Could you double-check the envelope please?

The 82nd Annual Academy awards are around the corner and we will witness yet another page in cinema history take a glamorous turn. Take the best of world cinema over the year gone by, have a gallery of movie veterans judge them and give the world something to cherish for another year. This is the Oscars story that has lived on for decades and has stood as the single most awaited awards ceremony in the calendar. The desire to claim the golden statuette drives a lot of artists in the film fraternity and while some are blessed with it after one tremendous performance, many have come a long way to win the coveted prize and the name that first comes to mind when one thinks of the latter is the director Martin Scorsese.

"Could you double-check the envelope please?", this was the rhetoric that Scorsese gave the world as he picked his first Oscar for The Departed in 2006. Having been nominated 5 times before, the 67 year old director from NYC is a classic example of making cinema for cinema's sake and nothing more. One look at the director's record of movies and its global reception and we are swiftly reminded of audiences and critics who have showered more praise and honor on him than the belated Oscar. So I guess the question I am asking myself is, if I look back at Scorsese's career and his cinematic achievements, should Oscar glory really mean much to him or any other artist of the film fraternity?

Now a 23 year old, my fascination with Marty's movies began with his 1976 classic Taxi Driver. Straight after the success of Mean streets, Taxi Driver established Scorsese as a prolific film maker who brought European influences to Hollywood and renewed the film noir. Contemporary cinema during the 70's saw the likes of Brian De Palma, George Lucas and Martin Scorsese who enjoyed a sense of freedom in film making. That freedom was translated into great story telling for Scorsese. Teaming up with Paul Schrader as the movie's writer and Robert De Niro (who would become Scorsese's life long friend and screen muse), Taxi Driver was beaten at the Oscars in that year by the insufferable underdog classic Rocky. An interesting observation that was made on the difference in film making of the then directors from the West coast like Spielberg and Lucas and in Scorsese's East coast movies was the assertiveness and confidence that Scorsese possessed in giving his audiences what he felt like giving while Lucas and Spielberg were more careful yet experimental in trying to understand what the audience wanted and then giving it to them. This difference sometimes stands out for me as to why the Oscars ignored his earlier classics.

Oscar Road: Best Picture Also Rans

The Oscars are nigh. In around 5 days they shall be given out. There are plenty of awards to be given away but the most prestigious one is for the best picture and for no small reason too. In retrospect, the academy awards for each year are marked and called with the picture which won. Like 2008 was the year of No Country for Old Men and 2007 was the year for Departed regardless of what other pictures were made that year.

But in this article I shall talk about those which are definitely not going to take the nameplate. It would be a titanic surprise if they do! This is the round of the most definite also rans!

The Blind Side

 
It is a heart warming story of human kindness told really well. Made out of a real life story from the South(ern America) with some of an extremely poor

African American teenager whose life changes radically after he is taken in by a wealthy white family. Unlike other such movies it doesn’t try to cash in entirely on the emotional quotient but yet makes a strong impact by getting the story telling elements perfectly right.

The performances in this movie just like the setup are natural and restrained. Everything and everyone just seems so right. Never would have I pictured Sandra Bullock in such a strong role. But she pulled it off really well playing a fine Christian woman from the South (Where the women of the family are generally strong willed and righteous). This role is similar to the stubborn boss she plays in her other movie of the year, The Proposal, but only much more central and powerful. Other than the every fantastic Meryl Streep who played Julia Child in Julie and Julia, she doesn’t have much competition for the Best Actress Oscar.

Overall it is a must see movie, something which will moisten your eyes with happiness.

Rating: 

Very Good

 
An Education

As I had tweet reviewed it sometime back , An Education is a bildungsroman of an intelligent teenage british girl in the mid 60’s. Carey Mulligan who gives a fine lead performance saves this movie from being lost in a pile of hundreds of such other movies. It is about a young girl finding interesting company and yearning to get out of her stale life due to the vastly exhiliarating and educating experiences she has in the brief getaways. We know where these kinda movies head and this one is no different. It also has a strong undercurrent of the purpose of woman’s education and the attitude of the parents and society when she has found the right match.

The best and the worst from this decade’s Oscars

When the curtain fell on the night of the Oscars on Feb 23rd of this year, the last of the Oscars in the first decade of the 21st century were given away. I had to make a list post and what better way to make lists than talk about the Oscars, the Academy’s short sightedness and baseless favouring of some movies over others. The Oscars have been long notorious for the fact that they often snub some great cinematic masterpieces for ephemeral success stories though they are often seen as the bastion for the best of world cinema. So this is the list of movies which were nominated and won (or dint win) in the Oscars from the year 2000 to 2009.
Here in this post I list out the top 5 movies of this decade which were nominated to the Oscars and yet dint get the love they deserved. These movies certainly should have won many more statuettes or in some cases won atleast something. Following that list will be another top 5 of the movies which were nominated to the Oscars but got far more awards/credit than they deserved. One important thing you need to know is I have taken into consideration only the movies which were nominated. So there might be some movies which weren't nominated at all but were very good pieces of Cinema which deserved to be. Taking them into consideration would just make the list very complex. So here they are:

Top 5 nominated movies that were overlooked

5:Memento in 2001: The classic modern Film Noir. It is not something you expect the academy voters to appreciate and sing laurels about but not even the oscar for screenplay? Are you kidding me? I coudnt believe it when it got beaten by Gosford Park. Also what kind of genius can pull off such a stunt with a screenplay that screws with your head and yet make it an infinitely repeat watch and not get a nomination for direction. Nolan only! First it was Memento then Batman Begins and then The Dark Knight.
Also Wall-E in 2009: Animation movies are no less than any other live action stuff but the people at the Oscars still think they are for kids. They have a separate category for them which is nice but they dont let the children stray into the living room. In the occasional circumstances the child(animation movie) is precocious they snub it. Wall-E is the perfect example. In a perfect world where there is no prejudice it would have been nominated for the best movie and may have beaten the dogs out of the slum.

