the crew. It would have been nice to see some more faults that occurred during the journey and that’s the problem with Cameron, he doesn’t want to show his mistakes or faults. A perfectionist as they call ‘em, a perfectionist.
My favorite character (explorer) was Dijanna Figueroa because she was (like so many of the other explorers) clearly interested in doing what she was doing.
My favorite scene was when James Cameron and some other divers saw the squid because it summed up the spectacle aspect of the film and the creature looked unique.
Aliens of the Deep is rated G and I agree.
Aliens of the Deep is almost perfect, it’s a hugely rewarding experience; you’ll come out of the theater or your living room or where ever and you’ll wish you’d never come out. This is James Cameron at his best.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Flick’s Review)
Posted on | March 30, 2012 | 2 Comments
3 stars
Indiana Jones and his friends race against Irena Spalko and other Russian soldiers in order to get the crystal skull in the mythical city, Akator. The legend has it, whoever obtains the skull is granted control over it’s unearthly powers. Also, Indy reunites with an old time friend and deals with a double agent.
After a nine year hiatus from the big screen our favorite archeologist returned in 2008 with this over two hour epic that brought back old characters and introduced Indy fans to the supernatural. This is without a doubt entertainment. The franchise would have been better off without the preternatural and yes, Harrison Ford’s performance isn’t quite what I hoped for, but at least the man with the fedora and whip is back.
Indy and his friend, “Mac” are held captive by the Russians. The first five minutes of the film I can’t really argue with, but then, comes Area 51 where the E.T. and Close Encounter‘s feel is thrown into the mix. I really have no idea why Steven Spielberg wanted to bring back alien elements from his old films into his new Indy film. Anyway, it just doesn’t work here because Indy has never seen aliens before and the aliens are only in the film for about two minutes.
While I wish there weren’t any aliens, the action scenes are fast moving, epic and easy to follow which makes for some superb battles. The chase with the cars in the jungle in particular is one of the best scenes in the film, simply because every movement in the sword fight, every turn of the wheel in the car chase and every line of dialogue is choreographed in an exciting way. Even better? Spielberg manages to have the sword fight, the car chase and the dialogue all happening at the same time without anything becoming confusing. The editing, by Michael Kahn is quick and the cinematography, by Janusz Kaminski is bold. The rest of the film, however is anything but bold; it’s full (and I mean full) of fun action but the story is lacking in many ways. It lacks the suspense that the first and third delivered and it’s also more predictable which is not what you would hope for in a Spielberg film. Picture this metaphor: Indy is riding in a car and he’s zooming along (the action scenes are swift) but the tires, what’s holding the entire truck up are wobbling and flattening. The tires are the story and the story is falling apart.
My favorite character is Indiana Jones because he’s funny and adventurous.
My favorite scene is when Indy, Mutt, Marian Ravenwood, Oxley, Mac, Irena, Dovchenko and the other Russian soldiers are in the boats/cars in the jungle because it’s full of action, sword fighting and lots of fun.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is rated PG-13 for adventure violence and scary images and I agree.
Spielberg’s forth Indy film doesn’t rival the first and third, however it does bring back the classic Indy fun, despite it’s many plot flaws.
Pina (Flick’s Review)
Posted on | March 30, 2012 | 2 Comments
4 1/2 stars
Pina Bausch, a dancer and dance choreographer died in 2009. Her students pay tribute to her.
Pina is a tribute to Pina Bausch and it features nonstop dancing. That is all you need to know before going to see the film. If that is all you want to know before seeing the film, stop reading now. However, there’s no way to “spoil” the movie because after all it is nonstop dancing interspersed with Bausch’s students describing her. Helene Louvat, the film’s cinematographer uses the camera in an indescribable way. In all the movies I’ve seen, I’ve never seen anybody use a camera like this; Louvart is an important part of why the film works. Her use of the camera is stunning. Also the music, by various artists that include Thom Hanreich and Jon Miyake (the writer of the best track in the film, Lillies of the Valley) is catchy and jazzy, the perfect paring for a beautifully shot tribute to Bausch. A problem in many films these days is the length. At 103 minutes, Pina moves along quickly and rightly so; Wim Wenders’ film could get tiring after a while because the dancing is so mesmerizing.
