2013 Oscar Nominations: Best Director Nomination Predictions!

I'm a hunter shooting with a crappy gun in the dark when it comes to this category. Really, this category messed with everyone last year, especially since Bigelow and Affleck weren't nominated last year.

1. David O. Russell, American Hustle
The leading best picture contender, and it's pretty much a lock for a nom. Actually the whole top three is.

2. Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Yo. Seriously. Visual movies are the ones that fit the directing category best, and Gravity is no exception. Actually, I don't know how to rank
the top three, all that matters that they are locks.

3. Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
One of the best directed films of the year, crafted by a true artist. Totally worthy of the director recognition.

4. Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
He's Scorsese. Not always a winner, but his seventy-one year old energy is
too infectious to ignore in such a stylistic picture.

5. Spike Jonze, Her
Beautifully crafted American masterpiece. Has such a huge fanbase, and the film is amazing. And even if her isn't recognized tomorrow, he is a lock for the screenplay category.

Keep your eyes peeled for Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips), Alexander Payne (Nebraska), and the Coens (Inside Llewyn Davis).

DGA Nominees!

So the nominations are in, and it's fine. Nothing too surprising.

Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
David O. Russell, American Hustle

The Wolf of Wall Street screens, and some thoughts trickle in.

Good news: Scorsese is still fresh with his latest (and longest) picture! Based on an article from Hitfix, performances were things that most took notes on. Last Golden Globes, DiCaprio remarked that he thought that his work in Wolf was his best yet. Apparently Kris Tapley disagrees, but he says its strong work. Jonah Hill shows off his best work yet, allegedly, and looks to be a strong contender in the Supporting Actor category. Newbie Margot Robie is also a contender in the Supporting Actress category.

Bad News: The chances at Oscar are fuzzy. Performances are good, but it might be too crowded of a year. Kris Tapley's words, not mine. Tapley however states that the film is at a major advantage because "it almost feels like what the 2013 film awards season needs is a nice prestige-level dose of the outrageous, something bonkers, something to take the edge off", in a season with somber films, including 12 Years a Slave, Gravity, and Captain Phillips.

More reactions will come out tonight from LA, since according to Paramount's FYC site, there will be an official screening at 2:00. Expect more reactions from more people soon.

New poster for The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street screening TODAY in NYC!

Old article, yes, but something certainly interesting. According to Page Six, an ultra-VIP screening is happening tonight and concluding with a reception at the exclusive 21 club in the Big Apple. IMDb doesn't say anything about the film's status, but if this film wants to contest for critics prizes, now is the best time to highlight the film, fresh in the mind of voters.

Expect SAG member and award blogger reactions within the next few days. Stay tuned.

First posters and clip for The Wolf of Wall Street!

With the film coming out in nearly a month, the marketing for The Wolf of Wall Street is now kicking into high gear. We have two new posters, a TV spot, and a clip from the movie. Christmas cannot come sooner!

Second poster, and videos after the jump.

New trailer for The Wolf of Wall Street!

Looks excellent. My thoughts on the trailer below.

The Fox and the Wolf are out of the race!

OK, so this headline may be a slight bit misleading. However, via Variety, Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher has been pushed into 2014, 'to allow for more time to finish the film'. I expect a spring 2014 release date.

Speaking of finishing films, Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street is no longer listed for a November release date. The film's workprint cut is allegedly 180 minutes long  and warranting an NC-17 rating, so cuts are necessary. Expect a Christmas release date or a 2014 one.

So my #1 and #2 anticipated films of the year require more waiting, so now what do I wait for? The Counselor? 12 Years a Slave?

2014 Oscars: Best Director predictions (7/10/13)

In a perfect world, Richard Linklater would have this category locked up. Which is truly unfortuante, for his chances of winning anything for his work on Before Midnight are slim. Alas, we still have five contenders that I imagine will do well as nominees.

1. Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
It is truly miraculous to see one of the best directors ever to still be working. Wolf of Wall Street looks hilarious and exciting, and has Scorsese written all over it.

2. George Clooney, The Monuments Men
When ex-nominee/ex-Batman is directing with an ensemble cast like this, he is bound to get a nomination, maybe a win.

3. Joel and Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis
The Coen Bros. received nominations for their work on True Grit. With their latest pic a film stronger than True Grit, they will probably also be nominees.

4. Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
With Foxcatcher being my predicted Best Picture w
inner, I might as well predict the director as a nominee. Maybe he will win, maybe he won't.

5. Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Do I think Gravity will even receive a Best Picture nomination? No. But Cuaron has a visual style that has been well known due to his work with Children of Men. This time, he will receive that elusive nomination. With the film also opening the Venice fest, we will see soon enough how good his latest is.