4: Atonement in 2008: Atonement was fighting a losing battle right from the start with its competition being the likes of No Country for Old Men and There will be Blood.
What many people fail to realise is just because it is a love story doesn't make it less cinematically brilliant. It was heavily nominated but it failed to win any major ones. People will remember that year to be that of Daniel Day Lewis and Coen Brothers.


3: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in 2005: The Oscars of 2005 weren't really a great fair just like the ones in 2007. Everyone was just talking about the grand old man called Clint Eastwood and how Harry was still dirty and kicked ass just as they were singing songs of Scorsese in ‘07. In the process of crowning Million Dollar Baby they forgot the wonderful gem made by Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman. This movie is wonderful on so many different levels that there is probably no one who has seen it and not loved it.

2: Good Night, and Good Luck. in 2006: The year Brokeback Mountain and Crash were taking in all accolades there was one true gem which will stand the test of time. 10 to 20 years down the line people will look back at this movie and say wow! What a classic. David Strathairn gave a brilliant performance playing Edward R Murrow the iconic TV presenter who made modern TV what it was before it began to rot again. This movie showcases the power of the medium.

1: Road to Perdition in 2002 : Taking the trends at the Oscars, this the movie the academy’s voters should love to bits. It seems like as if it was custom made for them as it has got a great setting, well shot, good star cast and a touching storyline. However this movie was relegated to the sidelines and wasn't even nominated for the major awards. Sam Mendes’s follow up to American Beauty may not be as brilliant but it definitely leaves strong impressions.
Honourable mentions:
LOTR: Two Towers, My favourite movie from the trilogy. The love not shown to it and its predecessor was more than made up by showering on the final installment.
Requiem For a Dream: If you have seen the movie, you know what I am talking. It is just gold in terms of acting, directing, cinematography, music and everthing else. But people at the Oscars dint understand Indie then.

Top 5 undeserved oscar winning movies

5: Brokeback Mountain in 2006 : The movie of the year everyone said. Everyone couldnt stop talking about two gay cowboys getting it on in the mountains. It was Iconic, yes but only a decent film not much different from heavy straight love dramas. It was very boring too. However Hollywood loves to promote the gay cause. I do to. But not by making a mediocre film a cult.
Babel in 2007: Alejandro González Iñárritu made a wonderful movie called Amores Perros and then made 21 grams. He repeats the same intersecting story lines structure in each of his film and Babel was no different. It was slow, a bit boring and nothing more to while away an idle afternoon. This movie however got 7 nominations.

4: The Departed in 2007 : There were several good movies in 2006 but it was a dull year for the movies when you take into account that there was none of the usual one or more two movies each year which blow you away. Martin Scorsese had been snubbed by the oscars for about 2 decades when in the first place he should have won it for Taxi Driver and Goodfellas long long ago. This one was just a fast paced mafia/thriller/cop movie with heavily loaded star cast. If this movie doesnt convince you that the oscar panel is sometimes swayed by the people behind the movie than the movie itself nothing will.
3: The Cider House Rules in 2000: Thank heavens for American Beauty that year or else I fear Cider House Rules would have had its way. The movie was just all right and it was a bildungsroman of an orphan boy. It still managed to gain 7 nominations and win 2 including the best screenplay based on previously published material beating The Green Mile, Talented Mr Ripley and The Insider. For me even the Insider was a better film than the run of the mill Cider House Rules.
2: Gosford Park in 2001: This movie is at its best just a good thriller. It has a great star cast but what is the point if the storyline is just out of an Agatha Christie novel. It does do well in capturing the turmoil and emotions of the character but 7 nominations and one win! come on! And you know what that win was for ? Best Screenplay directly written for the screen which it won at the cost of Memento, arguably the most wonderful piece of screenwriting in the history of cinema. How could they?
1: Chicago in 2003: This is the only movie I havent seen in the list but still it is definitely the worst mistake of this decade for one simple reason. How can a musical however great the musical is upset movies like Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Pianist and win the Best Movie Oscar.
(Dis)honourable mentions:
A Beautiful Mind: Good movie but not as great as they paint it to be
Michael Clayton: I dont even know what it was doing there. So many nominations and thankfully only one win.
By the time you reach here I am pretty sure you were vigorously nodding or shaking your head on many of the mentions but hey this is what I thought. Do let me know where you think I went wrong and do mention if you think I omitted something important which belongs to the list in the comments below.


p.s: In case you want to see the complete list of winners. Check out Oscars past at imdb for 1929 to 2007 and for 2008 and 2009

Double Review(DR): Bolt and waltz with Bashir

Well this is quite a special post. This shall be the last one in the series of posts dealing with this years Oscars. Yes, I did drop the ‘Oscar Road’ tag due to the reviews being past the dead end sign. Also this deals with two movies belonging to my favorite genre: Animation. I am a big fan of animation movies and believe they arent given their due credit. We had reviewed two of the three oscar nominated animation movies ie Wall E and Kung Fu Panda in the last episode of our now discontinued podcast. Check it out @ http://toomuchcinema.wordpress.com . Here I talk about the remaining two animation movies nominated for the oscars this year.