I didn’t see the film in 3-D, but I think that would add another layer to the film. That leads me to my next compliment of the film. The dancers in this film are amazing. However it’s obvious that Wenders adds another layer to the dancing. The dancing + the cinematography + the score + the costumes (which I haven’t mentioned, but are very good) = a cinematic delight. Wenders uses everything to make the dances more exciting, more vivid, more real. He brings a boulder, chairs, water and (best of all) a red jacket to life on the big screen.
My favorite character (dancer) is Pina Bausch because almost all of the dancers described her and yet so much was left unsaid, especially how she died making for an interesting portrait of her.
My favorite scene is the second scene in the film with the brown dirt, women, men and the woman with the red jacket because the use of color was so effective and the dance was very well done.
Pina is rated PG for some sensuality/partial nudity and smoking, however it’s is appropriate for almost anybody (whether or not they’ll sit through it is a different matter).
Pina is provocative, full of color and a must see for any fan of cinema.
John Carter (Flick’s Review)
Posted on | March 23, 2012 | Add Comments
3 stars
John Carter, a civil war veteran is transported to Barsoom (Mars) via magical silver medallion. Carter finds himself trapped in the middle of chaos; the Tharks, a green alien species struggle to stay peaceful, meanwhile the Helium people are on the brink of war with the Zodangan people. All of the species want Carter because after being transported to Barsoom, Carter acquires the power to leap as high as he wants.
I didn’t know what to expect going into John Carter. The trailers are packed to the brim with action, but Andrew Stanton, the director or Finding Nemo and Wall-E, has shown that he’s a master at storytelling. Now that I’ve seen the film, I can tell you that any predictions I had were wrong. The beginning of the film is in simple terms a mess. Many subplots are introduced very quickly but not very coherently. It seems to me as if Stanton and co. were very ecited about the middle of the film, so they didn’t spend much time on the beginning. The dialogue is hard to understand. Whenever anyone on Jarsoom (Earth) says a word they mutter it while they breath heavily and in Taylor Kitsch’s (John Carter) case you might see a muscle or two (more on him later).
Once Carter meets Tars Tarkas, voiced expertly by Willem Dafoe, the film kicks off. Tarkas is a unique character especially when it comes to his relationship with Carter: the two are friends but they both have different ideas about what’s best for everyone. Many ideas are very interesting and a lot of the scenes are exciting. There are also a considerable amount of subplots that include: Carter and Tarkas’ shaky relationship; Carter’s life on Jarsoom; Carter, Dejah Thoris, and Sab Than’s love triangle; Matai Shang and Sab Than’s “let’s go destroy the world” story; Edgar Rice Burroughs figuring out who Carter was and more. The end isn’t as bad as the beginning, but it’s still confusingly uninteresting. Not to say I didn’t get caught up in the world of John Carter (I did for some of the film), it’s just that by the end I felt like saying “again?”. Really? 
Taylor Kitsch. Next up is big ships in the ocean and an Oliver Stone drama, but right now he’s sinking. His muscles are big but his performance could have been much better. Kitsch speaks and acts in a way that leads me to believe he doesn’t want to be in the film. What’s even worse is that Kitsch is surrounded by Defoe, Mark Strong, and Thomas Haden Church who are all giving expert performances. Muscles and Martians and Mars, oh my!
My favorite character is Tars Tarkas because Dafoe’s acting is great, the Virginia scene is funny and the CGI is good. Carter and Tarkas had a great relationship and the CGI was wonderful.
My favorite scene is when Matai Shang captures Carter and then Shang tells him (I won’t spoil it) because Mark Strong was great and the dialogue was well written and spoken.
Andres Stanton’s live action film debut is incomprehensible at the beginning and end, the 3-D is not impressive, and Taylor Kitsch is a bore. However, the middle is fascinating, all of the actors other than Kitsch are strikingly powerful and the original book was one of he first sci-fi books. So I recommend it.
