"And the Oscar goes to...."

In a night of few surprises and my predictions mainly being on the money, the 83^rd Annual Academy Awards saw The King’s Speech crowned king. It scooped four Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor for Colin Firth. In one of the few shocks of the night, Tom Hooper was named Best Director for the film and won for Best Original Screenplay in a relatively conservative and by-the-books evening at the Kodak Theatre.

It’s main rival, The Social Network, which I was favouring out of the two, won three awards including adapted screenplay, film editing and music. Aaron Sorkin, the writer of The Social Network teased his daughter during his acceptance speech, “Roxy Sorkin, your father just won the Academy Award. I'm going to have to insist on some respect from your guinea pig.” Inception went home with 3 Oscars, while The Fighter, Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story 3 won 2 gongs each.

In other acting categories pregnant Natalie Portman walked away with Best Actress for her role in Black Swan. Melissa Leo and Christian Bale, sporting a distinctive bushy beard were awarded supporting acting awards for their performances in boxing drama, The Fighter.

King Colin Firth who gave a stunning performance as the stammering King George VI said during his acceptance speech, “I'm afraid that I have to warn you that I'm experiencing the stirrings of something in the upper abdominals which are threatening to form themselves into dance moves.” It was a night of high expectation for Colin and The King’s Speech walking in with 12 nominations. In the end it only won four but as they were the biggies I doubt you’ll hear many complaints.

The success of The King’s Speech prevented Facebook movie The Social Network from scooping any major awards and denied director David Fincher of another potential Oscar after failing to win in 2009 with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This was one of the few occasions I wanted to throw something at someone in pure frustration. In my opinion it was time for David Fincher to be recognized on the Oscar stage after what has been so far a tremendous career and it begs the question “What more does he have to do?” to land himself a golden statuette.

It was also a disappointing night for the Coen Brothers’ True Grit leaving away empty handed after being nominated for ten nominations. Sci-Fi spectacular Inception swept the technical awards as I expected winning visual effects, sound mixing and sound editing. It was nice to see Christopher Nolan receiving plenty of appreciation on stage. Still it was a huge disappointment not to see his name up on the shortlist for direction after the masterpiece he created.

The best documentary feature Academy Award went to Inside Job. The documentary short film prize went to Strangers No More, and the live action short honour to God of Love.

Year in, year out there are always a handful of highs and lows at the Oscars and this year was no different. It’s a shame and a bit of a waste that it was partly down to the forgetful partnering of hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway. The Academy wanted a pairing to increase the demographic and bring in a younger audience. Ironically they may have in fact put them off. They lacked in chemistry, on-screen presence and failed to make an overall impression. They began well in their opening scene performing a spoof in the mind of last year’s host Alec Baldwin with Morgan Freeman narrating in the scenes of the best picture nominees.

When they took centre stage for the first time though, it went downhill with a cringe worthy monologue including Franco’s grandma … yes grandma standing up saying, “I just saw Marky Mark [Wahlberg].” It was a series of “Eh?” moments throughout the night with Hathaway doing the expected and wearing different frocks and even Franco taking a leaf out of Marylin Monroe’s book appearing in drag and quipped, “The weird part is, I just got a text message from Charlie Sheen.”

 What did annoy me however were the movie montages scrapped (although the best picture moment was a personal highlight and will be replayed many a time on youtube) and the fact that in the acting categories the presenting setup was scrapped. Having 5 presenters introducing each actor in previous ceremonies was a joy to watch to really build up the moment for everyone.

Appearances from the likes of acting legend Kirk Douglas presenting the best supporting actress award was a pleasing moment. Not to mention Oscars veteran Billy Crystal the personal highlight of the show. I think I’m not alone when I think why the heck didn’t he stay on and host the rest of the show. Food for thought perhaps Academy for next year hmmm…!

 Other highlights included the heartfelt and touching acceptance speeches especially from Christian Bale even referring to his Terminator rant which I thought was big of him, “I'm not going to drop the F-bomb like she did.” His reference to “she” was Melissa Leo after being the first person in Oscar history to swear, dropping the f-bomb while accepting her award for supporting actress. Just like her OTT speech at the Golden Globes she couldn’t keep her composure nearly resulting in decking Kirk Douglas to the ground, potential Oscar moment there?! Natalie Portman didn’t live up to my expectations and blub away uncontrollably when accepting her deserving Oscar for Black Swan. She, like the others kept her cool, “This is insane, and I truly, sincerely wish that the prize tonight was to get to work with my fellow nominees - I'm so in awe of you.”

Did the Oscars pan out as you'd expected? Do you feel The Social Network was more of a worthy winner? And what of the Franco/Hathaway hosting performance?