BOLT

Bolt is a marvellous movie about a dog with superpowers, er… Well who thinks he has superpowers. He is only a TV actor. Well this is not a spoiler because the viewer is told after the brilliant action sequence at the beginning. He is close to a young girl who is his co star and is made to believe she is his real owner. He gets transported to somewhere else by mistake and the movie is his journey back.  The movie is has some good animation, great characters(ie girl, the cat and the hamster) and good plot. It is very hilarious and has all the stuff you expect from an animation movie. Yes! Exactly all the stuff you need, making it at the same time the reason why people trivialise animation and love it. The reason it made it into the oscar list is because its strong moral plot, some great voice acting and its funniness. Ofcourse when Wall E and Kung Fu Panda are in the ring, you cant expect a Bolt to win. Do watch it because it is oodles of fun and if you, like me adore animation (you better do!) you will enjoy every moment.
Rating:7/10

Waltz With Bashir

When it comes to animation, all things Bolt is Waltz with Bashir is not. All things Waltz with Bashir is Bolt cant dream of. The slurry of emotions this ‘Waltz’ drowns you in will send an innocent dog cowering for help underneath the kitchen table.Waltz with Bashir takes animation to its next level something like what Wall-E and japanese stuff but on a different plane. Though the subject matter is different it is kinda similar to last year’s Persepolis. Animation in these two movies has been used to depict the surreal and complex emotions and graphical interpretations hard to capture in live action. Not saying they couldnt have been but animation makes it more easy and even more vivid. Surreal and Vivid being the key words here. It is made

Waltz with Bashir is the story of a man who is trying to recollect his past and meeting various people to do as he is unable to on his own. He was part of the Israeli army which took part in the 1982 lebanon war and cant remember any of that period. The movie gives you insight into what happened then and the ugliness of war. I gasped, was shocked, laughed, swayed and rolled as the movie went on. As i said the surreal and vivid imagery taunt and treat you as well as you can dream. Dream again being the key word. The movie is almost a dream, it deals with dreams and you wonder if you are dreaming after a while. It is a truly trippy experience which you must have.
Such the strength of the movie that I forgot to sell you its attention grabbing trivia. It is the first Israel animation movie released in theatres and won the Palme’ D Or at the Cannes fim festival and also the best foreign movie at the Golden Globes. The crew did an excellent job in making the movie and the brilliant soundtrack it is accompanied with only adds to the effect. I will keep going on about it but I shouldnt cos you need to feel the surreal and vivid dream like experience on your own.
Rating: 9/10
p.s: Oh i forgot this is a documentary of sorts. I might have forgotten to mention many things. But I wont make an effort to say anything else.

Review: Milk

We, as a species are still evolving mentally, we make up our value systems via traditions, religion and society. And then we stick to them blindly and build hatred causing intense harm to those who dont believe in the same things we do. That has been the problem of humanity and gay movement is just another chipping back at having equal rights for every man. Whatever it is we are humans first and have equal rights. Harvey Milk tries to do exactly that. As he says violation of gay rights is violation of human rights, They might come after you next.
Milk is the true story of a man who was happy and confident of what he was. Harvey Milk was a born leader and enthused spirit into people around him. He united a usually low key and inactive collective of gay men and made them a force to reckon with. When discrimination became rampant and their needs being ignored he decided to stand for office. How we did that and how he won is the movie. It is very well scripted and save for a couple of scenes there is a momentum being built up as you go. You are truly enthused by the energy Harvey injects into you and gay supporter or not movie does rope you in.



After giving us a treat for eyes like Paranoid Park, Gus Van Sant cuts down on his brilliant visual style to focus on a strong story at hand. The shots are very good, especially the first few scenes between Harvey and Scott. There is a lot of classical music in the form of piano and opera as part of the background score during this scene and the rest of the movie. It was well done but I thought wasnt that effective during the second half. Sean Penn as Harvey Milk gives a brilliant performance and I was flabbergasted watching his transformation from the usual hunk he is to a realistically gay man. The body language spoke volumes and everything from his attire to speech was well modelled on the real Harvey Milk. Sean Penn gives adds another jewel of a performance to his already decorated career. Emile Hirsch was fantastic too as Cleve Jones, one of the friends and campaign members of Harvey Milk. Also James Franco plays Scott Smith, Harvey’s lover and initial campaign manager. Its great that both these actors who we last saw essay totally different roles in In to the Wild and Pineapple Express respectively have given amazing performances in this movie too. Victor Garber, Josh Brolin and Alison Pill play other major roles.
On the whole, the movie is a must watch for two simple reason, Sean Penn and Harvey Milk. Everybody needs to see Penn’s performance and know Milk’s story.Thats it!
Rating: 8/10

Review: Revolutionary Road

When two brilliant actors, who are among the best among their generation and a director who has captured human pathos in stunning and vivid displays of beauty and perdition get together to bring to the big screen a critically acclaimed novel capturing the angst ridden life of an American suburban couple in the 1950’s you get a devastating trip to Revolutionary Road
There has been much talk of how Richard Yates’ supposedly brilliant novel has been brought to screen and critcs remained indifferent or deadpanned to this effort of Sam Mendes. Not only Kate Winslet is working for the first time with her husband, this is the frst time since the epic Titanic since she and Leonardo Di Caprio have come together in movie. Since Titanic they have blossomed into such fine actors and their body of work is source of envy to any contemporary or upcoming actor and it is a surprise that inspite of their proclivity to act in multi starrers they havent had a chance to come together till this movie came along. And I saw it was a good thing because this movie, totally revolving around the lead couple, Frank and April Wheeler, gives them an apt stage to prove their prowess and to show how far they have come since Titanic. The performances are simply stunning and I cant fathom why they have been snubbed by the oscars this year.