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (Flick’s Review)
Posted on | March 21, 2012 | Add Comments
2 stars
Ted lives in a world without nature. Everything is plastic, nothing is organic. But when Ted’s girlfriend says what she really wants is a tree,Ted becomes determined to find one. Ted’s grandmother tells him in order to find a tree, he must go on a journey to find the Onceler. Ted learns the story of the Lorax and decides to change his town.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who!, and now Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax have all been made into feature films. The new film is the first 3-D Suess film and with voices by Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Danny Devito, Ed Helms, and Betty White, The Lorax is surprisingly not enjoyable. The real reason why this film isn’t going to stand the test of time, is simple: the message Suess displays in the original book gets lost in the (mostly) forgettable musical numbers and added characters who aren’t very interesting. Even the character of the Lorax differs from the book; in the film he becomes more of a comic relief. The “that’s a woman” joke is so unSeussian that I wish the Despicable Me crew sent this to Pixar. Imagine a John Lasseter directed Lorax with John Ratzenberger as the Lorax. Okay, maybe give Ratzenberger a smaller part, but it would still be better than this version.
Why didn’t I give this zero stars? There are redeeming qualities but nothing in the film is above good. The only redeeming quality the 3-D adds is that it doesn’t distract from the story because it does so little. It doesn’t even get in your face! I think that’s where the film comes short. I don’t need 3-D in my face, but I do want the message to be evident. The story and message don’t tear out your eyes to aware you to stop cutting down trees, instead fans of the book (like me) are rewarded with unmemorable songs and low quality entertainment. So in the end I wish The Lorax did come in my face; if only the story was right in front of me. As Dr Seuss might have said: the film is so poor and it’s mostly a bore.
My favorite character is the Onceler because I liked seeing the different characteristics he had during his life shown in the film.
My favorite scene is when the Lorax, the bears and the fish put the Onceler in the river while he’s in his bed, because of the Mission Impossible theme rendition, the original music and the textured CG.
The Lorax is rated PG for some mild language and brief rude humor. If only the one swear was cut (I don’t know which humor was rude), then it could have been G.
The Lorax is great for younger kids, but serious Dr. Seuss fans will be disappointed.
2012 Summer Movie Preview (Flick’s Report)
Posted on | March 17, 2012 | 1 Comment
Could this summer be full of Box Office smashes? Look at the lineup of films: The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Men in Black III, Brave, ParaNorman, Battleship, Ice Age 4: Continental Drift and many more films that have the potential to be blockbusters. It’s pretty easy to be overwhelmed by the schedule of films, so here’s an overview.
Here are the three films I am looking forward to the most this summer (in order of what I’m looking forward to the most.)
3. The Avengers Technically this won’t be released in summer but because the rest of the press is including it in their summer movie previews I snuck it in mine too. After watching Iron Man, Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor and Iron Man 2, The Avengers is finally here. Somewhere in between the making of these films it was announced that The Avengers, a film featuring all of the superheros shown in the Marvel films would join forces in an upcoming film. It’ll also be Marvel’s third 3-D film featuring superheros. One more thing: the action looks sickeningly fun.
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2. Finding Nemo Pixar’s first 3-d re-release could prove to be cinemactically stunning in bold 3-D. I think the scenes of Marlin and Dory encountering creatures like Bruce, the angular fish and the jellyfish would look great on the big screen. The fish tank scenes however present a drawback for using 3-D because in those scenes you have to feel as if you are at a normal dentist’s office and adding the third dimension could spoil the fun.
1. Brave Pixar does it best and the trailers of their new medieval CG movie look astonishing. Pixar’s attention to detail is shown in vast proportions and the action is wonderfully choreographed. Even though, Brave’s trailer looks amazing, the finished product could turn out to be a failure because Pixar is taking a risk. Two unknown directors will be at the helm and not to say that a new director spells disaster, but Pixar rests it’s shoulders on John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Andrew Stanton and other members of the “brain trust” so deeply that letting an unknown give it a shot might not turn out so well. My hopes are high.
Here are some other films that you should be aware of before summertime.
Men in Black III You don’t need to travel back in time to know that Men in Black III will be released on May 25th. It’s been ten years since Tommy Lee Jones and Will smith have starred in a MIB film. Is it the right time for them to return? Only the new film will tell. The plot? Agent J must go back in time to the 60s to save Agent K from being killed by an alien. Simple and sci-fiy.