Written By Michael Cunneen

Oscar Predictions

The biggest night on the movie calendar is almost upon us and I, for one cannot wait for the 83^rd Annual Academy Awards to take centre stage. A whole host of personalities from the film industry under one roof is something of a tantalising prospect. With is a fresh partnership of Anne Hathaway and James Franco playing host it beckons to be a night of high anticipation. The usual mix of tearful acceptance speeches, song n’ dance numbers, reaction shots of honcho Harvey Weinstein and teleprompter cock-ups are certain to grow like Robert Downey’s Jr’s ego.

I briefly mentioned in a previous blog of my predictions in the major categories. Now I will go into more detail of who think, will walk away with a golden statuette in their grasp.

Best Picture - The Social Network

Collectively, the story about the founding of Facebook and the rise and fall of Mark Zuckerberg has all the elements to please Academy members. Great performances across the board including Jesse Eisenberg (thoroughly earning his Oscar nod), Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake. The powerfully sharp script from Aaron “The West Wing” Sorkin is undoubtedly the real highlight of the picture delivering dark offbeat humour and intense drama. Director David Fincher does what he does best and produces an unflinching look at the way the modern world communicates and what happens when power and greed leads to legal and personal battles.
If people asked me a month back who would claim the big prize, The Social Network would have been my immediate response. Winning critical praise worldwide it went on to receive accolades at almost every awards ceremony including the Golden Globes. But it stands in the way of a stammering Monarch in The King’s Speech who, recently has been cleaning up, particularly at the Bafta’s, Screen Actor’s Guild, Director’s Guild and Producer’s Guild and has now become favourite. But I stick to my guns and will continue to root for The Social Network.

Best Director - David Fincher (The Social Network)

It goes without saying, but I will anyway. David Fincher is easily one of the most talented directors working in America today. He has a proven track record that speaks volumes. From Se7en to Panic Room, Zodiac to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (which he received his first and only Oscar nomination). This is his second nod for The Social Network and his most Oscar-friendly movie to date. It is a truly remarkable ensemble piece and shows that Fincher is a director at work here. Reports on-set have been made apparent that Fincher can be at times a nightmare to work with. Yet he wouldn’t be what he is today without being slightly dogged in his work - and that is soon to be Oscar winner David Fincher.

Best Actor - Colin Firth (The King’s Speech)

Golden Globe and Bafta award winner Colin Firth now has the shortest odds in history attached to his nomination to win his first Academy Award for his portrayal of King George VI in The King’s Speech. It will be one of the biggest shocks in Oscar history if he doesn’t walk away with the Oscar yet slightly amusing to see the reaction if and it’s a big IF, that he doesn’t win. He effortlessly portrays a struggling King who the entire country is now depending on to lead the country into WWII. From his opening speech at the beginning of Tom Hooper’s period piece, you can just tell by Firth’s eyes he is pouring is heart and soul into this performance and he deserves every single bit of praise he is currently receiving. Everyone loves a real life character performance and so does the Academy.

Best Actress - Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
Cue floods of tears from a heavily pregnant Natalie Portman should see and most probably earn her first Oscar for her flawless performance as a troubled ballerina psychological thriller Black Swan. Upon collecting the Bafta for Best Actress on her behalf, director Darren Aronofsky stated she was the most, “Committed, dedicated, focused actor,” he’s ever worked with. This was evident when a year before the shoot she trained every day for 8 hours, swam a mile a day and learned ballet to portray Nina who, to play the Swan Queen in the Swan Lake production must explore her dark side which ultimately takes her over the edge of sanity. It is a perfect and believable performance and fully deserves all the plaudits she is receiving.

Best Supporting Actor - Christian Bale (The Fighter)

Welsh-born Christian Bale is up there alongside Leo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Tom Hardy as one of my favourite character actors working today. He dropped 30lbs to play gaunt and pop-eyed Dickie Eklund in boxing biopic The Fighter. He puts everything into his performance and more as the ex-champ fighting for the spotlight as well as training his brother and current contender “Irish” Micky Ward become world champ. Playing a real life character always creates attention and for the most part awards attention (see Sean Penn’s Harvey Milk in Milk and Forest Whitaker’s Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland for further proof). Furthermore boxing movies usually perform well at the Oscars including of course Rocky and Raging Bull.

Best Supporting Actress - Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
One of the many characters overshadowing the heart and soul of Mark Wahlberg’s performance in The Fighter was Melissa Leo as Mickey’s mother and manager, Alice Ward. That was my one and only criticism of the otherwise superb boxing drama. Melissa Leo played the chain-smoking and overbearing mother of Micky Ward vowing to make his son Heavyweight World Champion. She has won everything for her performance thus far, why break the habit of an awards season? Plus after walking away empty handed two years ago for her nomination in Frozen River, I think the Academy certainly owes her one.