Kate WInslet’s performance in this movie is powerful and definitely way superior to what she did in The Reader. Its a pity that this role of hers dint get as much credit as it deserved. Her portrayal of a late 50’s housewife who is a failed actress and not at all happy with her life and needs to search some meaning to stay relevant is simply of the highest quality. Her character moves from one mood to another rapidly and tries to make sense of a life where she feels she doesnt belong and Winslet comfortably glides along perfectly portraying every emotion of fear, confusion, betrayal, love, hatred etc. Leonardo plays the husband who hates his job and though he understands the ‘hopeless emptiness’ of his life being chalked out as everybody else’s doesnt try make a serious effort to change it. He plays very well a man who is constantly challenged by his wife, who he loves dearly and yet cant make her happy. Also a must mention is the oscar nominated role of mentally deranged mathematician played by Michael Shannon. In the short yet explosive screen time he has he twists and influences the lead characters heavily and is like the soothsayer of the story unravelling the mystery behind their lives.

As I began watching this movie, it strongly reminded me of Mad Men, the critically acclaimed AMC series which is set just a few years down the line. I happen to be a big fan of the series and I cant help notice the striking similarities between the two. A suburban household comprising of an attractive couple and two children. The husband works in the city and catches a train everyday, the wife is a housewife who was once a model and they have girl and a boy. Remove the ad agency part of Mad Men and what you get is Revolutionary Road. Both have been know to be accurate representation of the times and I guess it is how those times were with people cheating on their spouses, puffing as chimneys, drinking like fish, always lost in thought trying to discover their true selves and hardly talking to each other in the process. They were some painful times and hence very rich material for brilliant fiction.
Back to Revolutionary Road, Sam Mendes did a fine job by not letting the movie linger too long at any point of time and slowly yet strongly building up the friction between the lead pair. The costume and set designs were spot on. But the movie is only as good and brilliant as its plot and how well it challenges the viewer. I guess this one reaches a fairly high mark for its premise. If you can stand heavy drama definitely for you, or else you will ask me what was the point?
update: As my friend Chaitanya pointed out and I had noticed while watching the movie but failed to mention was the haunting background score which did a great job in building up steam for the high tension sequences and also considerable chunks of this 2 hour movie were left without any sound which only added to the scenes.

Rating: 8/10
p.s: Kate Winslet was breathtakingly beautiful in the movie.

Review: The curious Case of Benjamin Button

David Fincher is one of my favourite directors and each movie of his has had me spellbound. I thought last time round Zodiac was badly treated at all the award ceremonies and was one of my top 5 films of the year of 07. With work like Fight Club and Seven to his credit you frankly dont expect mediocrity from Fincher. All his tales have a unique mix of thrill, adventure, human nature, depth and novelty. Well I wouldnt say The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was mediocre but it was not as awesome as I thought it could have been. This one had a lot of depth and reflection on human nature but hardly any of thrill, adventure and excitement. Though the plot was essentially unique being based on the F Scott Fitzgeralds’s story of same name telling the story of a man who ages backwards; it goes on in a fashion quite common to biopics where the whole story is narrated from start to end. We trace the steps of Benjamin Button as we move on never harping too long on any part of his life and for some reason I cant explain all his life is just in the same vein and nothing is too important or too trivial. It works and the movie is quite breathtaking technically thanks to flawless art directions and brilliant sets and costumes but it doesnt shock, awe and delight your instincts like an uncommon story dealing with age and life can do.



This brings me to the question, how would your life be if you were like Benjamin Button. Quite the same if they let you live, a lot more exposure and wide media coverage if we lived in this modern age as world easily gets around. However Button was born in 1918 as the war ended and his father puts him quite luckily at the footsteps of an old age home, which quite practically is the only place he wouldnt have grabbed attention. If we were there, more or less thats how our lives would have turned out and this point exactly is the boon and bane for the movie. Fitzgerald and Eric Roth did think it through and do a good job at it ( I dunno who did what as I havent read the story yet) and they chose a complete life a reflection of deeper things which affect man in general like the phenomenon of aging, youth being wasted on the young, living life losing your loved ones and above all tolerance, love and understanding of various people we across of our lives. The questions asked and explored were all right but I thought they could have been done more effectively with such a running time and resources of money and stunning cast at their disposal. And what if they hadnt chosen this path for Button?
Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Taraji P Henson give brilliant performances and the special effects team did a marvellous job of forging different ages and changes seamlessly into the fabric as the movie moved on. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett get to play such deep and emotionally taxing characters which have to endure so many things in life, live together and love each other when their lives are going in the opposite direction; and they do it really well. Quite a good movie and if you get a chance watch it on the big screen(too bad I dint get to do it).
Rating: 7/10

Review/Oscar Road, Part 8: Rachel Getting Married

Anne Hathaway is one charming actress who has got the acting credentials to go with it. I read an article where someone was saying that with an oscar nod and a possible win she could be the next Julia Roberts with her beautiful and intelligent common woman looks. Thats true, she hasnt got divinely looks like that of Angelina Jolie and neither does she play the deeply entrenched characters like her other competitor, Kate Winslet. Her roles in The Devil wears Prada, Brokeback Mountain and now Rachel Getting Married are good examples to prove the point.
Kimberley (Anne Hathaway) is a drug addict who is back home from rehab for a couple of days to attend her sister Rachel’s wedding. This is a family with quite an unhappy past which has left scars on everybody. The past cant be let gone off but they have to live the present. They have to celebrate a happy and joyful occasion of marriage where two people, really in love tie the knot and two families bond. The fact that it is always hard to overcome our difficulties, yet smile and embrace the happy moments we come along whenever we can was well captured. I felt like I was one of the guest at the marriage or part of the family while watching the movie.