Ice Age: Continental Drift The multiplexes will be drifting away on July 13th when Ice Age: Continental Drift is released. One of the family friendly films of the summer, Manny, Diego and Sid use an iceberg as their ship while their continent drifts away in their fourth adventure. Many franchises that will be releasing their first 3-D film this summer and Ice Age just happens to be one of them. The trailer has some made for 3-D cinematography and there are also quite a bit of new characters so I think Continental Drift might be just okay.
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted They like to move it move it into theaters on June 8th. The 3-D is used to great effect in the trailer which I have now seen almost five times. The greatest thing about the trailer is that there is no bathroom humor (a.k.a. fart jokes etc.) except for maybe one of the animals being shot in the butt. This is another family friendly release for this summer and it will be competing against Continental Drift in box office gross. Personally, I am looking forward to Continental Drift more.
Titanic 3-D This year marks the 100th anniversary of the real ship’s sinking, making now the perfect time for James Cameron to re-release his 1997 film in 3-D. The film will also be shown in 2-D which is not usual for a 3-D re-release. The big question is: will Titanic have any chance competing against films like The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted and Ice Age: Continental Drift? These franchises have built up audiences over the years and now they just might be able to throw Titanic overboard.
The Dark Knight Rises My guess is that not only will this be the highest grossing film of the summer but also that it will gross over $1.1 billion at the box office. Batman fans will watch the final film in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy unfold on screens starting July 20th. This will also be in IMAX adding even more to it’s box office gross. This could also be the highest grossing film of the year. My guess: yes.
The Amazing Spider Man The 3-D looks astonishing especially in the last fifteen seconds or so of the trailer (I’ve seen the trailer in 3-D at the theater). Tobey Maguire is replaced by Andrew Garfield who recently starred in The Social Network. Other new actors include Emma Stone, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Dennis Leary and of course Stan Lee. A mistake people often make is thinking that this is a Marvel Studios film. Wrong! Marvel has the rights to all of their comic superheros except one: Spidey. The truth is that Sony Pictures Classics has the right to Spidey.
Battleship How can you turn a toy or game into a successful movie? That question has been floating around Hollywood for some time now, films like the Transformers films, the G.I Joe films and now the latest Battleship which will be docking at theaters May 18th. Taylor Kitsch who also recently starred in John Carter, will play a major role in the film as will Liam Neeson. Star power. Explosions. Big ships. Peter Berg will have to make some magic to make this work. The idea of a film based on the game Battleship is not exactly intriguing, however this could just turn out to be the surprise hit of the summer.
ParaNormarn Despite some bathroom humor, this claymation film seems to have a message and also looks different. What I mean by that is that nowadays we expect a certain thing when we see animated films: a film for young kids, funny, ect. but what looks great about ParaNorman is that while it has all of those qualities it adds something new. It adds a mix of slight horror to comedy to action to the story of a lonely kid who must find his place in life. The trailer has me hooked.
Prometheus Ridley Scott’s new epic, Promeheus stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron. The sci-fi/epic/horror/action film blows up in theaters June 8th. While it won’t be the highest grosser of the summer, my guess is that it will be in the top ten. Fans of Scott’s past films will probably see the film and it features an all star cast which could boost up it’s gross.
There you have it. Those are eleven films that you might not see (I might not see) but either have a lot of buzz circulating around them or as with the top three films I am looking forward to the most this summer, I’m really excited about. In the meantime, happy ninety five days till summer and movie mayhem.
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (Flick’s Review)
Posted on | March 13, 2012 | Add Comments
2 1/2 stars
Jedis Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi are sent on a mission to negotiate with the Trade Federation who have mysteriously blockaded the peaceful planet of Naboo. When the two Jedi learn of a dangerous plot that involves the Trade Federation and the evil Sith, the Jedi must team up with the Naboo people, the Gungan people and a little boy named Anakin who just might turn out to be the chosen one.
The idea of re-releasing the Star Wars franchise does sound enticing. What would those spaceship dogfights up in the air and those enthralling lightsaber duels down on the ground look like? Imagine: the mind of George Lucas poured into the multiplex theaters in 3-D. That is just what is happening: in the heyday of 3-D, now is the perfect time for Lucas to go all out nuts with the new technology. It looks great. Although the film obviously had to be converted to 3-D instead of shot in 3-D, this is probably one of the greatest 3-D films I’ve seen. The Adventures of Tintin might be the best, but Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is the best converted to 3-D film…yet.