Check back soon for more predictions!

Moonrise Kingdom (2012): Once upon a time in the Wes.

Once upon a time, Martin Scorsese, was asked who would succeed him. His answer? The little known Wes Anderson, hot off the heels of Bottle Rocket. After viewing Tenenbaums, Mr. Fox, Darjeeling, and finally Moonrise Kingdom, I'm proud to say that his latest might be his greatest.

Moonrise Kingdom is the 2nd film in 2 years about kids who go to church and face the troubles of growing up, 1st being The Tree of Life. All kidding aside, this is a funny, maybe moving coming-of-age story. This should be required viewing for all teens, like me.

Masterpieces Classics: Raging Bull (1980)

Not so often in history is a film that seems like a surreal escape to the movies, yet it maintains reality. One fine example is Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull, a human drama about an angry boxer, Jake LaMotta, his relationships, and the punches in between.

The performances here are top notch, mainly Robert De Niro. His transformation is powerful as it is shocking, from being on top of the world to a painful plummet to the bottom. Pesci and Moriarty also deliver as Jake's brother and wife respectively.

Oscar Opinions: Hugo

More magical than Harry Potter. Moving on.

QUICK OPINIONS:
Trivia: Hugo was adapted from Selznick's 'THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET'. When I heard the film was to be directed by Scorsese, I thought two things: 1) Where's Leo? 2) HOLY MOLY! MARTIN SCORSESE, DIRECTOR OF RAGING BULL, IS DIRECTING A MOVIE BASED OF ONE OF THE BEST KIDS BOOKS OF THE PAST YEARS! YES!

I don't mean to boast, but I predicted Hugo right after the horrible trailer. Honestly, I was predicting only for Scorsese. After viewing the film for the first time, I was mixed. I didn't like Baron Cohen, I didn't like some of the visual style, and I didn't like the kids. The 3D helped though. The 2nd time I saw it, I actually saw some coherence in the changes of the story. Yes, John Logan changed the story a bit, but it was a good movie. I gave it an 'A-', and you can see it listed under Chinese Appease.

BAFTA WINNERS!

Doubts be gone. The Artist will win Best Picture. The Artist is sweeping, taking Jean Dujardin with it.

Winners:
Best Film: The Artist
Best Director – Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Best Leading Actress – Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
Best Leading Actor – Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer(The Help)
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan)
Best Original Screenplay: The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)
Best British Film: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Academy Fellowship: Martin Scorsese
Best Animated Film: Rango
Best Documentary: Senna
Best Film not in the English Language: The Skin I Live In
Production Design – Hugo (Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo)
Best Cinematography: The Artist (Guillaume Schiffman)
Best Editing: Senna (Gregers Sall, Chris King)
Best Original Music: The Artist (Ludovic Bource)
Best Costume Design: The Artist (Mark Bridges)
Best Sound: Hugo (Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley)
Outstanding Debut: Tyrannosaur
Best Visual Effects: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt 2
Best Make Up & Hair – The Iron Lady (Mark Coulier, J. Roy Helland, Marese Langan)
Best Short Film: Pitch Black Heist
Best Short Animation: A Morning Stroll
Outstanding Contribution To British Cinema: John Hurt

Golden Globe Winners!

This is insanely old news, but thought I should post this. I had some predictions posted on my Facebook, which you could see here. Anyways, out of my predictions, I missed one, thinking that Golden Globes would reward Brangelina one way or another, and giving it to In the Land of Blood and Honey seemed like a long-shot. Winners below:

Motion Picture, Drama
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse

Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture – Drama
George Clooney, The Descendants 
Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
The Artist 
50/50
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris 
My Week With Marilyn

Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture  – Drama
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin

Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50
Ryan Gosling, Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Owen Wilson, Midnight in Paris

STORY: The Golden Globes Winners' Reactions

Best Director – Motion Picture
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris 
George Clooney, The Ides of March 
Michel Hazanvicius, The Artist 
Alexander Payne, The Descendants

Best Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role In A Motion Picture
Octavia Spencer, The Help 
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants 

STORY: Golden Globe Awards Nominations: The Nominee's Reactions 

Best Foreign Language Film
A Separation (Iran) 
The Flowers of War (China)
In the Land of Blood and Honey (USA)
The Kid With A Bike (Belgium)
The Skin I Live In (Spain) 

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris 
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist 
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, The Descendants
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Moneyball

Best Animated Feature Film
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas 
Cars 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Best Performance By An Actress in A Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn 
Jodie Foster, Carnage
Charlize Theron, Young Adult 
Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
Kate Winslet, Carnage