The movie is brilliantly scripted and the flow between the celebrations of family and guests and struggles within the family is superb. Nothing seems unnatural or out of place. No scene was stretched or tried to be capitalized upon due to its subject matter, be it the 12 steps, the festivities or the quarrels. Jenny Lumet has done a marvellous job with her first script by showing a lot of maturity giving a lot of grace and depth to characters who are in pain beneath the surface. The veteran Director Jonathan Demme (Philadelphia) has made a heart touching movie which explores human relationships and the strength and love of a family. The background score was quite good and the music was in sync with the celebrations as the musicians attending the marriage as they keep practising in the background. (The groom is a musician and the others his friends)

However the reason I loved the movie so much is the dynamic between the two sisters who have all the issues sisters generally do. Superlative performances from Anne Hathaway and Rose Marie DeWitt(as Rachel) give the movie so much more charm. Hathaway is definitely a strong contender for the lead acrtress oscar. On the other hand I think Rosemarie Dewitt should have been atleast given a best supporting actress nomination for essaying such a complex role so well. I have seen her before in the critically acclaimed TV series Mad Men, where too she looks very beautiful with a mysterious glow around her which makes her so vivid and subtle at the same time. Here in Rachel Getting Married, she plays the role of a woman who is about to get married but is afraid that her drug addict sister, who she loves dearly, might ruin one of the most important days of her life. Its surprising how oscar pollers get it so wrong and deny some brilliant performances even of a nomination.
After the good reviews it initially got I waited for a long time to watch this and I wasnt disappointed. Overall, the movie is a warm and touching drama, with good share of joys and sorrows, well worth seeing. One of my favourites so far and though I havent said anything negative about it (Cant think of any either except a longis sequence where people dance after the marriage and we kinda lose focus) , it isnt perfect.
Rating: 9/10

Review/Oscar Road, Part 7:The Wrestler

After the critically acclaimed but box office bomb Fountain, director Darren Aronofsky goes back to the drawing board and creates his new drama flick, the Wrestler. The movie is doing well at the box office and has drawn Mickey Rourke a lot of positive attention. This is Aronofsky’s seventh film and the highly esoteric director has changed gears and finally given a film that relates to a larger movie going audience.


The story of the Wrestler talks of a spirited wrestler, Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson and his turbulent life as he continues to wrestle beyond his prime to make both ends meet. The movie starts off with the introduction of Mickey through images of his matches with the familiar sound of a ring side before ending with a scene in the present where he sits dejected while accepting his prize money after a bout. The movie is touching in many ways and throws light on the tenderness behind the brutes of the wrestling world as they lead ordinary lives and stick up for each other in quite a surreal atmosphere. Mickey has given a fascinating performance and this was just what the doctor ordered for Mickey to resurrect his career after a string of massive flops.

The beautiful Marisa Tomei plays the stripper Pam and the object of endearment of Randy in the film and quite surprisingly one needs time to get used to her bold character considering the roles she played before this movie. Her role never takes centre stage but adequately fills the supporting cast space. His strained relationship with his daughter and the battle with frailty are well portrayed by Mickey. Darren doesn’t let himself indulge into his characters and treats the audience with amazing images of Mickey’s pain and glory. The whole movie never lets go of the urban feel that surrounds it and the background music from Clint Mansell is nothing less than perfect.

Having already won the Golden Globe and the Bafta awards in the Best Actor category, Mickey Rourke looked tailor made for this role and it would be a definite surprise if he doesn’t bag the coveted Oscar too. Aranofsky is set to finish the Fighter that again talks of the life of a boxer and Mickey is rumoured to be working on Sin City 2 and Iron Man 2, both could get him back on track.

Rating: 8/10.

Oscar Road, part 6: The BAFTAs

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, BAFTA in short is a British charity that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation. The British Academy Film awards ceremony which is the flagship event of the BAFTA is usually regarded as the British Oscars recognizing the best from the movie industry . They have been awarded since 1947 at an annual charity event held in early February. The 2009 BAFTAs were given on 8th February and Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire has quite swept away everyone with 7 BAFTAs. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button won 3 awards and all other movies including Dark Knight, Wall-E, In Bruges, Frozen River, The Wrestler, The Reader etc won one.
There were no big upset victories or big surprises this year. The roster of nominations was very similar to the one at Oscars, Generally the BAFTAs and the Oscars dont have much in common but this year seems to be different. Slumdog Millionaire won the Best Movie, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Editor, Sound, Cinematography and Music awards. This is no different from what has happened at the Golden Globes or the Guild awards and many are betting high on Slumdog to repeat this at the Oscars too. By now every one knows that two Indians, AR Rahman and Resul Pookutty won the BAFTAs and are hoping Rahman wins at the Oscars too. However he should be wary because in the best song category where his ‘Jai Ho’ and ‘O Saya’ are nominated, Wall E’s ‘Down to Earth’ has already won some awards and the best score is an open race. However the novelty of Indian beats and rhythms must be wildly appealing to the oscar pollers and we all hope we wins it.