Despite, my fondness for this film’s look (it’s the first of the prequels and a great way to bring the look of the originals to a new generation) almost all of the new characters are very poorly written and acted. The big one being Jar Jar Binks. Binks, a Gungan is unreasonably clumsy and ridiculous in all conversations. Lucas doesn’t change gears and turn the movie into a discovering who you are story, instead he uses Binks as a comic relief. This does not work. A few minutes after I met Binks I already knew I wanted to um …cut him out of the film. Another character that I dislike is Anakin who unfortunately gets a fair amount of screen time. It was necessary for the young Anakin to be shown, but from watching the character as Darth Vader in the originals I didn’t picture this. Lucas scripts Anakin with lines that seem to be jokes. Jokes like “Are you an angel?” in the Star Wars franchise? Oh my. The performance that Jake Lloyd gives as Anakin is very, very different from James Earl Jones and Hayden Christensen’s performances as the character at different points in his life. This is fine with me because the character of Anakin Skywalker goes through many different stages of behavior, thoughts, etc. But Lloyd gives a performance showcasing sarcasm, which is not what I think the character would act like when he is younger. There’s a million other problems that a Star Wars fanatic could have with this film, but my critiques are based on “what movie would be the best to see if I could only see one or two this weekend?”.
Unfortunately, Phantom Menace will be out of theaters soon because it has been in theaters for over a month and a half. Although, I wouldn’t recommend anybody to see it if you are looking for a film to rival the quality of the first, the 3-D is wonderful. The visuals are breathtaking but the characters are poorly scripted. If only the script was completely rewritten, Phantom Menace could be a much more enjoyable installment in the saga.
The 84th Annual Academy Awards 2012 Recap (Flick)
Posted on | March 7, 2012 | 2 Comments
Meryl Streep won. (I didn’t want her to win, instead I wanted Viola Davis for her role in The Help in which she plays a black maid in the 60s). Jean Dujardin won (I wanted him to win, for his role in The Artist in which he plays George Valentin, a silent movie actor who falls in love with a soon to be talkie movie actress). I could go on and on and on but instead I’ll give you a rundown of the winners, the speeches, Billy Crystal, my incorrect predictions and no not the dresses.
Lets start with Billy Crystal. The Academy’s idea: to hire Billy Crystal as a host in order to hold old the older viewers attention instead of hire Anne Hatheway and James Franco type hosts to bring in younger viewers. Did I think it worked? Sure, he was funny, especially in the opening montage where he inserted himself into movies from this year. Although what I found even more funny was Crystal singing about all of the Best Picture nominees to the tunes of famous songs.
I predicted 20 out of 24 Academy Awards correctly, however, I almost wish I had predicted less correctly. Not because I didn’t agree with all of the winners, (I actually didn’t however) but because I wanted to be surprised. Here are the four Academy Award categories that I predicted incorrectly.
Best Visual Effects:
Winner: Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning for Hugo
My prediction: Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barret for Rise of the Planet of the Apes
My Thoughts: I really wished this went to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. The Oscars haven’t been very nice to the Harry Potter franchise, so I think it would have been nice to see this go to Deathly Hallows Part 2. On top of that, was there anything that great about the effects in Hugo? I mean the dream sequence was just about it! Nowadays special effects have advanced so much that (I think) if all a film has effects wise is a CG train and an automaton’s head with CG I don’t think it should win an Academy Award.
Best Actress:
Winner: Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady
My Prediction: Viola Davis for The Help
My thoughts: This was probably the most heated category… up until the last minute. At first Streep seemed to be the frontrunner, then Davis took the lead and it remained that way. Then, the week before the two actresses were neck in neck and then Davis seemed to have taken the lead again. (If you think I’m dramatizing it ask yourself this question: who did you think would win?)
Best Editing:
Winner: Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
My Prediction: Annie Sophie Bion and Michael Hazanavicius for The Artist
My Thoughts: First of all, I haven’t seen Dragon Tattoo. Second of all, I wanted Moneyball to win. Third of all, I admit this was a surprise.