Do you concur with the above predictions? Or is your money backed elsewhere?

Written by Michael Cunneen
　
　

Welcome to JDIFF 2011

Today see’s the launch of the 9^th Annual Jameson Dublin International Film Festival with Richard Ayoade’s directorial debut feature Submarine opening the 10-day festival. This coming of age romantic drama includes some of Britain’s home grown talent including Sally Hawkins and Paddy Considine. But it is the anticipation of Ayoade in the director’s chair for the first time that is the main focal point. Best known for his role as Moss in The IT Crowd, Richard Ayoade’s first feature was highly praised at last year’s London Film Festival and will no doubt be a success as it will be unveiled at tonight’s Opening Gala event at the Savoy Cinema.

Across the two weeks there will be a whole host of screenings to indulge different tastes of cinema goers. From a selection of French cinema to Latin cinema, there will even be opportunities to catch Re-issues and Restorations of classic cinema such as The Bridge On The River Kwai and West Side Story.

Throughout the festival there will be international guests lined up to make appearances and support their retrospective projects. The guest list includes Kevin Spacey, Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Richard Ayoade, Harry Shearer, Jim Loach, George Nolfi and Timothy Spall.

There will be a series of red carpet screenings during JDIFF which will give audience members the chance to walk down the famous red carpet. The films premiering include Emilio Estevez’s The Way starring his father and Hollywood veteran Martin Sheen. Also premiering will be George Nolfi’s The Adjustment Bureau and Unknown starring Irish actors Liam Neeson and Aidan Quinn.

The First Look category highlights upcoming releases that have arisen from word-of-mouth around the world and are given Irish premieres during JDIFF. Some of those releases include Fair Game, diected by The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman. Also father and son Ken and Jim Loach present their directorial efforts; Route Irish and Oranges and Sunshine respectively. Others include West Is West, The Tempest and The Eagle.

There will be a special focus on emerging Romanian cinema throughout JDIFF including comedy feature Hello, How Are You? and war drama Medal of Honour. In addition there will be a whole host of documentaries being screened including Werner Herzog’s 3D documentary Cave Of Forgotten Dreams which will be followed by a post screening Q&A with the director via satellite. Other documentaries will include Children of the Revolution and Upside Down.

One of the big events of the festival however will fall on Monday 21^st February with the JDIFF sponsor, Jameson will launch their Jameson Cult Film Club. This is a year-long programme of special screenings that will take place all over the country. Kick starting the season in style is an interactive screening of The Usual Suspects which will be attended by Oscar winning actor Kevin Spacey who will take part in a Q & A session following the screening. After which the party will continue the exclusive night in true Jameson fashion. As this is being promoted as an exclusive event, only a small allocation of tickets were on offer through a small number of media outlets. On a personal note I was one of the lucky few people to have won tickets to the special event of which I am gearing up for to say the least.

Other special events that will be taking place over the two-week period include a Screenwriting Panel, the Dublin Film Critics Circle and the 3^rd annual Library Film Quiz. All the events mentioned above and the rest of the programme can be found on www.jdiff.com. Or simply pop down to the  ticketing office located at FilmBase, Curved Street, Temple Bar. Or Cineworld Foyer, Parnell Street. Word of warning though, tickets are selling out fast so book now to avoid disappointment.

Some of the films I am personally looking forward to include Route Irish directed by Ken Loach. Others include Irish supernatural drama Wake Wood produced by legendary horror company Hammer Films. Also the special presentation of classic horror The Tingler starring Vincent Price has a certain amount of interest, that it being an interactive film screening, of which I will certainly brace myself for!

Written by Michael Cunneen

The King's Speech reigns supreme at BAFTA's

The King’s Speech made history at last night’s British Academy Film Awards winning seven gongs including Best Film and Best Leading Actor for Colin Firth. It is the first film to win both Best Film and Outstanding British Film. Inception and The Social Network each picked up three awards and Alice in Wonderland with two gongs. It was for the most part an unsurprising evening with Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech taking home the majority of main awards. It has been an unprecedented success at the box office and is totally dominating awards ceremonies all around the world.

Hosted by Jonathan Ross at London’s Royal Opera House the period drama went in with 14 nominations and expectations were without question sky high for Colin Firth and Co to rule the evening. Colin Firth, upon accepting his award for the second time in as many years (Only Rod Steiger has achieved the same as Firth) joked, “I like coming here. Thank you Bafta.” Last night’s Bafta was Firth’s 26^th award for his role as a stammering King George VI which is quite an incredible story that will surely lead him to Oscar glory come 27^th February.