Mickey Rourke, Kate Winslet, Heath Ledger and Penelope Cruz won the Acting awards, lead and supporting respectively. This is again very expected. It clears up mist over supporting actress category now that Cruz has won the best supporting actress award wherever Winslet wasnt nominated for the category. She really deserves it for her fiery performance as possessive, crazy yet brilliant artist who is the mentor cum ex-wife of Javier Bardem in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

There is one category which is unique to the BAFTAs which is ‘Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year ‘. the movies nominated this year were Man on Wire, Hunger, In Bruges, Slumdog Millionaire and Mamma Mia. I was hoping that one of the first three, all excellent yet relatively undiscovered films, would win. Man on Wire won and it was kinda mildly surprising that a documentary(it has been nominated for oscars too) beat out some great dramas and comedies. I have seen the film and it is quite brilliant. There is no doubt that it is going to win the best documentary oscar this year. A complete review of Man on Wire later.
Finally, in the foreign language category Kristin Scott Thomas’s Il y a longtemps que je t'aime took away the prize. This film beat out Vals im Bashir and Der Baadermeinhof Complex but hasnt been nominiated for the oscars. Thats it about the BAFTAs, I shall soon update with more reviews of oscar nominated films as we walk down the oscar road and see who deserves the oscars.

Review/Oscar Road, Part 5: The Reader

It is surprising how some good film making values can make a deeply flawed and weak story appear engrossing and even touching at times. That is the power of the medium called film. Stephen Daldry does it with 'The Reader'. Last time round, with 'Frost/Nixon' I was complaining how Ron Howard did not make full use of it to tell us an already powerful story. In this movie it is exactly the opposite. Daldry, who had previously directed The Hours and Billy Elliot, is telling a story of a young man who is in love with an older woman who he has had an affair with. Later it turns out to that she was one of the guard who was stationed at Auschwitz.
I need to address the story first which is such a drawback full of loopholes and weak situations. The movie is made after a novel of the same name which was written in 1995 by a German Law professor Bernhard Schlink . A large focus of it is the German guilt for what happened to the Jews especially at the concentration camps. Also how a young man is torn between truth and justice during wat seems to be one of the Nuremberg trials. and how he deals with his decision later. The motive of the story seems good but the plot is flawed with the characters making numerous foolish and stupid decisions and many such things.


Kate Winslet's performance is outstanding and she brilliantly essays a complex role of a woman who has to live inspire of her gory past and accept it for what it is. She has a large role and story revolves around her involvement in the man's life. I wonder why she was nominated(and won) for the golden globes as best supporting actress. David Kross and Ralph Fiennes play the young and old Michael Berg, the protagonist of the story who is a lonely and cut off from the rest of the world. Its a simple role for Fiennes and Kross does a good job too. I liked the character of the Law professor who raises some intriguing questions.

The movie is beautifully made and the score evokes the right kind of emotions and leaves a lot of open ended questions regarding what should have been done and the ethics of the Nazi trials. It is a good watch inspite of all the flaws but not really some thing that has oscar credentials even on a lean year like this. It is a heavy drama stretched across time and except for decent filmmaking it hasnt much going for it. Watch it for Winslet's strong acting if you have to.

Rating: 7/10

Review/Oscar Road, Part 4: Frost/Nixon

February is here and there are less than 3 weeks left for the Oscar night. Starting with Frost/Nixon, I review the important movies in the Oscar race and try determine who is worthy of winning and who isnt.

Frost/Nixon


Oscar winner Ron Howard, who has made a mixed bag of movies like A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, EdTV, Da Vinci Code, Cinderella Man among many other is back with a project which deals with The Nixon interviews. After The Watergate Scandal, which is one of the biggest scandals in American political history. Richard Nixon had resigned and maintained a low profile after being granted pardon inspite of public protests against the scandal. Around this time David Frost, a British journalist had approached Richard Nixon for a series of interviews. These interviews went on to become a landmark events in Television as the premiere of the first part of the series had 45 million viewers; a record which still stands today.



Reprising their roles from the 2006 play of the same name, Frank Langella and Michael Sheen(Tony Blair in the Queen) play Richard Nixon and David Frost respectively. The movie unfolds in a documentary style with various characters narrating what had happened since the break out of Watergate Scandal, through the resignation of Nixon and the arrangement and execution of interviews. The movie is tightly written and the tension is created and maintained properly in the second half. However the scripting of movie could have been better. The documentary style feedback from the characters was quite unnecessary. Ofcourse Ron Howard and team must have had inputs from the actual team present, but I feel they could have done better things with the script. However the good thing was the essence of nearly 6 hours of interviews were well captured for this medium as the movie moved at a brisk pace and made most of the powerful situations in the story.

Though Frost's character was well established, we dont get to see enough of his plan and determination to succeed before taking up such a huge project at a great personal risk. Frost's character could have been deeper in the middle part of the movie. I dont know if it is true but the phone call from Nixon during the night and subsequent awakening of Frost seemed a little too cinematic. I have seen the actual interview and found the real Frost to be much more confident than portrayed by Sheen.