Best Cinematography:
Winner: Robert Richardson for Hugo
My Prediction: Emmanuel Lubezki for The Tree of Life
My Thoughts: I did actually want Hugo because of it’s wonderful tracking shot at the beginning, although Lubezki’s shaky almost handheld looking work for Tree of Life was a close runner up and my second favorite in the category. The Oscars love epic not new so I understand why this went to Hugo.
There weren’t a lot of great “moments,” but hey Crystal was funny and there were four surprises. My favorite speech would be Octavia Spencer’s and The Artist’s producer’s. “I would like to thank Billy Wilder, Billy Wilder and Billy Wilder.” That and when Michel Hazanivicius (also in the Best Picture speech) told his kids to go to bed soon, would, in my opinion sum up the night.
2012 Pre-Oscar Speech (Flick’s Speech)
Posted on | February 26, 2012 | Add Comments
Ethan
2012 Oscar Speech
From the silent film “The Artist”, to Woody Allen’s romantic comedy “Midnight in Paris”, 2011 was a great year for movies and I hope the Oscars are just as good. Here are my final predictions. (Note: I have not seen all of the films/performances/directors/screenwriters/shorts, etc. that I predict. Some of my predictions are based on what other predictors predict and or how well the films/performances/directors (you get the idea) have faired at previous award shows like the BAFTAs, or the DGAs, or the SAGs or the ISs or the PGAs, or Critics Choice, or the Golden Globes or the WGAs).
Hereeeeee we go:
- Best Picture: “The Artist”
- Best Actress: Viola Davis for “The Help”
- Best Actor: Jean Dujardin for “The Artist”
- Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer for “The Artist”
- Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer for “Beginners”
- Best Director: Michael Hazanivicious for “The Artist”
- Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash for for “The Descendents”
- Best Original Screenplay: Wood Allen for “Midnight in Paris”
- Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki for “The Tree of LIfe”
- Best Editing: Shina Sophie Bio and Michael Hazanivicious for “The Artist”
- Best Original Score: Ludovic Baurce for “The Artist”
Those are my predictions for the top categories.
Here are descriptions for the two films we showed at our Oscar Party.
We will be showing “Kung Fu Panda 2″. The film features the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, and Gary Oldman, and more. The film is animated, was released in 3-D in theaters, the director Jennifer Yun Nelson was nominated for Best Woman Director at the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. The film grossed over $665,000,000 worldwide. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature at this years Academy Awards. (My prediction is that the animated feature film “Rango” will win Best Animated Feature).
We will also be showing Woody Allen’s 41st directorial film, “Midnight in Paris”. The film has a star studded cast that includes Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Adrien Brody, Kathy Bates, Tom Hiddelston, Corey Stoll, and Michael Sheen, and more. The film was shown on opening night at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, features French music from the 20s and 30s, had a $17 million budget and grossed over $145,000,000 at the box office. It is nominated for Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Art Direction, at this years Academy Awards. (The only Award I think it will win is Best Original Screenplay.) And now enjoy the show!
84th Annual Academy Awards 2012 Predictions Part 3
Posted on | February 23, 2012 | 2 Comments
Flick and Flack talk about their 2012 Oscar Predictions in Part 3 of a 3 part video series. In this video, Flick and Flack discuss the Best Picture category and give their predictions for this year’s Academy Awards.
Part 3 (28 minutes, 1 second)
Flack’s rankings of the Best Picture nominees from least likely to win to most likely to win.
9. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
8. The Tree of Life
7. War Horse
6. Moneyball
5. Midnight in Paris
4. The Descendants
3. The Help
2. Hugo
1. The Artist
Flack’s rankings of the Best Picture nominees from least favorite to most favorite of the ones I’ve seen.
8. Midnight in Paris
7. The Artist
6. The Tree of Life
5. Moneyball
4. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
3. Hugo
2. The Help
1. War Horse
Flick’s rankings of the Best Picture nominees from least likely to win to most likely to win.
9. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
8. The Tree of Life
7. War Horse
6. Moneyball
5. Midnight in Paris
4. The Help
3. The Descendants
2. Hugo
1. The Artist
Flick’s rankings of the Best Picture nominees from least favorite to most favorite of the ones I’ve seen.
8. Moneyball
7. The Artist
6. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
5. Midnight in Paris
4. The Help
3. The Tree of Life
2. War Horse
1. Hugo
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