It also took best original screenplay, best score and supporting awards for Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter. Upon accepting the award for her portrayal of the Queen Mother, Bonham Carter in her lengthy acceptance speech thanked the royal family for her career and went on to say, “I seem to be playing queens with ever decreasing headsizes,” who also played the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland.

In the other major categories David Fincher was awarded Best Director for The Social Network – based around the founding of Facebook. Two of the actors Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield collected the award on his behalf. The film that is hotly tipped for Oscar glory also won Baftas for best adapted screenplay and best editor. The writer Aaron Sorkin from The West Wing fame declared, “Normally I'd be excited about this, but sitting in the seat in front of me was one of the Beatles.”

Natalie Portman continued her rich vein of form winning Best Leading Actress for her portrayal of a troubled ballerina in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan whom he accepted the award on her behalf praising her dedication to the role. Like Colin Firth, Portman is the favourite to pick up her first Academy Award. However it was a fairly disappointing night for the ballet psychological thriller being up for 12 nominations and receiving only the one Bafta.

Sci-Fi blockbuster Inception collected three technical prizes including Best Sound, Best Production Design and Special Visual Effects. Tom Hardy who appeared in Inception and low budget indie hit Bronson received the coveted Orange Rising Star Award voted by the general public. This year had strong contenders including Gemma Arterton, Aaron Johnson, Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield.

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland won for Hair and Make-Up and Toy Story 3 surprised no-one winning for Best Animated Film. While The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo fully deserved it’s victory in the Best Foreign Film category.

Other films that disappointed during the ceremony included Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours that left empty handed and True Grit only receiving the Bafta for Cinematography. Other highlights included the Harry Potter franchise receiving the honour for Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema. Creator and author JK Rowling said seeing her books made into films had been, “One of the best experiences of my life.”

The final award of the night was awarded to Sir Christopher Lee for his overall contribution to film. The academy honoured him with the prestigious Fellowship, receiving a thoroughly deserved standing ovation as he took to the stage to collect the award from one of his numerous collaborators Tim Burton. His career has spanned over 60 years with defining and iconic performances as Count Dracula in the Hammer Horror movies, appearances in The Wicker Man, The Man With The Golden Gun and of course appearing in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In a touching and heartfelt speech the veteran actor said, “I’m glad I don’t follow in the footsteps of the great Stanley Kubrick, whose award was posthumous.”

Attention now is firmly set on the 83^rd Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on the 27^th February. With various awards ceremonies in Britain and America leading to the biggest movie event on the calendar, it appears the battle will be between a stammering monarch and the creation of a website to reign champion at this year’s Oscars.

Written by Michael Cunneen

Remembering Oscar Winning Composer John Barry

British film composer John Barry famous for his musical talents on the James Bond series has died of a heart attack at the age of 77. Born in New York in 1933, Barry was also most famous for his work on such films as Zulu, Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves.

The well-known composer was born John Barry Prendergast in York, who was the son of a Cork man who grew up with the cinema as his father was a projectionist. His career in music begun under the watch of the organist of York Minister. He learnt to arrange music whilst on National Service and played Trumpet in an army band. He later formed a jazz-rock group in the 1950’s called the John Barry Seven.

His arrangement of Monty Norman’s James Bond theme tune led him to compose a total of 11 of the Bond movies including fans-favourite Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever and Moonraker. Barry was renowned for his use of lush strings, orchestral swells stylish melodies. He worked with the likes of Richard Attenborough, Sean Connery and Sydney Pollack.

His prestigious career included him receiving 5 Oscars, in 1999 he was awarded an OBE for his services to music and in Bafta fellowship back in 2005. His first Academy Award came after his musical efforts for Born Free winning Best Score and Best Song in 1967.

He also focused his work on Television with working on series and advertisements before he broke into movie work with Beat Girl in the 1960’s. Some of his last work came in films such as Madagascar, Enigma, Playing by Heart and Mercury Rising.

The current James Bond composer David Arnold fittingly announced this morning on Twitter, “It was with a heavy heart that I tell you John Barry passed away this morning.” Arnold later told on BBC radio, “I think James Bond would have been far less cool without John Barry holding his hand.”

The composer told in a Guardian interview in 1999 of his love for film, "My father had eight theatres in the north of England. I remember him picking me up, age three and a half, and taking me through these swing doors to the back of the stalls and holding me up over the barrier at the back. And I remember seeing this mouse, this big black and white mouse.” 

The British composer won an Oscar for his work on Born Free with leading actress Virginia McKenna said he was “A wonderful musician and composer.” Barry, who lived in Long Island leaves his wife Laurie of 33 years, his four children and five grandchildren. According to his family, the funeral arrangements remain private. A memorial service will be held in the UK later this year.

Written By Michael Cunneen