Frank Langella steals the show by giving a great performance as the money minded, ever hungry for success Nixon. His diction was pitch perfect and sometimes even surpassed that of Nixon himself(compared to what I saw in the interview). The rest of the cast including Samuel Rockwell, Rebecca Hall and in particular Kevin Bacon did a good job.

Overall the movie is pretty good entertainment inspite of its shortcomings and definitely worth watching. It has 5 oscar nominations, the best movie, director, lead actor, editing and best writing based on previous material(the play). Frank Langella is definitely a strong competitor for the Lead Actor oscar and editing was pretty tight too as I said before. However we have to wait and see how other films fare and where this movie shall make its inroads.

Rating: 7/10

Oscar Road, Part 3: The SAGs

SAG or Screen Actors Guild is a union representing over a 120,000 actors and performers in Television and Film industries working in the United States. It was found in 1933 to protect the rights of actors and prevent their exploitation in the hands of Studios who at that time were forcing them to sign inflexible multi year contracts. The Screen Actors Guild has specific rules for joining and working as a member for the actors and the Studios employing them.

The SAG along with the other guild particularly the Writer's guild was plagued by the Blacklisting that happened during the HUAC era. From time to time they have had strikes when the studios and other Industry members have denied the actors their rights or dues. It is anticipated that they are going to strike sometime in 2009 on similar grounds as the WGA strike to tackle the system of royalties for sale of films and shows over new media.

The Screen Actors Guild have given away the Screen Actors Guild Awards since 1995 to recognise the best among their peers every year. This award like the other guild awards is said to be a fairly good indicator for the upcoming Oscars.

The Screen Actor Guild Awards are given in the following categories

Film awards

• Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Television awards

• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
• Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
• Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

This year's complete list of SAGs nominations and winners can be found here.

For our countdown to the oscars these awards are quite significant as the nominations for the Best Actor and Best Actress and The Best Actor and Actress in a supporting role are very identical to what the oscars have with 17 of the 20 nominations being the same. The only two changes being in the Supporting Role categories with Michael Shannon from Revolutionary Road instead of SAG's Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire. The other change being Marisa Tomei from the Wrestler in lieu of the eventual SAG winner Kate Winslet for the Reader. It is interesting to note that Kate Winslet has got a lead actress nomination in the Academy Awards for the same role. Here at the SAG's Kate Winslet was nominated for the Revolutionary Road instead.

With that being said and nominations being almost same and along their history of being a precursor the Oscars the Screen Actors Guild awards are of quite some importance. Heath Ledger as expected was given the Best Supporting Actor nomination. Just a routine stop in this years obvious sweep of awards for Ledger. As mentioned earlier Kate Winslet won the Supporting actress award leaving the field wide open for the other nominees to fight it out at the Oscars.

Now the big ones. The best actress award went to Meryl Streep, beating out Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet, Melissa Leo and Anne Hathaway. Meryl Streep is already the highest nominated actress in the history of oscars (15 including this year) with only 2 wins. The last time she won was in 1983 for Sophie's Choice .

The best Actor award went to Sean Penn for his portrayal of Harvey Milk,the first openly gay person to be elected for an office in the US. Sean Penn has been an darling for the oscar voters being nominated for the fifth time now for the best actor in a leading role and having won it in 2002 for Mystic River. He beat out Brad Pitt, Frank Langella, Richard Jenkins and Mickey Rourke for the award.

In the Television department 30 Rock's Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey walked away with best actor and best actress award in a comedy series.Thats no surprise as 30 Rock has been the darling of all award panels since it started airing in 2006 and for the the quality of stuff they put out they deserve it. It also won the best ensemble award. This is an echo for what happened in the Golden Globes a few days back. However I would have preferred Entourage for the ensemble award.

For the Drama series, Hugh Laurie and Sally Field won the leading role awards for the House M.D and Brothers and Sisters respectively. Mad Men, the brilliant period drama capturing the troubled lives of New York ad agency executives in the 60's won the ensemble award. And finally John Adams, a mini series revolving around the lives of the founding fathers won the awards for Best TV movie/mini series as it did at the Golden Globes and the Emmy's.

Oscar Road, Part 2: The Nominations

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has come out with this year's Academy Award aka Oscar nominations the day before and the whole world knows about it. Indians all over the world are excited because an Indian has garnered 3 nominations and movie made with Indian backdrop and in desi style has got 10 nominations (second highest this year). This complete list is available at this link on the imdb site.

This is how they chart out. The David Fincher-Brad Pitt movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button earned 13 oscar nominations along with previously mentioned 10 of Slumdog Millionaire. Button's 13 nominations are second highest ever as Titanic and All about Eve are the only two movies to get more nominations (14 each). As expected Frost/Nixon and Milk raked in a good number getting 5 and 8 respectively. However the surprise was the Reader which raked in 5 major nominations including Best Picture, best director and Best Actress. 2 or 3 more than what one had expected. Kate Winslet's other film Revolutionary Road got no love from the oscar committee. It got only 3 oscars with 2 being technical and other than Michael Shannon's best supoorting actor. The Dark Knight got love too with 8 nominations of which all but Ledger's obvious supporting actor nomination were technical. Wall E got nominated for 6 with a delightful inclusion in the Best Screenply, directly written for screen category. A.R Rahman got nominated for 3 oscars; 2 in the original song and one for original score making him the first Indian to get an individual nomination. Lagaan, Mother India and Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay are the Indian films which earned a foreign language film nominations.