STORY: 'The Artist' Tops Golden Globe Nominations 

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
“Masterpiece” — W.E.
Music & Lyrics by: Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry
“Hello Hello” — Gnomeo & Juliet 
Music by: Elton John
Lyrics by: Bernie Taupin
“The Keeper” — Machine Gun Preacher 
Music & Lyrics by: Chris Cornell
"Lay Your Head Down” — Albert Nobbs
Music by: Brian Byrne
Lyrics by: Glenn Close
“The Living Proof” — The Help
Music by: Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason Jr.
Lyrics by: Mary J. Blige, Harvey Mason Jr., Damon Thomas

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Ludovic Bource, The Artist 
Abel Korzeniowski, W.E.
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Howard Shore, Hugo
John Williams, War Horse

Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In A Motion Picture 
Christopher Plummer, Beginners 
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Albert Brooks, Drive
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method

BREAKING NEWS: Goodfellas is now an AMC show!

EXCLUSIVE: AMC’s 1960s mad men may be soon joined by some goodfellas from the same era. The cable network, home of such acclaimed series as Mad Men and Breaking Bad, has put in development a series version of one of the most praised movies of all time, the 1990 Martin Scorsese mob classic Goodfellas. Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote the movie based on his non-fiction book Wiseguy, is on board to co-write the TV series adaptation with TV writer-producer Jorge Zamacona (Homicide: Life On The Street). The two will executive produce with the film’s producer Irwin Winkler and his son David. Warner Horizon Television, the cable TV production sibling of Warner Bros, which distributed Scorsese’s film, is producing the series.

North Texas Film Critics Winners!

Spielberg suck-ups below:

BEST PICTURE
War Horse

BEST DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese / Hugo

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney / The Descendants

BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis / The Help

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christopher Plummer / Beginners

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Octavia Spencer / The Help

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Janusz Kainski / War Horse

BEST ANIMATED
The Adventures of Tin Tin

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Being Elmo

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Separation (Persian: جدایی نادر از سیمین,Jodái-e Náder az Simin)

DGA Nominees

No Terrence Malick. Poop. Surprised not to see any Spielberg, I swore him and Malick would be locks. Nominees below.

Woody Allen "Midnight in Paris"
David Fincher "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
Michel Hazanavicus "The Artist"
Alexander Payne "The Descendants"
Martin Scorsese "Hugo"

NSFC Winners!

BEST PICTURE
*1. Melancholia – 29 (Lars von Trier)
2. The Tree of Life – 28 (Terrence Malick)
3. A Separation – 20 (Asghar Farhardi)

BEST DIRECTOR
*1. Terrence Malick – 31 (The Tree of Life)
2. Martin Scorsese – 29 (Hugo)
3. Lars von Trier – 23 (Melancholia)

BEST ACTOR
*1. Brad Pitt – 35 (Moneyball, The Tree of Life)
2. Gary Oldman – 22 (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
3. Jean Dujardin – 19 (The Artist)

BEST ACTRESS
*1. Kirsten Dunst – 39 (Melancholia)
2. Yun Jung-hee – 25 (Poetry)
3. Meryl Streep – 20 (The Iron Lady)

84th Oscars: Best Director Nominees

I'm addicted to checking the score for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Last I've read, it has a 49% on RT, and a 40 on Metacritic. In fact, it's on the brink of being "Generally unfavorable". What I really hope is that the Academy isn't too Daldry bias. Come January, I don't want to hear the film's name being announced. Scratch that, I wouldn't mind Max von Sydow being announced.

A real lock for the Best Director nomination is Michel Hazanavicus, for directing The Artist. I would say his biggest win is at NYFCC, and there are other groups that I am too lazy to name.

Besides him, there are two other big shots: Terrence Malick (I'm not bias,) and Martin Scorsese. I can easily profess that Scorsese is my favorite director, and debatably the greatest of all time. Already he has won the National Board of Review for Hugo and also been nominated for the Golden Globe.

Malick's nomination is nearly as divisive as his film itself. He won at Chicago and LAFCA, but missed at Golden Globes.

I would want to say that if critics were Oscar voters, The Social Network would have won last year, and Nicolas Winding Refn would be a nomination lock for this year. However, I don't see high prospects for Drive, or Refn himself. Bummer.

All in all, Daldry's luck has run out, Scorsese and Hazanavicus are locks, and Malick will probably make it. Alexander Payne needs to step up his game if he wants the nomination, and Woody Allen will duke it out with Spielberg for the last spot. Sounds fun.