In the last post I had given my own predictions taking into consideration the trends AMPAS generally follows and how its voter pool polls. Also I have mentioned how the Golden Globes are fair indicator of what is expected in the Oscars (atleast in the nominations) Here is the golden globe chart at imdb.

Now reviewing my own predictions and comparing them to the oscar ones. 4 of the best movie oscar were spot on but The Reader jumped from the unlikely list to complete the 5. The best director category was a ditto to the Best Movie as a I had said in the previous post. The best actor was as expected and that wasn't a surprise because the same 5 or 6 actors have been shuffling across all awards this year. However the biggest shocking exclusion from the whole of the oscars list is in the Best Actress category with Sally Hawkins not even making it to the top 5. Have the voters even seen the movie? How can one ignore her brilliant performance. Kate Winslet wins a nomination, her 6th for the reader and Revolutionary Road is snubbed. The critics have not embraced the movie so it was kinda expected. The supporting categories have some new faces and some I havent expected.

With the nominations now out, We at too much cinema shall start reviewing the nominated movies one by one and see which ones deserved attention which dint. Which ones were overvalued and which ones were treated badly. Do chip and tell us what movies you want to see reviewed.

Oscar Road, Part I : The Contenders

The new year has dawned and the awards season is on. As always all eyes are set on the oscars' ceremony where the road trip ends(on 22nd Feb this year). On the way we make a lot of stops, some major, some minor. The train has already left the station starting from the various guild awards(Screen actors, writers, producers and directors). Recently it had stopped at the Golden Globes, usually the biggest junction on the route and time has shown that they are fairly good indicators of whats to expect at the Kodak theatre in about a month from now. But more about the Golden Globes later. Starting with this post, in this Oscar Road series, I shall walk you through the awards, the movies and the performances that make the Oscars so special, giving you in depth coverage and analysis.

In this post, we shall look at the major contenders for the Oscars this year. The various award ceremonies have already given us a glimpse and there could be several dark horses and wildcards which could spring a surprise.

Starting with the biggest category of em all. The name plate which goes on to the oscar archives for every corresponding year. The best movie. Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button have quite sealed a nomination. It wouldnt be a surprise if two of Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon and Revolutionary Road take the remaining spots. Oscars dont usually have surprises in this category but I hope to see the brilliant comic/crime drama In Bruges and the totally amazing WALL-E rake in the best movie nomination. Other outsiders could be Happy Go Lucky, The Reader, Waltz with Bashir and the Visitor but it is highly unlikely.

Next stop the Best Director award. This list will be more or less an echo of the previous one, with Danny Boyle, Gus Van Sant, David Fincher, Chris Nolan, Ron Howard and Sam Mendes making it to the final shortlist. However Mike Leigh for Happy Go Lucky, Stephen Daldry for the Reader might get a peek. Anyone else getting nominated for this is going to be quite a shocker.

There are quite a few heavyweights this time round in the acting category and most seats seem to be already reserved quite by the mention of their names itself. Though 2008 hasnt been such a great year for movies compared to 2007, the sudden rush at the fag end just to make it to the oscars has been stronger than ever. As a result most movies which are going to be nominated for the Oscars will have been in the theatres for less than a month.

Ok back to the actors categories. Ladies first (being gentleman like you see) and quite easiest of all categories. Best actress spot contenders are Anne Hathway for Rachel Getting Married, Sally Hawkins for Happy Go Lucky, Kate Winslet for Revolutionary Road/The Reader, Meryl Streep for Doubt and the last spot may go to either Kristin Scott Thomas for Ihave loved you for so long or Anjelina Jolie for Changeling. I am however going with Kristin Scott Thomas. Others who stand a chance are Michelle Williams and the darling of oscar voters Cate Blanchett for Wendy and Lucy and the Curious Case of Benjamin Button Respectively.

Supporting Cast nominees could be Marisa Tomei for the Wrestler, Kate Winslet for the Reader if she doesnt get a lead actress nomination, Amy Adams for Doubt, Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Frieda Pinto for Slumdog or Rosemarie DeWitt for Rachel Getting Married.

For the best actor category. Sean Penn for Milk , Brad Pitt for Benjamin Button, Richard Jenkins for the Visitor and Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler have virtually been seated. Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon and Leonardo Di Caprio for Revolutionary road might be the one of the remaining nominees but I hope Clint Eastwood gets nominated for his scorching performance in Gran Torino. I would also love to see either of Colin Farell and Brendan Gleeson to be nominated too for their brilliant performance in In Bruges. Dev Patel got nominated for the Golden Globes and the BAFTA's mysteriously and I hope that doesnt happen again.

Supporting cast nominees must be Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt, Robert Downey Jnr for Tropic Thunder, Ralph Fiennes for the Duchess/In Bruges, James Franco for Milk, or maybe someone else. But really! does it matter? Because we all know Heath Ledger is going to get it come what may.

Wall E will walk away with the animation oscar with Bashir(Waltz with ), Kungfu Panda and Bolt watching. And when it comes to best foreign language oscar the field is as wide as the sahara. This category is by far the most fertile in terms of quality and variety of movies produced. I could repeat the nominations from the golden globe or the baftas but one never knows what cards the Academy award council has up its sleeve as a bigger berth of entries are usually submitted for the Oscars compared to any other.

The oscar list is expected to be out on Jan 22nd 1930 IST and lets see how far my predictions come true. If you think I missed out on something. leave a comment :)